A couple years ago a consultant friend asked me what I thought the next big thing would be after Six Sigma and Lean. I didn’t have an answer, but BusinessWeek thinks it knows.

It’s called jugaad, and it’s “fast becoming the latest buzzword in academic and management consulting circles” (“From India, the Latest Management Fad,” Reena Jana, BusinessWeek, December 2, 2009).

Pronounced joo-gaardh, jugaad is a Hindi slang word that means innovation to meet a customer’s immediate needs using scarce resources. Literally translated, it means “put-together contraption that moves.” In India, it’s commonly used to describe vehicles made out of whatever materials are available, most notably water pump sets that are converted into engines. According to Wikipedia, “the brakes of these vehicles very often fail and one of the passengers jumps down and applies a wooden block as a brake.”

If you don’t think that’s much of a threat to replace Six Sigma, you’re not thinking big enough. McKinsey consultants have begun discussing jugaad principles with their clients. Even Best Buy and Oracle are using jugaad to create more economical products and services.

We’re probably lucky they don’t build cars.

Still, the idea behind jugaad—innovation that is affordable and scalable—sounds appealing. Distancing it from its shoddy reputation will require a new horde of experts who can create a methodology that incorporates Six Sigma standards, Lean efficiency, and jugaad innovation.

Umm, excuse me while I call my consultant friend about that next big thing.

(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

 Loading ...