'How important diligent execution is for successful innovation'

For all the sexiness that a great idea lends to a stellar business, there is usually a not-as-sexy backstory of well thought-out, and at times long drawn, execution of that idea that results in a solid enterprise. History is full of such examples. The most talked about among these is how Apple and Microsoft got their chops in their early days copying the so-called graphical user interface (GUI) from Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center. GUI as in an icon-based operating system worked upon via a mouse as different from the keyboard-controlled computers of the 1970s. Xerox introduced a GUI-based personal computer in 1981, but the product was a disaster and Xerox withdrew from the PC space soon. Apple, under Steve Jobs, worked on the idea for three-four years before introducing its first Macintosh computer in 1984, Microsoft came up with its first GUI-based operating system in 1985, but it took five years to perfect it. Both companies haven't looked back. Xerox's valuation today is about $14 billion, a fraction of Apple's $510 billion and Microsoft's $330 billion. There are plenty of other examples of early birds missing the worm. Philips invented the magnetic cassette but Sony reaped most value from it via the Walkman. Thomas Edison was the first out with electricity but it was in direct current that couldn't transmit power very far. An engineer by the name Nikola Tesla saw the flaws with Edison's machines and came up with designs for alternating current generators, which with the help of George Westinghouse changed mankind forever. Back to Apple: the iPod was not the world's first portable MP3 player. The point is simple: when it comes to innovation, the idea is just the starting point. If innovators don't get execution right, their idea is destined to be roadkill.

At Business Today, we get as excited as anyone when talking innovation. Who wouldn't marvel at a telemedicine model that takes health care to a village without electricity? Or, grow a business of a few million customers 20-fold at 5x the cost? Or, deliver drinking water at less than five paise a litre through a massive reverse osmosis plant? We have chronicled these and more in the past. For this year's innovation special (we've done five in the past), we decided to focus on how important diligent execution is for successful innovation. Senior Editor N. Madhavan, who led the project, whittled down names from a long list to five successful examples: IPL in cricket, the Tata Ace carriage vehicle, Bajaj's twin-spark engine, Tata DoCoMo's one-paisa-a-second phone calls, and Narayana Health's (better known by its earlier name, Narayana Hrudayalaya) assembly line surgeries. Some of these innovations have been copied and the impact is more on the industry than the company - for instance, Tata DoCoMo - but the stories of their execution make for compelling reading. And, don't miss the multimedia package at www.businesstoday.in/innovation2014 that extends what we do fairly well at Business Today - tell unique stories with rich detail.

Of course, we have other nice reads, too. The story of Essel's Subhash Chandra setting the stage for his two sons to take over; We list the big capital projects ready to be turned on in the coming months potentially giving the economy a leg-up; and a story on how India's foreign and trade policies could change if Narendra Modi becomes prime minister.

In my last letter, "Manhole Ahead, Mr PM Sir", I talked about how fragile India looked as the global economy turns sluggish. That outlook remains bleak with tensions rising over Ukraine (Russia supplies about 30 per cent of Europe's gas demand) and unexpectedly slow GDP growth in the US in the January-March quarter. Keep your fingers crossed. Mine are.