Deepening Inclusive Innovation In Frugal Context : A cross-case comparative study

Abstract: Inclusive Innovation (II) and Frugal Innovation (FI) have been trending concepts in the theoretical field as organizations put more focus on sustainability, equality, and inclusion in their strategies and cultures. However, the discourse among researchers in the domain has been deeply focused on the conceptualization of the ideas, leaving the practical implications aside. In this paper, we aim to understand how companies develop inclusive and frugal innovations, together with identifying key success factors along the way. For this, we assembled an analytical framework based on literature review, with the aim of applying the theoretical tools into three practical case studies. In these, the level of innovation, degree of frugality, and design problems are examined for each of the presented companies, and later compared in a cross-case analysis. The results ofthe paper show that the context and affordability of the products are essential in ensuring a high degree of inclusion of the solutions developed specifically for the low income end users.