Building

Innovation
Capabilities
Abrar Ali Saiyed
Assistant Professor
Entrepreneurship and Management
Ozyegin University

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Weakness of Knowledge Management Practices
in MindTree

It is internally focused and only loosely linked to business strategy and customer needs.

It has had limited impact on senior executives, who at times see knowledge management activities as detracting from “rea
l work.”

It involves limited accountability, especially with respect to communities, whose performance and contributions are left la
rgely unevaluated.

It may have limited impact on innovation because the focus is primarily on knowledge sharing rather than on
creativity or the development of new ideas.
Summary on What should be done with the 5*50
Initiative

In essence, 5*50 requires a fundamental shift in the orientation of the knowledge management function: from
supporting knowledge sharing to supporting creativity and innovation. 

The new initiative demands a business perspective; previously, the focus was social and technological. New capabilities
are needed and
new people, with different backgrounds and expertise, may be required. Knowledge of strategy, corporate entrepreneu
rship, business models, finance, and marketing will have to be added to the current set of technical and IT skills.

Knowledge management staff will have to learn to work comfortably with general managers and business CEOs, as well
as members of the strategy function. To lead these shifts, a new CKO may be needed, with more of general
management background and more of an external, customer focus.
Key Learnings from the Case
1. DEFINE CLEAR OBJECTIVES FOR DEVELOPING
INNOVATION CAPABILITIES  ( FOCUSING ON EXTERNAL
STAKEHOLDERS, INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS,
DEVELOPING INNOVATION AND CREATIVE
ORGANIZATION)
2. PRIORITIZING THE OBJECTIVES AND LINKING THE 3. DEVELOPING OUTCOME AND PERFORMANCE-
INITIATIVES ( KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT. DRIVEN INNOVATION CAPABILITIES
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE) WITH BUSINESS AND
CUSTOMER NEEDS
Collaborative Nature
of Innovation Process
• Innovations most often arise from the interplay of ideas that occur during the
interactions of people with diverse expertise, experience, or points of view.
• Flashes of insight may play a role but most often they simply build on and
contribute to the collaborative work of others.
• Not only need to be Inventor but the leader of invention
• everyone has a slice of genius to contribute to the collective genius of the whole.
• First, the people and groups in them do collaborative problem solving, which we
call creative abrasion. Second, they try things and learn by discovery,
demonstrating creative agility. Third, they create new and better solutions
because they integrate existing ideas in unanticipated ways, practicing creative
resolution.
Knowledge
Management Definition
• “Knowledge management refers to [those
activities, practices, processes, systems, and tools
that are used for] identifying and leveraging the
[individual and] collective knowledge in an
organization to help the organization compete.”
• Alavi and Leidner, “Review: Knowledge
Management and Knowledge Management
Systems,” MIS Quarterly. March 2001, p. 113.

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