'Next consumer practice could be from India'

Though a large part of India is still at the 'bottom of the pyramid' and faces multiple constraints, the future innovations globally are going to come through these constraints.

This was the theme of the address made by C K Prahalad, professor at Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michgan at an alumni event of the University in Mumbai yesterday. "With the scientific progress that has happened and with the cost of technology coming down, innovations are no longer restricted to the more developed countries," Prahalad said.

Strategy, he said, was not about extrapolating the future. "Rather than focus on the best practice, companies must try and establish the next practice, which is where India will have a role to play in the future," he said.

With global consumer trends like focus on individuality and experimentation, technology-mediated relationships and forming global communities increasingly gaining acceptance in India, there was no reason why the next practice couldn't emerge from India, said Prahalad.

The key to being successful will also lie in how to reduce the cost of taking innovation from the lab to the marketplace, he said. "Science is now getting geographically distributed and is no longer restricted to certain specific countries," Prahalad said. "The key lies in taking science from different fields and collaborating it. While we may lack the investment capacity, we must boost the collaborative and integrated capacities," he said.