Methodology - How we did it

The Business Today–monitor group innovation study set out to examine the state of firm-level innovation in India and profile the “most innovative companies” in select sectors. Founded in 1983 by Professor Michael Porter and Mark Fuller of Harvard Business School, the Monitor Group is a family of professional services firms dedicated to helping organisations grow in the ways that are most important to them. To start with, Business Today sent an invitation to participate in the study to a set of companies in each sector (determined on a revenue cut-off).

Following this, research partner TNS India conducted a detailed survey among senior executives from over 75 participating companies. The survey, based on Monitor’s High Performance framework, provided insights into the perceived role of innovation, importance attached to it, and current status on elements required to drive innovation leadership. In addition to survey responses, the Business Today-Monitor team conducted in-depth interviews with CEOs and senior executives at a number of these companies. The study also included responses from leading Dalal Street analysts to understand their view on the state of innovation among companies in sectors of interest.

Identifying the ‘most innovative companies’

We identified the ‘most innovative companies’ in each sector based on an external and internal perspective on innovation. The external perspective helped us understand the view of senior executives and analysts on which companies stand out as most innovative in their sector. CEOs/senior executives were asked to provide their opinion on the “most innovative companies” in their sector (excluding their own company). Similarly, investors were asked to provide their opinion on the “most innovative companies” in the sectors they track.

For the internal rating, we asked CEOs to provide detailed information on all their innovation-related activities, including systems and processes that enable innovation and the firm’s initiatives around promoting an innovation-driven culture. A combined score based on the external view and the company’s internal level of preparedness to drive innovation leadership was used to identify most innovative companies in each sector.