The Case for 'Reverse Innovation' Now

A sophisticated emerging-market strategy is not optional for companies that want to survive and thrive in the 21st century

BusinessWeek, October 26, 2009 — Is it possible that the most important innovations of the future will be adopted first in the developing world? In a recent Harvard Business Review article General Electric (GE) CEO Jeff Immelt and I argued that this phenomenon, "reverse innovation," will be increasingly common. Since then, the most common question we've been asked is "why now?"

We can answer this question by analyzing how American companies became global and why a new approach is needed going forward.