I LOVE cooking my own food. It's not that I don't like my wife's cooking, but I prefer to concoct a dish that borders at the intersection of Filipino and Japanese cuisine. One example is converting "pinakbet" (a variety of vegetables, pork and shrimp paste) to taste like heavenly Japanese. The trick is to remove the bitter gourd and add curry instead of shrimp paste.

Another example is converting a can of Ligo sardine to taste like Japanese. This means adding a generous amount of onion, plus rice wine, sugar, and Kikkoman soy sauce. If Ligo management is reading this, maybe they can try it for size alongside with their other variants, like their Spanish-style and in "gata" (coconut milk).

The trouble is that, no matter how delectable these experimental concoctions are, my wife, who is good at cooking my breakfast omelet, would not even touch them. I explained to her that she's missing one-fourth of her life with my bold creations. She ignored me. One month later, my wife experimented with Japchae made of glass noodles, shredded cabbage, julienne-cut carrots, beef bits, egg, sesame oil, all flavored with Bulgogi sauce.

The result was horrific, despite the sophistication of its ingredients. The noodles were soggy, while the beef bits were tough. I kept asking how the Bulgogi sauce came into the picture. When I checked the bottle, she admitted using only two spoonfuls, like it was a fish sauce. She says Bulgogi is expensive. That's why.

Not invented here (NIH)

When I created some variations of Filipino cuisine, my wife and children would routinely reject the idea. They think my inventions are not yet universally acceptable in the family's palate, but more importantly, they were not handed down by our grandparents, who were experts in adobo and chicken afritada. It's the same thing in business.

When introduced to a new idea, many people and their organizations tend to challenge these ideas in so many ways. Their killer phrases are often trite: "It's not applicable in this industry." "No, we've tried it before and failed." "We've our own similar program, but better."

Organizations prefer to use their homegrown ideas, as far superior than other tools and techniques. But not for long, like what Motorola and General Electric did with the "Six Sigma Scam," a term used by many business netizens, like Dr. Tony Burns, who describes it as "ridiculously out of control."

What's admirable is in the case of Toyota that has successfully developed a homegrown Toyota Production System in 1945 with the help of management icon Taiichi Ohno. So, if there's any successful homegrown system that you'd like to emulate, use simple tools like Fishbone Diagram and ask at least five times to deep dive into the root cause of a problem.

The sooner, the better because you don't want a problem to wreak havoc in your business operations.

Behind all this, we can readily understand that it's better to use easy and practical approaches, if not common-sense thinking against Six Sigma that relies heavily on complex statistical frameworks that are often rejected by people who hate math.

Toyota is one good example of the NIH syndrome. Surely, in its early years, Toyota learned much from Ford Motor and improved over time what it learned from the latter. Instead of applying what it learned from Ford, Toyota adjusted the lessons to make it acceptable to the Japanese culture and its values.

Japan, being a nationalistic and generally xenophobic country, is a good example for its strong bias against ideas from outside. That's how they cling to the NIH. That explains why Toyota is a bit slow in shifting to electric vehicles like what Tesla is doing. And the fact that EVs lack the infrastructure and require high investment cost to mass produce them makes a good argument.

Jeepney modernization

Among other reasons, the NIH syndrome is a good example on why jeepney operators and drivers oppose the government's jeepney modernization program. For one, it's the high cost of a China-made jeepney that is priced between P1.6 million and P2.4 million per unit compared to the locally-made unit valued at P980,000.

The price difference is pretty obvious, plus the fact that the oppositors may subscribe to its nationalistic pride rather than patronize imported models that are made by China, a much-hated country because of its bullying activities in the West Philippine Sea.

In conclusion, we make decisions based on so many factors, including the NIH argument. If it's not invented in our organization, then why bother? Of course, it's bothersome, if a foreign product is far more superior than a local one. If that's the case, then we have no choice but to buy it until a local manufacturer comes along with a much better creation.

Rey Elbo is a business consultant specializing in human resources and total quality management. Contact him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter) or email elbonomics@gmail.com or via https://reyelbo.com