Description: In light of growing discourse on 'frugal innovation', this book offers novel approaches to innovation based on extensive empirical research. The study complements a decade of scholarly attention on frugal innovation by taking a research-based approach to innovation in resource-scarce and complex institutional contexts. The findings suggest that concepts such as frugal, reverse, jugaad, social, grassroots and inclusive innovation in fact represent heterogeneous assemblies of innovation for social, environmental and economic value. The conceptual framework invites attention to more plural sources and elements in the study of models of innovation to inspire further research in the fields of strategy, innovation, entrepreneurship, economic sociology and development studies. The design framework offers models, metrics and competencies for practitioners and policymakers to identify, evaluate and design frugal innovations. The comprehensive view of frugal innovation demonstrates how firms can implement globally competitive strategies by pursuing innovation for humanity to improve lives for everyone, everywhere.
Brief description: Yasser Bhatti is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London. His social innovation research focuses on the role of emerging market economies and situated actors, such as social entrepreneurs, in emerging trends in innovation that include frugal and reverse innovation. Most recently, he served as an expert on the scientific advisory board of the European Commission project on Frugal Innovation.
Review Quotes: 'Targeted at scholars and providing a solid foundation for future research, Frugal Innovation also offers keen insights on how social entrepreneurs conceive innovation in multiple dimensions. Practitioners will find experience-based frameworks that help them synthesize and communicate the integrative nature of innovations that benefit the underserved. Like social entrepreneurship, frugal innovation is a term with many meanings. Integrative, synthetic, and clear, the authors examine multiple dimensions of innovation and distil frugal innovation as a hybrid approach tuned to environments with extreme resource constraints and resource voids. Both researchers and practitioners will benefit from learning how social entrepreneurs themselves perceive innovation.' Thane Kreiner, Executive Director and Howard and Alida Charney University Professor, Santa Clara University, California