Innovation strategies of Indian market leaders

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the innovation strategies, and to understand the role of innovation, in the growth of Indian market leaders.Design/methodology/approachThis paper synthesizes recent research on the innovation strategies of Indian companies. It identifies innovation strategy in terms of dimensions used in prior literature such as exploration vs exploitation, market‐pull vs technology push, internal vs external development of capabilities, and product vs process innovation. It also identifies different organizational processes used by Indian market leaders to drive innovation. Finally, it identifies future innovation management challenges likely to be faced by Indian companies.FindingsMarket‐leading Indian companies focus their attention on business model innovation for affordability. They use technology as a means to deliver such innovation rather than innovating in technology per se. They display a high level of ambidexterity in their innovation strategies on the four dimensions of innovation identified. So far, they used top‐down innovation models for breakthrough innovation, and bottom‐up innovation models for “managed innovation”. Going forward, they will need to adopt more research and development‐intensive innovation strategies. They will also have to develop new organizational process models for breakthrough innovation.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights on innovation strategy to Indian firms aspiring for market leadership. Managers in multinational corporations will have a better understanding of the innovation strategies followed by their Indian competitors.Originality/valueIndia is an important growth market for most corporations. This article provides easily accessible insights into the innovation strategies that work in the Indian market.