Towards a higher socio-economic impact through shared understanding of product requirements in emerging markets: The case of the Indian healthcare innovations

• Published in: Technological forecasting & social change Vol. 135; pp. 91 - 98
• Main Authors: Agarwal, Nivedita, Brem, Alexander, Grottke, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01-10-2018; Elsevier B.V; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Analytic hierarchy process; Bottom of the Pyramid; Businesspeople; Consumer goods; Consumers; Corporate entrepreneurship; Customers; Economic aspects; Economic impact; Emerging markets; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Health care; Health care industry; Health services; Impact analysis; Innovation; Innovations; Markets; Medical equipment; Multinational corporations; Multinationals; Physiological apparatus; Product development; Terminology; India; Innovation; Multinationals; Product development; Bottom of the Pyramid; Emerging markets; Corporate entrepreneurship
• ISSN: 0040-1625; 1873-5509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2018.05.016

Emerging markets are considered to have huge economic potential, both for entrepreneurs and established firms. To foster innovation in these markets, it is important that customers and companies use the same terminology, with the same understanding of key terms. But is this really the case? Based on eight product requirements, this research empirically analyzes the perception of emerging market innovation terminologies. For this, we use the case of the Indian healthcare sector. On the one hand Voice of Customer method was used to gather the product requirements from the customers. On the other hand, Analytic Hierarchy Process technique was employed to identify the preferences for both product managers and customers. Our results confirm the high level of importance of ‘affordable value innovations’ and ‘ease of use functionality’ for new products introduced in emerging markets. Interestingly, the category ‘products with low or no maintenance or consumables’ comes high on the preference map for the customers but seems to be a blind spot from the manufacturers' perspective. This result opens opportunities for entrepreneurs focusing on new customer bases in emerging markets and also for various corporate entrepreneurship activities.
•MNCs and their entrepreneurial activities enable both economic and social growth in emerging market•Comparative analysis of product requirements for emerging markets from customers and product managers perspective•Case of medical device industry within the Indian healthcare sector•High importance of ‘affordable value innovations’ and ‘ease of use’ functionalities•Customers assign higher weightage to low or no maintenance or consumables than expected by the manufactures