Frugal Innovation: origins, evolution and future perspectives

Abstract

Resumo A inovação frugal tornou-se recentemente um tópico relevante no discurso social e acadêmico. O verdadeiro desafio para essa nova manifestação de inovação caracteriza-se pela introdução de algo novo ou diferente com uso de poucos recursos. As inovações frugais têm ocorrido, em geral, associadas a economias emergentes nas quais se encontram grandes grupos de consumidores na base da pirâmide com necessidades não atendidas. Todavia há evidências crescentes de que este fenômeno está se tornando relevante também nas nações industrializadas, potencialmente afetando a competitividade das empresas domésticas em longo prazo, não apenas no exterior, mas também localmente. Como consequência, os estudiosos da inovação frugal começaram a investigar tentativas de sistematizar esse campo emergente de pesquisa e promover o desenvolvimento desse debate. Desse modo, este ensaio teórico tem por objetivos: apresentar a origem e evolução da abordagem da inovação frugal e sua caracterização atual na literatura; em seguida, discutir perspectivas futuras de estudo no tema; por fim, sugere-se que estudos futuros invistam em pesquisas empíricas, enriquecendo os debates existentes sobre a inovação frugal, principalmente da lente do desenvolvimento econômico local, por meio de resultados financeiros e retornos econômicos. Reforça-se também a necessidade de desenvolvimento de instrumentos de mensuração de inovação frugal.

Defining frugal innovation: a critical review

“…Gupta 39 refers to a new philosophy that involves addressing the needs of those with low purchasing power as the starting point to develop solutions that may be different to mainstream alternatives designed to address the needs of typical market segments. 42 Gupta 39 further added that FI was a response to contextual concerns created with resource constraints to focus on neglected demographic consumers. It is important to note that those at the BOP are not just confined to low-income countries (LICs) but also to markets in higher-income countries (HICs), as people who earn a lower-income than the national average exists in every country, 'frugal innovations can target customers in any segment of the economic pyramid who are price-sensitive by choice or looking for 'simpler' products that best meet their real needs'.…”

“…It is important to note that those at the BOP are not just confined to low-income countries (LICs) but also to markets in higher-income countries (HICs), as people who earn a lower-income than the national average exists in every country, 'frugal innovations can target customers in any segment of the economic pyramid who are price-sensitive by choice or looking for 'simpler' products that best meet their real needs'. 42…”

Geração Z: Infecções Sexualmente Transmissíveis (ISTs) recidivas e emergentes

“…ISTs emergentes é a nomenclatura dada aquelas que surgem através da consequência de algo ou de alguma ação, as recidivas são as que já surgiram e foram erradicadas e, tornaram a serem notificadas (Koerich, 2019).…”

Emergence and Scale-up of Frugal Innovations: The Relevance of University-Industry Interaction

“…Substantial cost reduction means solutions that are cheaper than previous ones, but not necessarily inexpensive. Historically, frugal innovation has been linked to products and services for people with low incomes or the so-called ´base of the pyramid´, but new approaches argue that this frugal principle also applies in economically developed countries or large companies that want to do ´more with less´ (Koerich & Cancellier, 2019;Tiwari et al, 2016), or ´better with less´ (Radjou & Prabhu, 2019).…”

“…Although there is growing literature about frugal innovation, there are still many unanswered questions. One major gap is related with examining the process that leads to frugal innovation outcomes (Koerich & Cancellier, 2019); another is the necessity of a deeper understanding about diffusion and commercialisation of frugal innovations (Hossain et al, 2016;Pisoni et al, 2018). It is often argued that synergies between different actors as local communities, government, non-governmental organisations, universities and industry helps innovation emergence and diffusion, but it is still opaque how these partnerships are made and what characteristics they have.…”