5 Tips for Trickle-Up Innovation from C.K. Prahalad

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Multinationals and start-ups alike can learn valuable innovation lessons by observing inventions and services that originate in emerging-markets — and then adapting them for the developed world. Some of the world’s leading thinkers and business school professors are now coming up with playbooks for corporations that are seeking such a “trickle-up” innovation strategy. For my recent BusinessWeek stories on the topic, I spoke with C. K. Prahalad, author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, who highlights five ways that developing nations are often ahead of the curve. Smart companies could use these as a guide. Here are Prahalad’s observations:

Affordable Products
Emerging nations can’t afford goods priced for the U.S. and Western Europe, which pushes companies to find inexpensive materials or manufacturing options.

‘Leapfrog’ Technologies

Source: BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)