Purpose This study aims to focus on implementing frugal innovation and its principles by social entrepreneurs to face the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research paper discusses the case of an Indian social entrepreneur who works for menstrual health and hygiene of unprivileged and rural women in India. The social entrepreneur’s constant endeavor is to create an ecosystem to ensure rural women’s economic and social upliftment through financial inclusion and livelihood training. When faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the social entrepreneur re-purposed the manufacturing process to produce masks that were the need of the hour. Design/methodology/approach The research paper is qualitative and follows an inductive case study approach. The underlying principles of frugal innovation are established through content analysis of the social entrepreneur’s interviews and her team members. Findings The study discusses how adversity can be an opportunity for social entrepreneurs by implementing frugal innovation principles, i.e. re-use, re-purpose, re-combine and rapidity, in times of crisis. Research limitations/implications One of the major limitations of this study is that it is based on a single case study, as, in the current scenario, this case appeared to be the most suitable one. There is no way to generalize the assumptions of this model. Researchers will have to study the phenomena of frugal innovation in adversity across multiple cases in the future. Also, the study is based on a single emerging economy, i.e. India. Further research may be carried out with such cases from other countries. Practical implications The proposition of this research paper will help new and established social entrepreneurs understand that the four principles of frugal innovation and their practical application by a social entrepreneur. This will act as a guiding light for the present and future entrepreneurs regarding how one can respond to a crisis. This will also help advance our understanding of the distinct ways in which social entrepreneurs’ activities can help society in times of crisis. The findings of this research paper provide timely implications for social entrepreneurs. To respond efficiently to various crises, it is important to consider its effect on social entrepreneurship. Social implications The research paper shows that the social enterprise has implemented frugal innovation principles to manufacture the COVID-19 protection items supplied through existing supply chain networks. Also, a social entrepreneur is not intimidated by the sudden changes in the business environment; instead, they look at the situation as an opportunity to do something new. They are always willing to take the risk to innovate a solution that will address people’s problems. frugal innovation, due to its highly collaborative nature and its ability to make the most from limited resources, is the only way social entrepreneurs can create an inclusive, secure and sustainable future. Originality/value There are several challenges in social entrepreneurship, especially in emerging economies like India. During the pandemic, availability of resources was the major challenge, due to which social entrepreneurs had to find solutions through frugal innovation. This paper provides the practical application of the four principles of frugal innovation implemented by a social enterprise to manufacture and supply Covid protection items. It also presents the practical and managerial implications of the principles of frugal innovation by social entrepreneurs in low resource settings.
The theory of conscious capitalism is based on the idea that when business is done consciously, it promotes humanity intrinsically. This philosophy is rooted in the four tenets of higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership and conscious culture and management as given by Mackey and Sisodia (2013). All social entrepreneurs are motivated by a higher purpose to provide sustainable solutions to neglected problems with the help of positive externalities (Santos, 2012). They have the capacity to envision, share and execute the deep-seated higher purpose (Mourkogiannis, 2006). Such a higher purpose with a social angle has been depicted in the case of Vyomini. The case is about a social entrepreneur Prachi Kaushik, the founder of Vyomini. She works for menstrual health and hygiene of unprivileged and rural women in India. Prachi’s constant endeavour was to create an ecosystem for the economic and social upliftment of these women through financial inclusion and livelihood training. She understood the problem, empathized with the women and provided a simple, economical manufacturing technique using locally available, biodegradable raw materials to provide an inclusive solution. This case describes her journey in creating an innovative business model by the adoption of design thinking and implementation of higher purpose in the business. Dilemma: For ensuring menstrual health and hygiene among less privileged rural women should the sanitary napkins of big brands be distributed at a subsidized cost or design and develop a special product suitable for this segment of the market? Theory: Entrepreneurial inclusive business model Type of the case: Experience-based applied single case study Protagonist: The owner of the firm Options Distribute existing brands at a subsidized cost. Develop a new product that is biodegradable, free of carcinogenic compounds and cost-effective. Get it manufactured by subcontractors. The design also a cost-effective manufacturing process and empower women of less privileged background to manufacture and sell. Discussions and Case Questions How can the sources of supply and manufacturing be made robust so that they can be scaled up? Should the product be offered to different segments of the market with differential pricing? In order to expand reach, which channels should be added for a taboo product like sanitary napkins?
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the different personality types and Facebook behavior of the young Indian consumers in the context of e-tailing. With the increased popularity of Facebook, consumers and e-tailers are using it as a platform to connect better with each other. This paper makes an attempt to study the motive and online purchasing behavior of youth by examining Facebook posts and understanding their relationship with personality and gender. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on 200 young Indian consumers who use Facebook as well as follow at least one e-tailer on Facebook. The responses to the survey were used to test the proposed conceptual model to find out the relationship of personality types and gender with Facebook behavior, type of post liked on Facebook, reason to use Facebook and motive to follow an e-tailer on Facebook using descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests. Findings The tests showed that gender of online consumers influences their Facebook behavior and the type of post that they like the most on Facebook. The personality type of the online consumers has a significant influence on the motive to follow an e-tailer on Facebook and the reason to use Facebook. It implies that the Facebook pages of e-tailers should plan their posts keeping the gender and personality type of their followers in mind. In this manner, Facebook can be used as a platform by the e-tailers to increase their consumer base, especially among the youth. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this study are the respondents for this study are in the age group of 15-25 years only and the results of the study may vary with the change in the age group. The respondents are Indians by nationality and the results may vary for different nations. Practical implications This paper provides an insight to the e-tailer about attracting young consumers on their Facebook page in the context of their gender and personality type to enhance the reach and expand their business. This research paper is informative to the e-tailers who have budgets for social media marketing to know about social media usage by youth for online shopping. Originality/value Presently, India has a demographic advantage and this paper contributes to understand the youth social media usage for online shopping. The e-tailers can relate the findings to develop strategies to enhance their customer base. This research paper will contribute to the existing literature on social media marketing and e-tailing.
In the 21st century, the use of Internet and web applications have become a major component of advertising. The advantage of online advertising is that advertisers can monitor the online behaviour of consumers and show personalised advertisements to targeted consumers. There has been a phenomenal rise in the number of conscious consumers who believe that a company's values should match their own. Some organisations work to achieve a higher purpose. There arises a need for such conscious consumers to be identified, based on their characteristic features, as a separate segment. The values of this particular segment should match with those of a purpose-driven company. The best way to do this is by showing personalised online advertisements to these target consumers so that they are aware of the higher purpose that the company wants to achieve. Thus, this research paper attempts to present a conceptual framework to identify the segment of conscious consumers and inform them about the higher purpose which a conscious business wants to achieve through online behavioural advertisements, and instil in their minds an implied social label.
Crisis and resilience are two sides of the same coin. Each crisis is unique, and its occurrence has impelled businesses to face a different set of limitations and prospects. The pandemic has offered many difficulties to social entrepreneurs, especially from emerging economies like India. The aim of the chapter is to analyze the factors of sustainable resilience that were implemented by the social entrepreneurs. The factors of sustainable resilience are identified through rigorous literature reviews along with their sub-factors. The identified key factors are examined by a qualitative approach. Interviews were carried out with Indian social entrepreneurs and their team members. The factors and sub-factors of sustainable resilience during the various phases of the crisis are established by content analysis. The study explains the role of the factors identified during the different phases of the crisis. This is one of the primary studies on sustainable resilience in the context of social enterprises which identifies the factors leading to sustainable resilience during adversity.
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