New publication on “Soft Power of Frugal Innovation”

New working paper by Rajnish Tiwari and Jaideep Prabhu: “Soft Power of Frugal Innovation and its Potential Role in India’s Emergence as a Global Lead Market for Affordable Excellence”

In a fruitful cooperation between Center for Frugal Innovation (CFI) and the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Rajnish Tiwari and Jaideep Prabhu have published a conceptual paper on the potential role of frugal innovations in contributing to “soft power” of its creators.

An edited version of this paper is scheduled to appear as a chapter in a forthcoming book on Indian soft power by the Ananta Aspen Centre (AAC). The paper has been published in the Working Paper series of the TUHH Institute for Technology and Innovation Management. The project was initiated after being requested by the AAC to contribute a chapter to the aforementioned contributed volume in May 2017. The chapter was finally contributed in January 2018 and is now in the process of publication.

Abstract:

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Featured publication: “Made in India for the World”

Made in India for the World: An Empirical Investigation into Novelty and Nature of Innovations

Authors: Daniel Tobias Hagenau, Rajnish Tiwari

Abstract: After an initial introduction into the areas of innovations within emerging markets, the study develops a consistent innovation typology for categorizing large data samples from a variety of existing literature. It then describes and finally evaluates a sample of 178 innovations for the Indian market based on 38 different criteria. It uses internet-based news reports over a 2 year timeframe for the study sample.

TLead Market Indiahe study’s results show a considerable amount of radical innovations and innovations with disruptive potential among the sample and a special concentration on small- and micro-sized innovators from India. It confirms previous suggestions that India is especially focused on innovations within the software and electronics engineering sectors. The results also support the importance of local knowledge and ‘social capital’ for successful disruptive innovation. Finally, a perceivable increase in the technology orientation of innovations by foreign companies suggests a continuous build-up of local technology-competence and foreign trust in the same.

A focus on local competencies and the leading position of India concerning innovative distribution are among the managerial implication of the study. It also opens numerous avenues for future research, expanding both depth and scale of the database as well as the analysis underlying this study.

[Check the publisher’s version]

[Read the unedited, authors’ version]

Keywords: Frugal Innovation; India; Innovation Typology; Disruptive Innovation; Local Competencies 

Suggested citation: Hagenau D.T., Tiwari R. (2017) Made in India for the World: An Empirical Investigation into Novelty and Nature of Innovations. In: Herstatt C., Tiwari R. (eds) Lead Market India. India Studies in Business and Economics. P. 163-192, Springer, Cham

The featured publications series

With this article, CFI is introducing a new series of “featured publications” with the intention to share its select contributions to the social and scholarly discourse with the broad community. Some of these article have been published in mediums that are not freely available to the public. In such cases, we will seek to provide access to unedited, authors’ versions of the publications, wherever feasible.

Investigating Frugality and Innovation in Japan

TUHH and TokyoTech collaborate with support of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to investigate relevance of frugal innovations in the context of Japan

Group photo (L2R): R. Tiwari, M. Tsujimoto and C. Herstatt

Group photo (L2R): R. Tiwari, M. Tsujimoto and C. Herstatt at TokyoTech (Tamachi Campus)

The Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) via its Center for Frugal Innovation at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TokyoTech) via its Department of Technology and Innovation Management at School of Environment and Society (Tamachi Campus), have decided to join hands to conduct joint research to investigate the phenomenon of frugal innovation in the Japanese context. At first, a preliminary research is being conducted with support from JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) to generate initial impressions and take stock of the status-quo of frugal innovations in Japan. A mid-term objective is to conduct comparative studies between Germany and Japan with the objective of enabling mutual learnings. Continue reading

Interview: “Marktgerechte Produkte werden immer wichtiger”

Prof. Dr. Cornelius Herstatt and Dr. Rajnish Tiwari, co-founders of the Center for Frugal Innovation, were interviewed by Insight Asia Pacific, the house magazine of  OAV – German Asia Pacific Business Association, a renowned institution that, in its own words, “strives to promote stronger bilateral economic relationships between Germany and the Asia-Pacific region. Through its extensive corporate and institutional network, the OAV supports German companies and their ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region.”

The German-language interview spread over two pages was published in the issue 01/2015. The questions covered issues such as the reasons behind creation of R&D centers by German firms in Asia and the opportunities and challenges associated with them, the question of patents and the safety of intellectual property rights, and the potential of frugal innovations in the emerging economies of Asia. A PDF version of the interview is provided here with the kind permission of the publishers.

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New article: “Changing Dynamics of Lead Markets: A New Role for Emerging Economies as Innovation Hubs”

A new article by Rajnish Tiwari and Cornelius Herstatt, published in The European Financial Review, issue April/May 2014, pp. 69-72.

Lead markets play a crucial role in the global diffusion of innovations. Innovative firms actively seek access to such markets whilst policy makers, especially in Europe, have attempted to foster lead markets by concerted policy measures. Below, Rajnish Tiwari and Cornelius Herstatt suggest that the conventional wisdom on the emergence and functioning of lead markets needs a rethink to better reflect the changing dynamics in the global economy, and argue that dynamic economic growth in largely unsaturated markets and increasing technological capabilities are letting new lead markets emerge in the developing world.

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