tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27469450306461509462012-02-10T03:11:39.244-05:00A blog on innovation and transformational change.Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-32845344601895562562010-03-05T12:11:00.001-05:002010-03-05T12:12:32.440-05:00

Check out my latest blog based on many years of reseach. Go to Taming Rogue Innovations and stay tuned for a lot of interesting information. stories and tools for innovation and for taming rogue innovations. It is a focused blog on the phenomenon of 'Rogue innovations' that I identified and worked on for over half a decade.

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-36142311998464432202010-02-19T18:19:00.003-05:002010-02-19T18:24:45.815-05:00

What is a big retailer of electronics doing with a small and almost defunct music service provider such as Napster? Napster originally started the notorious and illegal peer-to-peer music file sharing service that courts shut down. Over time it evolved into a legitimate business of music subscription and even went public. However, it wasn't successful because it found that subscription model

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-44424795578095564792010-02-17T14:00:00.003-05:002010-02-18T09:28:27.720-05:00

I am always looking out for innovative companies and innovative products because of my passion for innovation. Recently I came across an innovation that left me quite impressed. The innovation I am referring to is Sonos. In simple terms, it is merely a wireless music player that allows you to listen to music from a variety of sources (computer, LP, CD players, internet etc.) across your home (

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-56051783724913580272010-02-12T13:49:00.000-05:002010-02-12T13:49:41.013-05:00

Who is Google's competition? a. Microsoft b. Bing, Yahoo c. Verizon ,Comcast d. Apple e. Amazon f. Tivo g. All of Above To get to the truth, it is imperative to understand the broad media industry and the battles going on there. I see media industry comprising of several distinct parts - content creators, content distributors, and consumption device makers. Content includes written, spoken,

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-14288730334092943912010-02-11T13:31:00.001-05:002010-02-11T13:33:45.129-05:00

Today's Wall street Journal headlines screamed Google Jolts Telecom Rivals. A few days back Journal also wrote about Google's dabbling in books business. One may begin to think that Google is losing focus away from its core business. However, these are clever strategies Google is using to protect its core business its business undergoes a major transformation. Think about how you searched for

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-45537658160588305522010-02-10T11:50:00.001-05:002010-02-10T11:52:19.147-05:00

Will Apple iPad kill Amazon's kindle? If all iPad could do was to threaten the market share of Kindle then it wasn't as big an issue as it appears. The threat iPad poses is a much bigger one and in fact it is shifting the tectonic plates of the E-book industry.Amazon has a dominant share of online book sales (more than 70%), a segment that is growing at a rapid pace. It's rivals such as Borders

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-73369599821535683972009-03-11T17:53:00.001-04:002009-03-11T17:55:23.495-04:00

A startup has begun selling applications for iphone without going through Apple's online sales engine. At stake is not just the market for apps for iPhone but the iPhone itself. When Apple tried to maintain hold on the computer by controlling the hardware and the software, it was pushed to the periphery of the computer industry for a long time. It changed its strategy with the iPhone by opening

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-22570798065706492972009-02-26T17:15:00.001-05:002009-02-26T17:16:59.376-05:00

Although Amazon is back with an improved KindleII - it made little headway in improving its chances of increasing popularity of the E-book reader as the fundamental issues why the adoption has been low still remains (see my earlier post on Kindle to understand these issues). The relative advantage of Kindle over books continue to remain the issue. However, its other e-book initiative that would

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-86944990844868240562009-02-24T10:41:00.001-05:002009-02-24T10:42:49.779-05:00

A casual walk in the Prudential mall the other day reminded me how overnight the demand patterns change. A look at the HD radio stall used to remind me of luxury when the other day it seemed so unnecessary. When I walked into Tweeter store a few years back and saw Sonos for the first time, I was excited. The other day I was thinking why have Sonos when Airport express can do the same job for a

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-17418198704303709162008-05-20T18:57:00.002-04:002008-05-20T19:05:30.315-04:00

E-readers are not novel nor is the concept of e-reading - they have been around for at least a decade. Although Sony's entry into the market was a major event, it didn't make much impact on e-reading. But will Amazon's Kindle make a larger impact?First of all, this makes a lot of sense for Amazon to get into. It not only has synergies with its existing business but also has potential for

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-19498160415032119262007-12-11T15:31:00.000-05:002007-12-12T14:29:06.738-05:00

An enormous explosion of social networking sites (such as Linkedin, Orkut and Facebook) is the first step in unlocking hidden value from the dispersed social capital in our society. I say first step because firms are ignoring significant opportunities in this domain. A premium membership for social networking sites or a paid access to the site are not the answers to the search for an appropriate

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-21484334899995635102007-09-03T21:49:00.000-04:002007-09-03T21:57:16.223-04:00

There was a time when market volatility such as what we are witnessing these days would have made me worked up to the extent that I would have thought about it dozens of times a day and would have made active plans to deal with it and would have taken action. Now, I keep track of it but do nothing. In fact when markets dip, I am happy! All of this is thanks to the innovation of indexing - index

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-38185237386733491802007-08-23T10:28:00.000-04:002007-08-23T13:17:03.778-04:00

The latest issue of Journal of Management studies has an excellent study on workplace bullying called "Burned by bullying in American workplace: prevalence, perception, degree and impact". Since the Journal is inaccessible for most, a copy of the article can be accessed here. It gives a great overview of the phenomenon. It is eye opening for anyone who has never heard of the phenomenon or has

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-44425875571784061562007-08-03T15:01:00.000-04:002007-08-03T15:03:14.259-04:00

Any runner would testify about the state of mind during a run -blissful. During my morning run I was thinking about this state of existence and it occurred to me that in the movie New York New York, Robert De Niro called it major chord - when everything is perfect. Such a state is after all what we strive for. As I delved deeper on how major chord affects innovation, it hit me that such a state

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-11214934010360746022007-08-02T16:04:00.000-04:002007-08-02T16:06:15.257-04:00

Profit erosion is a natural state of affairs in a business - the tide of time erodes value due to increasing competition. In presence of the forces that erode profits, excellent companies use innovation to stem this profit erosion. Business model innovation has often been touted as a way to restore eroded profits. One way to achieve business model innovation involves searching for new business

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-72447938904368840352007-07-23T14:27:00.000-04:002007-07-23T14:34:45.309-04:00

We often hear the term organizational transformation. But what does it really mean to transform an organization? And when can one claim that the exercise is over?Howard Aldrich, one of my favorite Sociologists, defined organization as a sum of three components - boundaries, activity systems, and goals (see his excellent book Organizations evolving for a sociological view of organizations). I

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-27842389918091241052007-07-22T02:47:00.000-04:002007-07-22T02:51:34.204-04:00

I discovered the concept of mind mapping fairly late but became an instant convert. My favorite mind mapping application remains MindManager. Here's how my main map looks these daysMy favorite uses of mind manager include time management, brainstorming and outlining. The application enabled me to transform my personal productivity levels to a great extent. More details on my own experience with

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-82249340475807561612007-07-21T01:17:00.000-04:002007-07-21T01:18:59.369-04:00

Two decades back David Teece from UC Berkeley wrote a path breaking paper on profiting from innovation . He explained why sometime innovators end up not making money from innovation. It was a classic piece and still remains influential. Essentially, he showed the role of a certain type of assets called complementary assets in profiting from innovations. He differentiated between

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-77575363873576267652007-07-19T19:13:00.000-04:002007-07-19T19:22:17.931-04:00

When I started using outlook on two computers the obvious question was how to synch my emails between the computer. I came across web postings of people in the same boat who didn't have Microsoft exchange and felt this pain. After searching the web it was clear that the only way was to buy one of the synching applications to do that. Check this link for a list of applications. I wasn't sure

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-4950043141169263452007-07-18T12:15:00.000-04:002007-07-18T13:52:31.109-04:00

CT (computed tomography) scanner as an innovation provides some important insights on innovation. First, it shows that very often, innovations are merely a recombination of existing ideas rather than a new to the world idea. Second, it shows that an innovation has two distinct components - invention and commercialization. Third, it shows that inventors do not necessarily make the money and

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-77213545017118675032007-07-17T12:25:00.000-04:002007-07-17T12:27:55.522-04:00

An article in the latest issue of Fortune (interview with CTO of Xerox) highlights the importance of an innovation strategy for an organization. It mentions in the passing how Xerox failed to make money from its two major innovations - computer mouse and GUI (graphical user interface). The article also mentions the path 3M and Google follow in fostering innovation - allowing employees to work on

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2746945030646150946.post-52655559875588535962007-07-16T10:27:00.000-04:002007-07-16T10:34:26.325-04:00

See which one works for you "We are committed to a year on year growth of 10% as our CEO has committed to the wall street. Thus it is imperative we find every way to make that happen" Versus "We are uniquely positioned to create a future that will create far better lives for our customers" or "We are in the process of creating history" If you are like me you will find the

Ankush Choprahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10722087885547522849noreply@blogger.com0