The Disruptive Voice

In post-independence India in the 1950’s, the paint industry was close to non-existent; at the low end, localized regional players provided whitewash for walls while the elite imported paint from Britain such as Goodlass Walls and British Paints. Asian Paints entered the market as an economy brand, creating a market for paints in semi-urban India and built a formidable distribution network. Today, Asian Paints owns nearly twice the market share of their next biggest competitor.

In this episode, two students of the BSSE course, Aishwarya Ramakrishnan and Neha Rambhia, join me to talk about how Asian Paints was able to grow and sustain their success, and what theory would predict about the company’s ambitious plans to move into the whole home décor industry — watch out, Home Depot!

In post-independence India in the 1950’s, the paint industry was close to non-existent; at the low end, localized regional players provided whitewash for walls while the elite imported paint from Britain such as Goodlass Walls and British Paints. Asian Paints entered the market as an economy brand, creating a market for paints in semi-urban India and built a formidable distribution network. Today, Asian Paints owns nearly twice the market share of their next biggest competitor.

In this podcast, two students of the BSSE course, Aishwarya Ramakrishnan and Neha Rambhia, talk about how Asian Paints was able to grow and sustain their success, and what theory would predict about the company’s ambitious plans to move into the whole home décor industry — watch out, Home Depot!

Senior researcher Efosa Ojomo has written in these pages about the impact that Tolaram has had on Nigeria’s economy by introducing the country to an unlikely product: Indomie instant noodles (~$0.17 USD per package). Efosa’s story, How one company defied the odds and is grossing almost $1 billion in revenue… in Nigeria spawned so much interest that he then wrote a second series on the role of culture (in four parts: 1, 2, 3, 4), using the framework of esteemed MIT Professor Emeritus Edgar Schein.

In this podcast, Tolaram Africa CEO Deepak Singhal joins Efosa and myself to talk about his company’s incredible rise and their plans for what’s next.

"What is one man's trash is another man's treasure."

In 1988, Nigeria was under military rule and an incredibly poor country by almost every measure -- GDP, access to clean water, and life expectancy to name just a few. Haresh Aswani of Indonesian conglomerate Tolaram was undeterred, however, and in the "trash," saw an opportunity to build what has become by all measures an incredibly successful business that today manufactures and distributes instant noodles that sell for $0.17 USD a package.

In this podcast, Tolaram Africa CEO Deepak Singhal talks about the challenges and opportunities of entering what may look to many like an uncertain market.

In the 1980’s, Nigeria’s universities were known for their leading research in agriculture and tropical health, but as demand for greater access forced the system to expand faster than it was capable, the quality of education offered took a sharp decline.

Senior researcher Efosa Ojomo joins this episode of the Disruptive Voice to discuss the opportunity for innovation in Nigeria’s higher education system; looks to Taiwan (Formosa Plastics/Ming Chi University), Korea (POSCO/POSTECH), and Vietnam for inspiration; and highlights the work of entrepreneur Gossy Ukanwoke with Beni American University.

In the 1980’s, Nigeria’s universities were known for their leading research in agriculture and tropical health, but as demand for greater access forced the system to expand faster than it was capable, the quality of education offered took a sharp decline. 

Senior researcher Efosa Ojomo joins this episode of the Disruptive Voice to discuss the opportunity for innovation in Nigeria’s higher education system; looks to Taiwan (Formosa Plastics/Ming Chi University), Korea (POSCO/POSTECH), and Vietnam for inspiration; and highlights the work of entrepreneur Gossy Ukanwoke with Beni American University.

Theories mentioned in this episode: Jobs-to-be-done, disruption theory (nonconsumption), RPP’s (resources, processes, and priorities)

The current state of gas prices has many wondering about the future of electric vehicles. In this episode of the Disruptive Voice, senior researcher Tom Bartman explains why low oil prices is not actually bad news for Tesla but questions whether Elon Musk can in fact pull off production of a $35,000 car, the upcoming Model 3.

Also explored in this episode is the impact of the modular nature of car design, the foreign and domestic markets for low speed electric vehicles, and the unique opportunity that asymmetric motivation offers.

Forum Director and BSSE Professor Derek van Bever talks to students about their final paper for the elective course Building and Sustaining a Successful Enterprise.

According to a recent study by consulting firm A.T. Kearney, robo advisors will manage over $2 trillion in the U.S. by 2020. Assets under management (AUM) are expected to increase 68% annually.

For their final essay, Krishna Kantheti and George Rudolph (both MBA 2016) drew on their experiences from working in the financial services industry along with the theories taught in the BSSE course to explain why, as a complete newcomer to the financial services industry, robo advisory company Betterment was able to experience such exceptional growth so quickly ($3B+ AUM in 5 years), how its offering is differentiated from other seemingly similar products by better-known providers, and examine where it should look next.

63.2 million people in Nigeria don’t have safe access to water.

A common response to this statistic is to want to give these people access to safe water — which is exactly what inspired Efosa Ojomo to co-found Poverty Stops Here, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide access to clean water and sanitation resources, micro-loans to help start a new or expand a current business, and education/health initiatives for children in Nigeria. But despite all of the research on development that Efosa had done prior to starting this nonprofit, things didn’t go exactly as planned.