It is said that Innovation is the ability to see change as an
 opportunity - not a threat. Most organizations however resist change
 rather than riding it. The result is common - well-known brands and
 organizations lie by the side while newer, more nimble organizations
 whiz by.
 
 There was a time in our country when manufacturing the product was all
 that an organization was required to do. This was the Era of
 Production, an era when the License Raj reigned supreme and the
 consumer was an unknown entity who simply bought a product. There was
 no consumer need analysis, no market research or insighting process,
 and no effort taken to even convince the consumer to purchase the
 product. It was an era where the consumer had only once choice - either
 to buy the product or not. There was often no substitute or competing
 products.
 
 This Era then transformed gradually in to the Era of Selling, when
 companies started moving towards very basic levels of marketing.
 Products were made and then a communication woven around the product.
 Consumers had limited choices, but it was not a guarantee that the
 choices that they were presented with necessarily fulfilled their
 needs.  Companies that did well during this period were usually ones
 that outshouted their competitors, irrespective of the product
 offerings. This era however gave the consumer a taste of what today is
 aptly called consumerism.
 
 The Era which we are in today can be called the Era of Marketing.
 Products are no longer manufactured blindly. Rather consumers are
 co-opted into the process of development of the product by way of
 market researches and consumer insighting processes. Consumer needs are
 unearthed using various techniques and products are developed
 accordingly.  More importantly, a wide variety of products are made
 available, respecting the fact that with a billion consumers,
 requirements can be unique. Crowd-sourcing, a recent phenomenon is an
 extension of this where ideas are actively sought from consumers and
 taken into product development. The rapid rise of the internet, and
 especially social media, has given voice to a fresh breed of consumers
 - those that demand that companies acknowledge the shift in bargaining
 power.
 
 I am glad to share that MIRC Electronics has kept abreast of all these
 changes that the market has gone through. We have initiated a Consumer
 Connect initiative where managers across functions and across all
 levels visit homes of consumers and understand their needs and usage of
 products. Observations made during these interactions help us
 understand requirements better, and accordingly design and develop
 products. Many of our new product developments are a result of ideas
 that germinated during these consumer interactions. In a way, we have
 co-opted the consumer into our development process We plan to use
 social media more effectively in the coming years and ensure that we
 reflect the voice of the consumer.
 
 We strongly believe that an organization has to innovate and
 differentiate to stay ahead of the market. Launching product after
 product may help keep the factories busy and our godowns full, but it
 is unlikely to satisfy todays discerning consumer, and definitely
 unlikely to keep the cash.  Innovation requires that each arm of the
 organization is inextricably linked to the other in the new product
 development stage. We mandate that our Marketing and Research &
 Development functions work very closely to develop a core competency
 which we can leverage upon. This ensures that we capture needs
 accurately and the people that are involved in development of the
 product are fully clued in to market needs.
 
 At MIRC, we have also realized that the strategic intents of
 yesterday can no longer light the path for the future.  1 In the
 fiercely competitive world, a totally different kind of approach is
 warranted, and we are consciously moving away from the Red Ocean
 strategy to the Blue Ocean strategy.
 
 To illustrate:
 
 Red Ocean Strategy of the Past     Blue Ocean Strategy for the Future
 
 Compete in existing market spaces  Create uncontested market spaces
 
 Beat the competition with better 
 offerings                          Make competition irrelevant
                                    by redefining the landscape and
                                    changing the rules of the game
 
 Exploit existing demand            Create and capture new demand
 
 Make a value-cost trade-off and 
 satisfy consumers                  Break the value-cost trade-off 
                                    and delight consumers
 
 Align the whole system of a 
 firms activities with             Align the whole system of a 
                                    firms activities in pursuit of
 a strategic choice of Cost 
 OR Differentiation                 Cost AND Differentiation
 
 Our aim is to work untiringly on creating uncontested spaces to operate
 in with the kind of products we launch. Hence, launch of me-too
 products would be a rare phenomenon at MIRC. By constantly innovating,
 one can not only outdo competition, but in fact make them irrelevant by
 redefining the market itself. Our products have always been an attempt
 to create new demand in the market and appropriate that demand for
 ourselves.
 
 As an organization, MIRC strongly believes in generating value for our
 stake-holders. Profit-share is the mantra the organization lives and
 breathes and we believe that this, more than simply market-share, is
 what will sustain us in the long run. We are committed to delivering
 value to our stake-holders and every choice that we choose to make as
 an organization shall reflect this.