Hegemony of Network Capabilities, Frugal Innovation and Innovation Strategies: The Innovation Performance Perspective

The emergence of advanced technologies has brought new challenges and opportunities for all kinds of business organizations. In a technologically advanced era, innovation plays a dominant role for the successful operation of the commercial landscape. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the impact of network capabilities (NC) and frugal innovation (FI) on innovation performance (IP). Furthermore, the mediating role of FI and moderating role of innovation strategies has also been tested on the link between NC and IP. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) registered with small and medium enterprises development authorities (SMEDA) were approached for the completion of the current study. Only 509 owner/managers agreed to participate. A quantitative research design was employed for the current study. During the two–three months process of data collection only 387 complete responses were received from the SMEs working in Pakistan’s big cities. Correlation, regression and bootstrap methods were applied to test the study hypotheses. The findings revealed that NC positively affect FI and IP. Furthermore, the findings also confirmed the mediating effect of FI between NC and IP link. The performance of SMEs working in emerging economies is largely based on their innovative activities. In this dynamic scenario SMEs’ survival is attached to continuous IP in their products and services.

PRODUÇÃO ACADÊMICA SOBRE INOVAÇÃO FRUGAL: UMA ANÁLISE BIBLIOMÉTRICA EM PERIÓDICOS INTERNACIONAIS NA ÚLTIMA DÉCADA

Objetivo: Analisar a produção científica na área de Inovação Frugal (IF), nas bases de dados Web of Science e Scopus (CAPES, 2021). Metodologia: A pesquisa é caracterizada como descritiva com abordagem quantitativa e aplicação da técnica bibliométrica. Assim, após definir a técnica e tema, a busca foi realizada nas bases WoS e Scopus por tópico, utilizando os termos “frugal innovation”, com intervalo de tempo de 2010 a 2020, resultando em 306 publicações na WoS e 396 na Scopus. Em seguida, os dados foram organizados na Planilha Excel e após, as publicações foram identificadas nas seguintes categorias: evolução temporal, áreas temáticas, publicações por países, autores e frequência de citações. Por fim, utilizou-se o software VOSViewer para a criação de mapas textuais e clusters de co-citação. Resultados: Destaca-se que a temática de Inovação Frugal vem crescendo em frequência de publicações, destacando-se o ano de 2020. Dentre os resultados, a Índia e Estados Unidos encontram-se entre os primeiros que mais publicam e em nona posição encontra-se o Brasil encontra-se em nona posição. Quanto a area, Gestão, Negócios e Contabilidade tem a primeira posição. Entre os anos de 201 a 2020, somando entre as bases, tem-se o total de 5.281 citações. Originalidade/Valor: O uso da técnica de bibliometria apresenta-se como uma ferramenta relevante para a disseminação do conhecimento científico e tecnológico, possibilitando aos pesquisadores a análise quantitativa, descritiva e prognóstica de publicações realizadas em uma determinada área da ciência. Além disso, este estudo contribui com a disseminação do conhecimento sobre a inovação frugal, que é necessária para países que buscam o desenvolvimento econômico a partir da diminuição do uso de recursos e atendendo uma maior quantidade de pessoas, que antes não tinham acesso a determinados mercados e produtos. Palavra-chave: Inovação, Inovação Frugal, Bibliometria. 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Against Jugaad: Making a Case for Design as Innovation

This paper examines jugaad through the lens of design as problem-solving and a driver of innovation. We include a range of design disciplines that have spatial and material impacts from architecture and urban planning to product design. The paper starts with a brief description of the ways in which jugaad is currently understood, and then proceeds to make the case for why jugaad is neither quality design nor frugal innovation. Our argument draws on a wide-ranging survey of jugaad as an idea across several fields, a series of in-depth interviews where we asked our interlocutors to use examples of work to situate their responses, and our engagement with Charles and Ray Eames’ ideas on design process and pedagogy in The India Report (1958, rep. 1997). In doing so, we wish to not just be against jugaad but to go beyond it, reading it as a crucial component of the design and innovation process but not the design solution or innovation itself.

Strategic Responses During Frugal Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid: the Case of Philips Community Life Centres

When multinational enterprises (MNEs) seek to serve the needs of base of the pyramid (BOP) environments, they are often confronted with several environmental factors, among them, severe resource constraints and institutional complexities. MNEs adopt two overarching strategic orientations to navigate these factors: the strategy to adapt to the new context, or the strategy to shape the context. This paper investigates how and when these strategic orientations are deployed in an MNE. It further explores the intra-organisational tensions and dilemmas that arise when these strategic orientations are implemented. This paper analyzes a case of frugal innovation in a primary care intervention developed and deployed in Kenya by Philips N. V., a Dutch multinational technology company. Several propositions are generated based on the case findings. The paper contributes to the frugal innovation literature which lacks rigorous, in-depth analytical case studies on organisational processes associated with new product development. It also offers managers a useful toolkit that could inform how they could strategically navigate the pressures of BOP environments.

Towards innovation performance of SMEs: investigating the role of digital platforms, innovation culture and frugal innovation in emerging economies

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of digital platforms, frugal innovation and innovation culture (IC) on innovation performance (IP). The mediation role of IC between digital platforms and IP, as well as moderating role of frugal innovation between IC and IP is also tested. Design/methodology/approach Data is collected from 387 top management officials from the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) working in emerging economies, in the current study Pakistan. Quantitative research design was applied for the collection of data and analysis. Various statistical techniques, i.e. correlation and regression, were used. Findings The findings revealed that digital platforms positively affect IC and IP. The results proved that IC mediates the association between digital platforms and IP link. Originality/value The SMEs of emerging economies are working in a dynamic scenario, and their performance in term of innovation is critically needed. Only those businesses that update their products and services according to customers’ demand can achieve success. Hence, SMEs of emerging economies need IP to flourish their businesses. This study highlights an overlooked link of digital platforms with IP and also shows the mediating role of IC.

Unleashing frugal innovation in private higher education institutions via intellectual capital: a systematic literature review

Background: Given the persistent challenges to the higher education business model, private higher education institutions (PHEIs) are exploring myriad ways to increase enrolment and income, while aggressively managing spending. Many PHEIs are facing financial distress and struggling because of decreasing budgets and declining revenue. Thus, carving unique strategies that direct the institution to focus on its core competencies, making additional budget cuts without compromising quality, developing new revenue streams, embracing new technology, and offering affordable programs, will ultimately lead to financial success. Frugal innovation (FI) can shed light on these challenges. Methods: This paper presents a systematic literature review to investigate and analyse prior research that focused on FI within the sphere of intellectual capital (IC) and information technology capabilities (ITC) research, and their relationships in PHEIs. Transfield’s five phases were employed to extract journal articles published over a thirty-year period (1990 to 2020) from major online databases using keyword searches. Although an initial search generated 76,025 papers, the search for IC and FI yielded 41 papers, and finally only two papers were selected as they clearly related IC with FI. Results: There was a research gap in the literature published from 1990 to 2020 regarding IC applications to achieve FI. This work revealed that IC and ITC research for FI in PHEI remain insufficiently explored. Conclusions: Further research is required on the evaluation model of IC, ITC and FI, methodologies, empirical analysis, and the development of measurement metrics. A limitation to this study is the number of keywords selected.