Reverse innovation at speres a case study in China

OVERVIEW: Reverse innovation is not always either foreseeable or explicitly pursued by Western companies operating in emerging economies. Sometimes, it arises from the initiative of the foreign subsidiary and results when products initially intended strictly for an emerging market threaten the primary market of the parent company. This has been the case for Speres, an Italian company that developed a product exclusively for the Chinese market that, surprisingly, was eventually more successful in Europe than in the market for which it was developed. The development of the product presented challenges and diffi culties to be dealt with at both the subsidiary and the corporate levels.