Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the different concepts of innovation in the subsistence marketplace from top-down and bottom-up approaches. This study analyzes the literature on the theme and identified research gaps by constructing a framework based on approaches and innovation concepts, which can guide future research efforts. Additionally, this paper presents two case studies, which can improve the way innovation is developed and diffused in the subsistence marketplace. Design/methodology/approach Through a literature review, this study develops a framework by analyzing innovation concepts in the subsistence marketplace (i.e. base of the pyramid innovation, disruptive innovation, frugal innovation, reverse innovation and inclusive innovation) in light of subsistence marketplace approaches (top-down and bottom-up). Findings The analysis showed critical research gaps, especially a lack of studies involving disruptive and frugal innovations from a bottom-up approach. This paper also concludes that the top-down approach is more common than the bottom-up one. To fill these gaps, this study presents two business plans by illustrating disruptive innovation vs bottom-up approach and frugal innovation vs bottom-up approach. Originality/value The use of real business plans to illustrate proposals having an actual impact on subsistence marketplace regions sheds light on how to address these challenges. By doing so, this paper intends to fill the theoretical gap in disruptive and frugal innovations within a bottom-up approach to promote the development and diffusion of different types of innovation in the subsistence marketplace, and thus provide solutions to alleviate poverty.
Highlights
The academic debate on innovation in the subsistence marketplace and on povertyenvironment issues has taken the center stage (Corsi & Di Minin, 2014; Subramaniam, Ernst,& Dubiel, 2015; Viswanathan & Venugopal, 2015; Venugopal & Viswanathan, 2017)
Analysis of innovation in subsistence marketplace under multiple concepts and approaches To summarize our discussion, we presented the relationship between five innovation concepts in the subsistence marketplace (i.e. BoP innovation, disruptive innovation, frugal innovation, reverse innovation and inclusive innovation) and two subsistence marketplace approaches
The service care can be performed in any room, commercial establishment or public environment with adequate protection. This project is a disruptive innovation with a bottom-up approach because it was developed with an in-depth investigation into the context of the subsistence marketplace and the health-related needs of poor people, who have no access to sophisticated health systems
Summary
The academic debate on innovation in the subsistence marketplace and on povertyenvironment issues has taken the center stage Extant research has focused on the following topics regarding the subsistence marketplace: accessibility (Anderson & Billou, 2007), education (Lee, Lin, Wong, & Calantone, 2011), ease of use (Nakata & Weidner, 2012), low literacy (Viswanathan, Sridharan, Gau, & Ritchie, 2009), scalability (Prahalad, 2012), quality (Foster, 2014), functionality (Ray & Ray, 2010), value chain (Esko, Zeromskis, & Hsuan, 2013), simplicity (Basu, Banerjee, & Sweeny, 2013) and affordability (Anderson & Markides, 2007) Due to these uncertainties, companies dealing with innovation in the subsistence marketplace cannot operate in the same way (Govindarajan & Trimble, 2013), requiring the development of different concepts of innovation. We find some exciting connections in the context of the subsistence marketplace, especially when considering the conditions of uncertainty, level of product performance (high vs low) and demand for consumer technologies (high vs low) (Christensen & Raynor, 2003) To explain this phenomenon, the authors introduced the concept of sustaining and disruptive technologies. The bottom-up approach for solving problems emerges from the individual’s local context to provide insight for making organizational (meso-level) and governmental (macro-level) optimal decisions
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