Innovating for the middle of the pyramid in emerging countries

"Innovation is at the core of the development of countries and the advantage of firms. Much attention has been paid to how companies in advanced economies innovate to serve the needs of highlight demanding and wealthy consumers who are willing to pay premium pricing for new products and services. Additionally, these companies benefit from a sophisticated innovation system at home that supports their ability to create new products and services. Recently, the topic of frugal innovation has emerged to acknowledge that companies in emerging economies can develop new products and services to address the needs of people with extremely low levels of income. These innovations are designed to provide very basic goods and services to individuals who have very little money to pay for them. The products having negative in their design and distribution even if they are not innovative in tenets that the meet; the objective of the products is to enable poor people to have their first access to products and services. However, this leaves individuals that have low income by advanced economy standards but mid-level income by emerging economy standards underserved. Such customers do not have the income to pay for the latest highly innovative products, but already have some basic products that cover their essential needs. These middle-income customers in emerging economies are the ones we are analyzing in this book, aiming to understand how companies have developed innovations that address the more sophisticated needs without premium pricing that the companies the latest products."