{"id":437,"date":"2012-11-05T16:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T16:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/news\/2012\/november\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-startups-latitude-news\/"},"modified":"2021-11-02T12:27:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T12:27:39","slug":"in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/","title":{"rendered":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.<\/p>\n

Why did the government of Northern Ireland help sponsor a conference for Indian-American entrepreneurs in Boston last week?<\/p>\n

Because \u201cthe next great idea can come from anywhere,\u201d says Gary Hanley, Senior Vice President for Invest Northern Ireland<\/a>, in an interview with Latitude News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Hanley thinks Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, has a lot in common with Boston, where he\u2019s based.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Northern Ireland, we\u2019ve put education at the center of economic development,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have two excellent universities and a lot of young engineers. We invest in telecommunications and infrastructure . . . it\u2019s a great place to build software and produce technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland has become a popular destination for Indian companies looking to expand in Europe, Hanley told the audience\u00a0at a conference hosted by\u00a0the Boston chapter of\u00a0The Indus Entrepreneurs<\/a>\u00a0(TiE). He believes it\u2019s a natural fit for American business too.<\/p>\n

Innovation goes global<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mike Grandinetti<\/a>, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Hult International Business School<\/a>, agrees that globalization is changing the way we think about innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a global story of supply and demand,\u201d he says. \u201cA lot of big American companies have woken up and realized there are bright people all over the world, not just in Silicon Valley or Boston. IBM actually employs more people in India than in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Massachusetts-based tech multinational\u00a0EMC<\/a>\u00a0now has innovation hubs, or \u201cCenters of Excellence,\u201d in North Carolina, Israel, Russia, China, India, Egypt and Ireland.<\/p>\n

In the 50s and 60s,\u00a0Grandinetti explains, big corporations like IBM excelled\u00a0at taking groundbreaking research from their labs and bringing it to market. Then as corporate structures ossified \u2014 and Procter & Gamble became known as the \u201cKremlin on the Ohio River\u201d \u2014 small, lean start-ups took the lead on innovation. Now Grandinetti sees the pendulum swinging back the other way.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporations are more entrepreneurial than they\u2019ve ever been,\u201d he argues, describing how corporate giants have hired entrepreneurs to work inside their companies with limited top-down supervision \u2014 like a start-up \u2014 and given them resources on a much larger scale than a small business could provide. \u201cThese companies probably aren\u2019t going to miss out\u00a0on the next internet market like Microsoft did,\u201d he says, \u201cor on PC\u2019s like IBM.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Grandinetti says, that means consumers in America will have \u201caccess to better products more quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as growth slows in the G7 and U.S. economies, he believes big companies will find new opportunities in emerging markets.<\/p>\n

A text in time saves . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n

With a text messaging service, Intuit has helped Indian farmers sell their produce at the best price. (Reuters)<\/div>\n

With a text messaging service, Intuit has helped Indian farmers sell their produce at the best price. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Allison Mnookin is the Vice President and General Manager of QuickBase<\/a>, a division of the large American software company Intuit<\/a>. She also spoke at the TiE conference.<\/p>\n

She tells Latitude News<\/em> that innovation is one of Intuit\u2019s top priorities, and it has to be self-generated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe in the value of unstructured time,\u201d Mnookin says. \u201cWe\u00a0give all employees the opportunity to use 10 percent of their time on projects that they see as having value.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when Intuit opened a development office in Bangalore, its employees set themselves a challenge: solve big problems in a way that would improve daily life in India.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest: Indian farmers \u2014 Mnookin says there are around 270 million of them \u2014 told Intuit they weren\u2019t sure where to sell the produce they had grown. The farmers had critical questions: Which market is buying what fruit or vegetable? Where does the middle man take the lowest cut? Where are the most consumers located?<\/p>\n

Food spoils quickly in India\u2019s hot climate, adding a time-sensitive dimension to the farmers\u2019 concerns, and many desperate agricultural workers have resorted to suicide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Intuit came up with a solution: in India, even poor farmers usually own a mobile phone \u2014 not a smart phone necessarily, but something that can receive text messages. Within three or four weeks, Intuit employees were standing in marketplaces, texting farmers about the prices of various kinds of produce, allowing them to sell their goods at the best market value.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is once you have a hypothesis, test it as fast as you can,\u201d Mnookin says, \u201cthen improve it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Fasal<\/a>, as the text program is known, is a free service that earns revenue by selling ad space. It\u00a0has over one million Indian users and, according to Mnookin, has boosted farmers\u2019 bottom line by an average of 15 percent.<\/p>\n

And Mnookin says Intuit\u2019s experience in North America helps it operate in India: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter where you are. The challenges for small businesses \u2014 those are far more universal than we at first believed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full Latitude News article.<\/p>\n

Make the most of what your career has to offer with a Masters in International Business<\/a> from Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog Why female entrepreneurs are driving the start-up recovery<\/a>, or give your employability a huge boost with an MBA in international business<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to explore everything about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[191],"yoast_head":"\nIn global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hult International Business School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Hult\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Hult_Business\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Hult_Business\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Hult International Business School\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Hult\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hultbusinessschool\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/hult\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hult\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hult_Business\"],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hult-social-profile.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hult-social-profile.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Hult International Business School\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Hult International Business School\",\"description\":\"The latest insights and stories from Hult International Business School\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/\",\"name\":\"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News]\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb82ebb61f5640584f301b1744ff550\"},\"headline\":\"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News]\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":922,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"entrepreneurship\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb82ebb61f5640584f301b1744ff550\",\"name\":\"Hult News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2018\/04\/logo-100x100.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2018\/04\/logo-100x100.png\",\"caption\":\"Hult News\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School","description":"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School","og_description":"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/","og_site_name":"Hult International Business School","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Hult","article_published_time":"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Hult_Business","twitter_site":"@Hult_Business","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization","name":"Hult International Business School","url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Hult","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hultbusinessschool\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/school\/hult\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/hult","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Hult_Business"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hult-social-profile.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2022\/08\/hult-social-profile.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Hult International Business School"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/","name":"Hult International Business School","description":"The latest insights and stories from Hult International Business School","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/","name":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News] | Hult International Business School","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00","description":"Panel discussion on global innovation, hosted by The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). TiE\u2019s mission, says Executive Director Vanita Shastri, is to foster entrepreneurship and help aspiring young entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking and education.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News]"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb82ebb61f5640584f301b1744ff550"},"headline":"In global search for ideas, big companies mimic start-ups [Latitude News]","datePublished":"2012-11-05T16:08:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-02T12:27:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#webpage"},"wordCount":922,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["entrepreneurship"],"articleSection":["Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/in-global-search-for-ideas-big-companies-mimic-start-ups-latitude-news\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ebb82ebb61f5640584f301b1744ff550","name":"Hult News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2018\/04\/logo-100x100.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/media\/uploads\/2018\/04\/logo-100x100.png","caption":"Hult News"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26694,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437\/revisions\/26694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}