Frugal innovation

About: Frugal innovation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 472 publications have been published within this topic receiving 9290 citations.

Open global innovation networks as enablers of frugal innovation: propositions based on evidence from India

Abstract: Recent years have seen the emergence of low-cost innovations targeted at economically weaker sections of the society, seeking to align business with social welfare In many instances, results on the ground have been, however, rather sobering as firms have generally (probably justifiably) worried that “good quality, low price” products may cannibalize into their regular business At the same time those very customers that were intended to benefit from the new approach have tended to shy away fearing low quality and social stigma of using cheap products Using multiple case studies of successful affordability-driven innovations (“frugal innovations”) from India we investigate how firms can effectively reduce market and technology uncertainty of product innovations targeted at price-sensitive customers The key criteria to success seem to lie in reducing the overall cost of ownership and enhancing customer perception of quality and image The case studies reveal that affordability-driven innovations are especially successful when firms seek recourse to “open global innovation networks” (OGINs) for collaborative development in all phases of the innovation value chain

The Emergence of Personalized Health Technology

Abstract: Personalized health technology is a noisy new entrant to the health space, yet to make a significant impact on population health but seemingly teeming with potential. Devices including wearable fitness trackers and healthy-living apps are designed to help users quantify and improve their health behaviors. Although the ethical issues surrounding data privacy have received much attention, little is being said about the impact on socioeconomic health inequalities. Populations who stand to benefit the most from these technologies are unable to afford, access, or use them. This paper outlines the negative impact that these technologies will have on inequalities unless their user base can be radically extended to include vulnerable populations. Frugal innovation and public-private partnership are discussed as the major means for reaching this end.

Corporate and Grassroot Frugal Innovation: A Comparison of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Strategies

Abstract: Frugal innovations aim at the development of basic solutions that are affordable for pricesensitive customer groups. This article looks at the similarities and differences between two major approaches, corporate and grassroot frugal innovation, and identifies initial ideas on how the two streams can learn from each other. The three pillars of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social) provide one of the guidelines for the comparison. The research is based on an analysis of case studies from various industries, six of which are presented in this article. There's no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.

How frugal innovation shape global sustainable supply chains during the pandemic crisis: lessons from the COVID-19

Abstract: Purpose- The COVID‐19 crisis has created enormous strain in global supply chains. The disruption has caused severe shortages of critical items, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (e.g. face masks), ventilators, and diagnostics. The failure of industry to meet the sudden demand for these necessary items has caused a severe humanitarian crisis. These situations, resulting from the COVID19, crisis have led to the informal growth of frugal innovation in sustainable global supply chains. In this paper we provide a detailed overview of drivers of frugal-oriented sustainable global supply chains, following lessons acquired from emerging countries' attempt to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/Methodology/Approach- We utilized a focused group approach to identify the drivers and we further validated them using existing literature published in international peer-reviewed journals and reports. We adopted total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) to analyze the complex relationships among identified drivers. Findings- We present a theoretical framework to explain how the drivers are interlinked. We have developed our framework through a synthesis of the TISM modeling and MICMAC analysis. We observed that government financial support, policies & regulations, under the mediating effect of leadership and the moderating effect of national culture and international rules & regulations, has a significant effect on the adoption of emerging technology, volunteering initiatives, and values & ethics. Further, emerging technology, volunteering initiative, and values & ethics have a significant effect on supply chain talent and frugal engineering. These results provide some useful theoretical insights that may help in further investigating the role of frugal innovations in other contexts. Originality/ value- We find that outcomes of the methodical contributions and the resulting managerial insights can be categorized into four levels. Industry and researchers alike can use our study in order to develop the decision-support systems guiding frugal-oriented sustainable global supply chains amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in recovering them thereafter. Suggestions for future research directions are offered and discussed.