A case study approach to exploring the New Product Development Process for frugal innovation

This study investigated how firms develop new products for the Base-Of-The-Pyramid (BOP) markets in developing countries. With billions of people inclined to pay for more adapted products that could improve their everyday life, frugal innovation has become an important new product development (NPD) approach in developing countries responding to these needs. Frugal innovations are affordable, robust, usable and core functional alternatives to premium products. While numerous frugal innovations exist worldwide, there is limited research regarding the NPD process underlying the development of frugal innovation. This dissertation engaged in this endeavour, investigating firms serving BOP markets through successfully developing frugal products.