Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/68261 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 72
Publisher: 
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (TIM), Hamburg
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.
Subjects: 
frugal innovations
bottom of the pyramid
lead markets
open innovation
global innovation
India
open global innovation networks
innovation systems
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
514.44 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.