Frugal Innovation (AMA Today at 3PM)

@ovinegrean Yes, in 2 ways: 1) by only buying recycled/upcycled products (everything from furniture to paper) and recycling everything you make/generate. 2) by adopting IT tools inspired by circular economy, like Qarnot Computing, a startup that uses "digital radiators" to provide access to high-performance computing at lower cost to entrepreneurs while also saving the planet. Check them out: http://www.qarnot-computing.com

@kunalslab Kunal: in the US, healthcare sector is most likely to benefit from frugal innovation given the growing pressure to deliver better care to more Americans while significantly lowering cost of care delivery. In our book, we provide several examples of companies across the entire healthcare value chain that are moving in that direction. For instance, on the healthcare service front, you have AETNA, a leading health insurer, which is embracing "value-based care" to deliver better care at lower cost. On the product front, medical device companies like GE Healthcare are developing "Super-Value" medical devices that combine high degree of affordability with quality and simplicity. And Novartis, the giant pharma firm, is investing in "continuous manufacturing" -- a breakthrough frugal production process that can fit inside a container and can produce drugs 10x faster and cheaper than traditional drug-making factories while improving quality and reducing carbon emissions up to 90%.

@eriktorenberg I have worked with and studied closely Renault-Nissan, a major car maker for past 10 years. In 2005, they launched a $6,000 car called the Logan. Initially destined for emergingmarkets this frugal car became a bit hit in recession-hit Western Europe. And in coming September, they are going to launch an even more frugal car called KWID in India that costs below $5,000. This success has galvanized all major car companies how are now scrambling to come up with their own frugal products to serve needs of cost-conscious consumers in both developing and developed economies. So frugal innovation (And frugal engineering) is now the big mantra in global auto industry. Ditto in healthcare and other sectors facing the pressure to do more with less...

@erictwillis Erik to some extent Facebook uses frugal innovation principles thanks to its continuous use of "hackathons". Hackathons force developers to do more with less by making "time" a scarce resource. When you have only 24 hours to produce an app, you can't afford to "over-engineer" a solution: you think/act frugally and use all your limited time to devolop only the most critical and essential features in a product. Hackathons are great way to create "artificial scarcity" of time, the most valuable resource!

@lar_leandro hi Leandro: having grown up in India facing shortage of water and electricity, I agree with you that underprivileged environments are conducive to frugal innovation. But my book also shows that are growing number of middle-class consumers in US and Europe are also clamoring for frugal products that combine affordability, simplicity, quality, and sustainability. So Western firms need to learn frugal innovation by creating "positive constraints" like a CEO telling their R&D team "thy shall create a $5,000 car" (that's what Renault's former CEO did -- and that resulted in the $5,000 Logan car) or a CEO inspiring all employees to do more with less to save the planet, which is what Unilever CEO Paul Polman is doing by committing his company to "double its revenues by 2020 while reducing environmental impact by 50%". In sum, even in rich countries, whith the right leadership style, you can get companies to embrace frugal innovation principles to serve needs of cost-conscious and eco-aware consumers....

@jeffumbro I agree. My book gives the example of Pearson, a world-leading education/learning company, that has set up a small "commando" team internally to drive massive change: to reinvent their century-old business model by embedding "efficacy" in their core strategy, i.e., ensuring that all Pearson's learning products will have a measurable impact on improving the user’s life through learning.HEre is our case study on this "small team" at Pearson driving mega change: http://www.strategy-business.com...

@melissajoykong I believe frugal innovation is best suited for very young startups because they can use the numerous techniques of our book to accelerate growth while drastically minimizing resources and most importantly, retain their agility even as they evolve into enterprises. Similarly, our book also shows big companies how to adopt frugal innovation in a "bite-size" fashion -- by testing it in 1 product line or a function, and then deploy it across the entreprise. Actually the last chapter of our book offers a "maturity model" (roadmap) that enables any organization in any sector to customize their frugal innovation strategy based on their size, history, and culture. Our book offers a DIY "toolkit" of frugal innovation rather peddling a "one-size-fits-all" methodology.