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Understanding innovation in low-income markets

Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.

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Other Authors: Tashmia
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Published: University of Pretoria 2013
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Tashmia
author_browse Tashmia
author_facet Tashmia
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria
description Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2013
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/23745 Understanding innovation in low-income markets Tashmia ichelp@gibs.co.za Harrison, Rebecca UCTD Innovation Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. As western markets stagnate, companies are looking to the emerging world for growth, and have begun to experiment with offerings that target the four billion microconsumers at the base of the pyramid. To successfully engage these emerging consumers, firms must innovate around their product offerings and business models. This report sought to better understand innovation in a low-income market context. It explored what drives companies to enter low-income markets, the triggers for innovation in these markets, and the characteristics of that innovation, drawing particularly on Clayton Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation. Nineteen interviews with executives at 11 companies operating in South Africa were interviewed in order to test propositions derived from the literature. The findings showed that companies enter low-income markets largely in pursuit of growth, but that a variety of secondary factors also play a role. The data indicated that innovation in low-income markets is often triggered by negative factors such as lack of infrastructure or limited buying power, rather than the positive factors cited in much of the existing innovation literature. Finally, it illustrated that companies often exhibit the elements of disruptive innovation when they engage with emerging consumers. The report then offered two models -- Innovation in low-income contexts: a descriptive model, and the Emerging Consumer Innovation Web -- to help companies frame the innovation process in a low-income context. It concluded that companies need to adopt a new philosophy of innovation when engaging emerging consumers, one which embraces the challenge of low-income markets as a springboard for innovation and a catalyst for creativity. Copyright Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) MBA Unrestricted 2013-09-06T15:51:12Z 2011-05-11 2013-09-06T15:51:12Z 2010-11-10 2010 2011-04-03 Dissertation Harrison, R 2010, Understanding innovation in low-income markets, MBA Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23745> F11/103/ag http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23745 http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04032011-180753/ © 2010, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Innovation
Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title_full Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title_fullStr Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title_full_unstemmed Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title_short Understanding innovation in low-income markets
title_sort understanding innovation in low income markets
topic UCTD
Innovation
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23745
http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-04032011-180753/