Globalization and innovation
Many people believe “Globalization” as selling and buying things all over the world but it is more than just “Import and Export”. Some believe “Globalization” is about doing business in “Low-cost” countries to gain advantage but this will NOT last long because sooner or later everybody will be doing the same thing, and competitors will eventually catch up. So whatever you do, your competitors could do the same. So what does “Globalization” really means? It means that in this highly competition world, everything will happen very fast, things will change at the speed of technology, and customers can change their minds fast too. Whatever your business is, you must make sure that your products and services are creating better values to the customers than your competitors.
To create better value, you must understand and accept changes as the way to do business in this global world. To change means to differentiate yourself from others by having a global strategy to remain viable and strong. Of course, your competitors can also doing the same so your strategy must based on your ability to innovate which mean you must seek, hire, and retain the best people. To do that you must look at the education systems of every countries and identify which has the best then go there to find these talents. Today, the U.S and Europe's education still have some advantages but the gap is narrower as more and more countries are improving their education. Before going further there are several things about innovation that I would like to discuss with you:
1) Many people believe innovation can only be found at university that has “Modern laboratory” with “Genius” who is working quietly to invent something. Since only developed countries can afford this kind of works, others never have a chance. This is wrong because innovation is a team work activities and it depends on the sharing and collaborating among team members to achieve a common goals. For example, many inventions of this century is created in garage or basement of somebody, not in the modern laboratory and by geniuses. The giant electronic company HP is created in the garage of two engineers named Bill Hewlett and David Packard. Apple Computer is created in the basement of a students named Steven Jobs. None of these people ever consider themselves “genius”.
2) Many people believe that innovation is about technology and only technical people know how to innovate. The fact is Innovation can happen in any areas and may have nothing to do with technology. The idea of building personal computer based on customer order started with Michael Dell when he was a student in University of Texas. He brought many electronic components to assembled Personal Computer in the dormitory and sell to students there. The business was so good that he enlisted more people to help then eventually invented a supply chains and formed Dell computer.
3) Many people believe innovation is create something new, never exist before. This is really pure fantasy because most innovative ideas can be traced to the profound knowledge and skills of people who already doing something then come up with improvement to make it faster, better and cheaper. Most innovations today are incremental improvements. While small increments may seem insignificant but when combined, they are critical and open more opportunities. Honda started as a small company that make pump engines then go to motorcycles then cars, then ships and eventually airplanes. Can you guess what will be next?
4) Many people believe innovation is the job of scientists and inventors so it can not be managed. The fact is every innovation should be treated as part of everybody's job and anybody can come up with new idea to make thing better. When Sam Walton saw people doing inventory on paper and sent them from one office to others, he asked why don't they use computer to automate it. He use information system to manage everything and created the largest retail business in the world: Wal-Mart.
So where do innovation come from? They all come from people and today knowledgeable people is the asset of the company. In the past, capital is the asset as the manufactures needed money to invest in machines and equipment but the industrial age is gone and today we are in the information age where knowledge is the rule. To take advantage of globalization, we need knowledgeable people and knowledgeable people come from education and training.
I remember in the book “The World is Flat”, Tom Friedman wrote that globalization has made Shanghai, Bangalore, and San Jose the next-door neighbors as in the “Flat world” there is no border. Today companies can hire qualified workers from all over the world and people can work from anywhere that has access to the internet. In few years, the term “Outsourcing” will be obsolete as it does not matter where people live, many will go to work by "clicking a mouse" on their home computers. I believe that people will NOT have to go where the jobs are but the jobs have to go where the skilled people LIVE. That is why I believe that investing in education to develop skilled people is the best investment a person, a company, or a country could make.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
