Avoiding the Pitfalls of Reverse Innovation : Lessons from Essilor

The economic benefits of reverse innovation are intuitively compelling, but this new innovation strategy presents several challenges to established firms, ranging from fears of product cannibalization to not-invented-here syndrome. French ophthalmic lens maker Essilor has experimented with reverse innovation over several projects; an examination of its experiences suggests how the specific challenges of reverse innovation may be anticipated and overcome to allow companies to better leverage the results of their global innovation efforts.