Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Y.V.S.S. Murthy

Entrepreneur is not a synonym for business marl or Industrialist or Technologist. Entrepreneur is not necessarily an investor. Entrepreneur is one who uses economic resources to achieve higher productivity and greater yield. Running an inherited or existing business successfully or expanding the same activity, is not entrepreneurship. Enhancing the value chain and developing new strategies is entrepreneurship.

Innovation is the means for entrepreneurship. Innovation is a discipline, which can be learnt and practiced. Entrepreneur is constantly in search of opportunities for successful innovation. The existing business, being run successfully for years, has to face competition and decline in value one day or other.

Change in systems, increasing the productivity, reducing operational costs, enhancing the value of the product, better packaging of the product, reaching out to the consumer by improved delivery system, creating a new satisfaction or a new consumer demand call for innovation. Entrepreneur is one who can successfully innovate and start a new business or enterprise or change the existing one from static condition to a dynamic status by giving better value to the product and the consumer.

A simple change in the process flow or equipment re-location may some times bring about significant increase in the product output, due to stream lining of the process stream and reduction in avoidable transfers and retracing in the system.

Debottlenecking is often nothing but discovering constraints in output due to imbalances in the sizing of the equipment or utilities or storage capacities, which were inherent but went unnoticed during several years of business operation. Innovation is one of discovering such imbalances and taking corrective action, which greatly enhances the product value.

Packaging, offers great many opportunities for innovation. Change in the appearance of a package makes it more presentable and increases the product value and enhances customer satisfaction. Some packages are so attractive that one may like to keep them as trophies or in a show case. May be one can get a premium price for the product in such a package and satisfy an elite customer. The size of the pack, the ease with which the product can be used by the consumer either all at a time, or in graduated “no spill” transfer etc., are some of the innovations which may significantly enhance the value and also beat competition.

Product delivery and availability are areas where many innovations are possible. Take the product to the consumer, deliver the product at his door step, replenish the supply on time, every time, you have a satisfied customer for a life time. You have created a brand for generations.

For example running a restaurant is routine. Running a restaurant chain is entrepreneurship. In South India, vegetarian restaurants dot every town and city. These restaurants serve cooked snacks and meals. They are open for certain fixed hours at break fast time, lunch time, and dinner time. They are usually single family shows with a few helping hands. As the towns and cities have grown in size and population, particularly the working population, the need has arisen for more and more restaurants, employing large work force, and serving large number of meals at a time. This has led to the establishment of multi location restaurants (a kind of chain restaurants) by entrepreneurs on the model of “Udipi”.

The multi location restaurants (chain type) were first conceived about 60 years ago, by hoteliers of ‘Udipi’ a town in the South Kanara district of Karnataka state in India and are now spread over many cities of South India. The concept was unique. To serve wholesome food at affordable prices quickly and in hygienic conditions. The concept ballooned into a massive gigantic cooperation. This is entrepreneurship and innovation at its best. The concept of chain restaurants started 60 years ago has been copied by different hoteliers, but all of them are popularly known as “Udipi” hotels, the original name.

These chain restaurants are operated today like industries. There is centralised procurement of vegetables, fruits and condiments, and their preparation for cooking. Such prepared stuff is transferred to central cooking houses.

The chain restaurants are usually family owned businesses. “Udipi” hoteliers did not invent anything. Its product was what was dished out in hundreds of places for years. But by applying management techniques, standardizing the product, designing the process, equipment, facilities, on the job training and a disciplined system ‘Udipi’ has increased the value of the product, created a new market, and also offered better value to the customer. One often wondel whether self service restaurants like Lyons in U.K. in late 50’s and the present day Mcdonalds are not copies of “Udipi” minus table service. Over the years the “Udipi” restaurants have been continuously innovating and re-inventing.

As the availability of banana leaves and their disposal after use were becoming more and more difficult, they were substituted by stainless steel plates and cups.  As the drinking water requirements could not be met from the public supply, water softening and disinfection plants have been set up. As washing water needs became larger and larger and recycling became important, bulk cleaning of the used plates & cups, usage of steam and waste treatment, disinfection and recycling of the treated water for cleaning purposes. Table cleaning and floor mopping using disinfectants have been stream lined. During the night times when the restaurant is not open for service, the rooms, furniture etc., are disinfected. The floors, walls and roof are cleaned. A fleet of trucks move raw materials and cooked stuff in bulk containers, for each commodity. Steam operated mini kitchens keep the food hot.  House keepers are on constant vigil in the dining rooms to monitor and ensure quality service. Left over food and biological waste is composted or used for bio gas generation but not recycled.  It is pernicious habit among smaller restaurants. That there has been no food adulteration or food poisoning case over decades of serving foodstuff to millions of people, speaks volumes of the hygienic practices.

These chain restaurants cannot boast of decor, style or ambience, but serve one whole some meal, in a jiffy at a fraction of the price one has to pay elsewhere. In religious shrines and centers and charitable institutions in India large number of people are supplied food either free or at a subsidized price.  Hundreds or thousands of people are served every day. Ramakrishna Mission’s free meal centers, common kitchens of Aurobindo Ashrams, Sikh Gurdwaras, Sai Baba centres and the biggest of all, the Tirumalai Temple are examples of round the year, food preparations, food kitchens and food service. These are fine examples of disciplined systems and management with continuous innovation and value enhancement.

The temple at Tirumalai in South India is the richest and holiest Hindu shrine. The temple is on a hillock, which is reached by a 8 miles road across some hills. The temple is a vast complex of cottages, and rooms for the visitors to the temple, who invariably spend at least one night in the complex. The visitors to the temple on any day in the year are not less than 30,000 and on festival days, this numbers may go upto 100,000. Getting into the sanctum sanctorum of the temple for a glimpse of the deity in the temple, the main object of the visitor, may take between 2 to 40 hours, depending on the length and size of the queue of people. The management of the mass of the humanity in a most orderly manner in such a gigantic queue, the facilities provided during transit in the queue complex for rest, food and even emergency medical attention are real marvels of crowd management.

Thousands of visitors to the temple have at least one meal, if not more during the time they are on the hill. A modern canteen, is run by the temple authorities, which serves as many as 50,000 to 120,000 meals every day in two periods of 5 hours each. This is not a self service restaurant but a table service system. All that has been narrated earlier on “Udipi” is in practice here and much more. The canteen, the kitchen, the surroundings are sparklingly clean. It is a marvel of engineering and man management on a scale unparalled anywhere. Tremendous entrepreneurship and continuous innovation is key to this marvel of success.

Entrepreneurship is continuous innovation to add value to the product and to the customer. It is a dynamic business management. It is a game of creating new values, new products, new markets, higher quality and greater satisfaction to the customer, and keeping competition at bay.