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“Can frugal innovation be disruptive innovation?” In researching and writing your report you will be expected to approach the theory as well as the practice of organisations and analyse one in relation to the other.

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1.Select one example of less popular forms of Frugal Innovation from Table 2, p 68-69 on Rao’s paper. Further research and analyse these product, justifying if each is an example of disruptive innovation.

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How Disruptive is Frugal?

Article in Technology in Society · February 2013

DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2013.03.003

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How disruptive is frugal?

Balkrishna C. Rao*

Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai 600036, India

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 February 2012
Received in revised form 28 February 2013
Accepted 14 March 2013

Keywords:
Frugal-innovation
Disruptive innovation
Global warming
Financial crisis
Sustainability

a b s t r a c t

Global warming and the recent financial crises have prompted a rethink among businesses
on the production of cost-effective products and services. Frugal-innovations, with their
genesis mainly in India, are accordingly becoming popular in emerging and developed
economies due to their lower costs and no frills structure. By studying a variety of frugal-
innovations, this effort brings out the features of these innovations and also examines their
disruptiveness vis-à-vis other innovations. Furthermore, this paper has formalized the
frugal-innovation process based on examples covered in this effort. Such a formalization
will aid in the metamorphosis of an ordinary innovation into the frugal type.

1. Introduction

In recent years, there has been a growing awareness
among companies of innovating with limited resources.
Industry bellwethers, such as GE and Tata Sons, have suc-
cessfully tapped into frugal-innovations to satisfy the needs
of consumers at the base of the pyramid encompassing the
low-income group of people. The Economist [28] has
defined a frugal-innovation to be cheap, tough, easy to use
and developed with minimal amounts of raw materials.
Even some companies in Estonia, member of the European
Union, have tapped into “minimalist” products to tide over
the recent recession and, which they now successfully
export [29]. According to Srinivas & Sutz [25], a scarcity-
induced innovation is realized under scarcity in any one or
combination of the following inputs: knowledge, in-
stitutions and socio-economics. Henceforth, this paper will
refer to a scarcity-induced-, minimalist- or reverse-
innovation as a frugal-innovation.

The use of frugality in emerging markets was first
reported under “frugal-engineering” by Carlos Ghosn,
CEO of Renault [39]. Since then frugal-innovations pos-
sessing a no frills structure have been developed for the
thrifty consumer under constraints of developing coun-
tries. These innovations are realized under conditions that
are not conducive for innovating in the rich world. The
genesis of frugal-innovations is mainly ascribed to India
and, China to a lesser extent, where improvisations are
widely sought after for living under frugal conditions
[28,30]. A quintessential example of frugal-innovation is
Jugaad, a concept that has been adopted in management
philosophy [13,23]. The Jugaad signifies a makeshift cart
assembled in north India, under scarce resources, for
handling routine chores. The growing significance of frugal-
innovation is also attested to by its inclusion in the top ten
management ideas of the millennium [11], with Immelt
et al. [9] forecasting their export from China and India to
the rest of the world.

The dawning of the 21st century has been accompanied
by globalization along with natural and man-made-crises.
First, independent institutions such as the Intergovern-
mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have identified

* Tel.: þ91 044 22574660; fax: þ91 44 22574732.
E-mail addresses: balkrish@iitm.ac.in, balkrish@ecn.purdue.edu.

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climate change as a serious threat to our way of life [7,8,15],
which is supplemented by other threats including losses-
in-bio-diversity and scarcer resources [24]. At the very
least, these natural crises beg for a spartan lifestyle to
preserve our complex ecosystems for the betterment of
current and future generations. Man-made threats such as
the dot-com bubble [14] and the recent financial crises [37]
in particular, are also prodding the global populace toward
thrift. Second, globalization is expanding the ranks of the
working class in emerging economies, whose desire for
higher standards of living [2,38] is putting a strain on our
resources. Moreover, perturbations due to the above
mentioned threats will get aggravated due to the forecasted
explosion in world population [36].

The prospect of the global population turning abste-
mious, against the above backdrop, is dim due to the as-
pirations of an expanding middle class in emerging
markets and also rich nations shrugging to opt for simpler
lifestyles. An appealing solution to this dilemma is the use
of frugal-innovationswith cutting edge technology to create
low-cost and no frills products. The adoption of frugality
entails design principles that advocate minimal use of re-
sources for realizing efficient functioning of products. Other
than minimal amounts of raw materials, the economizing
of resources would also involve the reuse of components
and simpler designs that result in products without extra
accessories. The no frills nature of frugal products makes
them “lean” when compared to their “ordinary” counter-
parts, which are bulky due to consumption of relatively
large amounts of resources. Consequently, aiming for a no
frills product helps maintain lower costs with a positive
impact on sustainability because of lesser resource
consumption.

The importance of low price and sustainability is borne
out by current trends. On the one hand, natural threats are
empowering governments world over to enact stringent
regulations on emissions and energy efficiency. This is
exemplified by the adoption of carbon trading schemes
and/or energy efficient technologies and/or emissions
limits by various economies of the developedworld and the
BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) [1,16,17]. On the other
hand, cost-conscious consumers in emerging markets are
demanding quality products and services at a discount for
better lifestyles. Hence, companies will have to adopt the
principles of frugal-innovations to achieve profitability
against both cost-conscious consumers and regulations for
sustainable-development.

By economizing the usage of resource-use and aiming
for simple products and services, albeit sometimes using
cutting edge technology, frugal-innovations have a lot to
offer for sustainable-development. As a result, rich coun-
tries, such as the U.S., whose technological growth in
recent years has flattened [4] should join the frugal
bandwagon to give a boost to technological growth that
will impact both economic growth and employment. Even
export powerhouses like Germany with its legendary
Mittelstand will have to embrace these innovations to
cater to cost- and environment-conscious customers of the
future.

However, systematic studies of frugal-innovations
are scarce despite their significance against the current

backdrop. The effort by Prahalad and Mashelkar [22]
describes frugal-innovations, under the banner of Gan-
dhian innovation, but does not address the need to
optimize ordinary innovations into the frugal type. This
paper is an attempt in that direction, which lists the
important features of frugal-innovations and also exam-
ines their disruptive potential. This effort also proposes
a methodology for either creating frugal-innovations
from scratch or transforming an arbitrary innovation
into the frugal type.

2. Discussion

Tables 1–3 list some of the popular and not-so-popular
frugal-innovations developed to date the world over.
The terminology used in these tables furnishes as complete
a set of features as possible, with simple technology
comprising any or combinations of simple design, low part
count, ease of assembly and other features. In contrast,
sophisticated technology entails the use of cutting edge
technologies to make frugal products. The term indepen-
dent business team refers to the creation of an independent
organization by either a company or an entrepreneur to
engender a structure and culture conducive to frugal-
innovations. Lastly, sustainable design refers to the reuse
of existing components.

2.1. Features of frugal-innovations

The frugal products and services listed in Tables 1–3 are
priced lower than their ordinary counterparts, which were
designed by following standard design procedures. Table
A-1 presents the cost and features of some ordinary
products and services to aid in this comparison. The
bamboo microscope, listed in Table 2, is another classic
example of frugal-innovation, which at $4 is cheap enough
for use as a teaching aid and also one instance of basic
research in India [21]. The theme of lower costs runs
through the entire gamut of products and services dis-
cussed in this effort.

Besides the Tata Nano” and GE’s Mac 400″ and portable
ultrasound, well known frugal products in engineering, the
foray of frugal-innovations into the hi-tech sector is note-
worthy. In particular, the electronics for the robotic hand at
Sandia Laboratories were built from components found in
cell phones [18] and the radio telescopes for the much
vaunted Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project are satellite
dishes retrofitted for use in astronomy [19]. This eye for
frugality has resulted in significant cost savings as is
evident from entries 9 and 10 in Tables 2 and A1, respec-
tively. The frugal speech synthesizer, Avaz”, employs cut-
ting edge technology for supporting multiple languages as
opposed to the single language limitation of its pricier
counterpart from the U.S. [26]. Even the U.S. Navy has
developed low-priced Spike missiles, entry 11 in Tables 2
and A1, that are at par in performance with their pre-
mium counterpart, i.e., Javelin, in destroying targets such as
armed trucks [34].

Despite their frugal nature, many of the products
reported in this paper are also good in their quality.

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–7366

The Bamboo Bicycle’s ride comfort has been reported to
exceed that of its metallic counterpart [12]. The good
quality of the portable electrocardiogram, the portable
ultrasound and the robotic hand are reflected in their
good performance. In fact, GEs portable products are
widely used in developed and developing countries

[9]

and Sandia’s robotic hand has been reported to perform
intricate tasks thus making it suitable for critical appli-
cations [18]. The malfunctioning observed in a few of the
frugal products, i.e., the Tata Nano” [33,35] and the
telescopes in the SKA project, is no cause for concern.
These malfunctions were limited to a few cars in the case

of the Tata Nano and just one radio telescope in the SKA
project. The Tata Nano 2012″, a second generation frugal
product, is a reliable and improved version of the original
concept and the breakdown of the telescope boils down
to the non availability of spares. In general, frugal prod-
ucts and services will improve with successive genera-
tions and, the few concerns in terms of design and spares
seen in some of the current versions will be ironed out in
the future.

Frugality has also influenced the fight against dis-
eases, with researchers at Stanford University in the U.S.
having developed a novel compact probe for detecting

Table 1
Popular examples of frugal-innovation.

No Company/
organization

Country Name of product Type of product Frugal features Reference

1 Tata Motors India Tata Nano” Car

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated

technology
c. Ease of use
d. Independent

business team

[28]

2 Tata Chemicals
Limited

India Tata Swach” Water Purifier a. Lower cost
b. Simple

technology
c. Ease of use
d. Portable

[28]; http://www.tatachemicals.com/
products/tata_swach.htm

3 General Electric U.S. (Lab in India) Mac 400″ and
Mac 800″

Handheld
Electrocardiogram

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated

technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use

e. Robust
f. Independent

business team
[28]

4 General electric U.S. (Lab in China) – Portable
Ultrasound

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated
technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use
e. Robust
f. Independent
business team
[9]

5 General Electric U.S. (Lab in India) Well Baby Bassinet”

and Infact Warmer
Systems” (IWS)

Bassinet a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated

technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use
e. Independent

business team

[9]; https://www2.gehealthcare.com/
portal/site/usen

6 Nokia Finland Nokia 1200″ Mobile Handset a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated

technology
c. Robust
d. Ease of use

[28]; http://www.nokia.co.in/find-products/
products/nokia-1200/technical-specifications

7 Godrej and Boyce
Manufacturing

India ChotuKool” Refrigerator a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated

technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use

[28]; http://www.chotukool.in/

8 Bharathi Airtel India – Mobile Services
Operator

a. Lower cost
b. Large-scale

outsourcing
c. Independent

business team
[28]

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–73 67

http://www.tatachemicals.com/products/tata_swach.htm

https://www2.gehealthcare.com/portal/site/usen

http://www.nokia.co.in/find-products/products/nokia-1200/technical-specifications

http://www.chotukool.in/

Table 2
Not-so-popular examples of frugal-innovation.

No Company/
Organization

Country Name of
Product

Type of Product Frugal Features

References

9 Sandia National
Laboratories

U.S. – Robotic Hand a. Lower cost
b. Robust
c. Sustainable design
d. Sophisticated technology
e. Ease of use

[18]

10 South Africa South Africa Square
Kilometer
Array

Radio Telescope a. Lower cost
b. Robust
c. Sustainable design
d. Sophisticated technology

[19]

11 Naval Air Weapons
Station

U.S. Spike Missile a. Lower cost
b. Robust
c. Sophisticated technology
d. Ease of use

[34]

12 Lunar Design U.S. – Bone Drill a. Lower cost
b. Robust
c. Simple technology
d. Ease of use
e. Start up

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664799/
stanford-finds-hints-for-the-future-of-
us-medical-design-in-india;
http://www.lunar.com/a-new-model-
for-medical-device-development/

13 Columbia University
(Earth Institute)

U.S. – Bamboo Bike a. Lower cost
b. Robust
c. Simple technology
d. Ease of use
e. Start up

[12]

14 Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS)

India Home
Infotainment
Platform
(HIP)”

An information and
communication
platform providing
internet gateway
on a television set.

a. Lower cost
b. Tough or robust
c. Sophisticated technology
d. Ease of use

[28]; http://www.tcs.com/resources/
brochures/Pages/Home-Infotainment-
Platform.aspx

15 MittiCool India MittiCool
Fridge”

Refrigerator a. Lower price
b. Zero maintenance cost
c. Simple technology with

zero energy consumption
(earthen pot principle)

d. Start up

[5]; http://www.mitticool.in

16 Jodo Gyan India – Bamboo Microscope a. Lower price
b. Simple technology
c. Start up

[21]

17 RanBaxy
Laboratories
Limited

India – Generic drugs a. Lower price
b. Sophisticated technology

[27]

18 Narayana
Hrudayalaya
Hospital

India Health City” Healthcare a. Economies of scale
(large volumes of
surgeries)

b. Low price surgery
c. Specialized or

sophisticated surgery

[10,28]

19 Wockhardt
Hospitals

India – Beating Heart
Surgery

a. Economies of scale (large
volumes of surgeries)

b. Low price surgery
c. Specialized or
sophisticated surgery
[27]

20 Aravind Eye care
System

India – Eye care a. Low price surgery
b. Economies of scale (large

volumes of surgeries)
c. Sophisticated technology

[27]

21 Columbia Asia U.S. – Health care a. Low price services
b. Sophisticated technology

using healthcare
information technology
(HIT)

[27]

22 First Energy India OORJA” Stove and Fuel a. Lower cost
b. Lesser energy

consumption and
emissions

c. Simple technology
d. Start up

[28]; http://www.pciaonline.org/first-
energy-private-limited

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–7368

http://www.pciaonline.org/first-energy-private-limited

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664799/stanford-finds-hints-for-the-future-of-us-medical-design-in-india

http://www.lunar.com/a-new-model-for-medical-device-development/

http://www.tcs.com/resources/brochures/Pages/Home-Infotainment-Platform.aspx

http://www.mitticool.in

http://www.pciaonline.org/first-energy-private-limited

tuberculosis (TB) [20]. This highly efficient probe
comprising a mobile phone camera and light box detects
smaller numbers of TB bacteria in a small sample when
compared to existing testing procedures that are not cost
effective.

In addition to lower costs, sustainability and ease of
operation, a bulk of the products in these tables has been
realized from cutting edge technology. Accordingly, the
product-based features of a frugal-innovation based on the
discussion above are: low price, compact design with a no
frills structure, use of limited raw materials or reuse of
existing components, ease of use and use of cutting edge
technology, where possible, to achieve lower costs. An in-
dependent organizational structure with a culture pro-
moting frugality is also evident in the creation of these
innovations.

2.2. Are frugal-innovations disruptive?

Ordinarily businesses improve their profitability by
undertaking various cost cutting measures. Traditionally
these post design measures are directed at minimizing the
cost of a given product by streamlining the various pro-
cesses that go into its realization. In contrast, cost cutting is
built into the initial design process of a frugal-innovation,
thereby producing products that are cheaper than the
cheapest ordinary products. Moreover, the good quality
of a majority of the frugal products and, the quality
improvement seen in some second generation products,
puts frugal-innovations in a formidable position to disrupt
their incumbents. This subsection examines the disrup-
tiveness by applying the principles propounded by Chris-
tensen [3] on disruptive innovations.

Table 3
Frugal-innovations in the making.

No Company/organization Country Name of product Type of product Frugal features References

29 Tuck School of Business,
Dartmouth College

U.S. 300$ House Housing for the poor a. Lower cost
b. Simple design
c. Minimum features for

living with dignity.

[6,32]

30 Stanford University U.S. – Probe for Detecting
Tuberculosis

a. Lower cost
b. Simple design
c. Portable

[20]

Table 2 (continued )

No Company/
Organization
Country Name of
Product
Type of Product Frugal Features References

23 A Little World India – Rural banking
through mobile
phony

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use
e. Robust

f. Start up

[28]; http://www.alittleworld.com/

24 Invention Labs India Avaz” Speech synthesizer a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated technology
c. Supports multiple

languages
d. Portable
e. Ease of use
f. Robust
g. Start up

[26]

25 Indian Government India Aakash
UbiSlate 7″

Touchscreen Tablet
Computer

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use
e. Robust

http://www.ubislate.com/; http://
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-
asia-15180831

26 Mindray China – Healthcare products
such as monitoring
and life support,
diagnostics and
imaging.

a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated technology
c. Portable
d. Ease of use
e. Robust
f. Start up developed into a

full-fledged company

[28,31]

27 BYD China – Lithium-ion Battery a. Lower cost
b. Sophisticated technology
c. Start up developed into a

full-fledged company
[28]

28 Dachangjiang China – Motorcycle Lower cost through flexible
supply-chain network

[28]

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–73 69

http://www.alittleworld.com/

http://www.ubislate.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15180831

According to Christensen [3], a disruptive innovation
is cheaper, smaller, simpler and convenient to use. Aside
from these product-based features, Christensen [3] also
lists characteristics pertaining to the relevant markets,
organizational structure and resource allocation. In
addition to lower costs, most of the products listed in
Tables 1–3 are compact in their design and/or smaller
and have all been noted for ease of use. However, prod-
ucts such as the Mac 400″ and Mac 800″ extend the
concept of Christensen’s disruption by being sophisti-
cated in their technology.

A crucial distinction between Christensen’s disruptive
innovation and the frugal type involves the evolution of
performance attributes. The former starts with a product
attribute such as compactness or ease of use and ends with
lowering of price through product commoditization. The
latter however, is based on low prices and would evolve in
the future by optimizing other attributes. The emphasis on
lower cost restricts the designer from using resources in
excess of that required for a frugal-innovation. Each subse-
quent optimization of other features, such as quality,
streamlines the frugal-design process. The end result is a
product comprising bare minimum of components, which
functions at par with, or even better than, the traditional
counterpart. In addition, the precedence of lower cost gives
a head start and, more time, to a frugal-innovation to evolve
into a full-fledged lean product with good functionality. In
contrast, a traditional product might not mature into a
leaner version.

The rubric of lower cost running through the examples
of Tables 1–3 make it a crucial factor aiding disruption of
ordinary innovations in the future. With the continuing
growth of emerging economies, the ranks of their frugal
consumers will continue to swell. Therefore, in light of
weaker demand in most western economies, companies
worldwide will seriously consider these disruptions by
frugal-innovations and vie with each other to capture larger
shares in emerging markets. In other words, a variation of
Christensen [3] idea can be observed where consumers
influence mainstream companies to adopt frugality into
their value networks.

Besides lower price, the no frills aspect of frugal-
innovations lends itself to the needs of sustainability
for tackling the planetary crises of our time. The factor-of-
safety traditionally applied in designs typically leads to
greater consumption of resources. However, the factor-of-
frugality inherent in frugal-innovations would result in
significant savings of resources when manufacturing
many of these innovations for mass consumption. The
economic utilization of resources has a positive impact
on society and would aid in preserving resources for
future generations. Another positive impact on sustain-
ability would be the foreseeable improvement in the
quality and, life, of frugal products thus optimizing con-
sumption. Overall, the lower cost together with no frills
design and good quality will create hoards of frugal
products and services in the future that are beneficial
from the perspective of both cost and sustainability.
Frugal products will raise the living standards of society
at large by making their good quality performance
affordable at lower costs. The powerful combination of

low-cost, quality and simplicity makes mass consump-
tion of frugal products a sustainable solution for a better
tomorrow. Therefore, frugal-innovations are a significant
disruptive force.

3. Methodology for undertaking frugal-innovations

The frugal-innovation process, as carried out in
emerging markets, typically involves tenacious entrepre-
neurs working against a backdrop of scarce resources such
as knowledge, raw materials, personnel and a rule of law
conducive to innovations, at least in the past. The process
description that follows presents a suitable methodology
for formalizing the frugal-innovation process that can aid in
developing these products in various sectors including
engineering and science. While there is interaction be-
tween the individual steps, the discretization clarifies un-
derstanding of the methodology and also facilitates its
systematic application to a problem. It should be noted that
this section uses design and innovation interchangeably
since a frugal variant of an existing product qualifies for an
innovation.

3.1. Modeling of functionality

The first step of the proposed methodology is the
detailed design process using classical analyses. A classical
analysis refers to the use of traditional scientific, engi-
neering and other relevant techniques generally used for
designing products. Besides understanding the viability of
making a product frugal, such a study would serve as a
reference for optimizing the basic design for frugality. Even
products in critical sectors, where “diluting” a design might
have disastrous consequences, should avail of classical an-
alyses to determine the feasibility of undertaking the
frugal-innovation process. Such a study should list all the
parameters influencing the functionality of a given product
along with their suitable values.

3.2. Frugal product feasibility

The second step of this methodology is examining the
feasibility of creating a frugal version of a given product. In
particular, results of the study undertaken in the previous
step would be utilized for inferring the impact of frugality
on the functionality of a given product. The functionality
of some products in critical sectors, such as aerospace,
defense and even healthcare, might not lend itself for
alteration due to the superior and reliable performance
expected in these sectors. However, apart from such cases,
the majority of goods and services available for consump-
tion are ready for frugality.

3.3. Optimization of basic design

The third step concerns the optimization of a given
innovation against constraints of frugality. With reference
to Fig. 1, a given innovation should be optimized for lower
cost against a fixed constraint of functionality or perfor-
mance, as determined in step 1 and, variable constraints

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–7370

such as basic design, production, quality, robustness and
ease of use. The rationale being that optimization of the
basic design for lower cost would result in a product syn-
thesized through efficient utilization of resources, i.e., a
frugal-innovation.

Each of the variable constraints could be controlled, in
turn, through a wide range of factors. For instance, pro-
duction encompasses manufacturing processes, process
parameters, labor, supply-chain logistics and other relevant
manufacturing variables that could be optimized for
achieving lower costs. Furthermore, as depicted in Fig. 2,
multiple iterations of variable constraints would be
required in the general case for creating a frugal-
innovation.

The objective could be extended to include sustain-
ability to account for the product’s impact on environment.
Sustainability could also be built into the model as a fixed

constraint comprising sustainable materials, such as
bamboo etc. and, sustainable-design principles. However,
any redundancies arising from the implicit inclusion of this
factor in the optimization process should be avoided.

The three-step methodology developed above could be
“hardwired” into the innovator who will evaluate the
constraints continuously during the innovation process.
The rural frugal-innovators of India are the representatives
of this approach. Alternatively, an innovative design or idea
could be optimized, through this formalization, after its
conception but well before production.

Yet another strategy for companies to engender frugal-
innovations is maintenance of close proximity with the
base of the pyramid. In other words, companies should
direct a portion of their research and development budget
to monitoring the lifestyles of both the low-income people
and poor. These associations with the thrifty would spawn
new products and services, improve existing products and
services and, maybe, lead to newfangled concepts and
models for frugality-based businesses.

4. Conclusions

Globalization together with an expanding population is
straining earth’s natural resources while also contributing
to climate change. This paper has highlighted the signifi-
cance of frugal-innovations against this backdrop. The
development of no frills products and services has been
showcased with thirty examples in a range of sectors
including healthcare, banking, engineering and computer,
to name a few. The strong tendency of frugal-innovations to
disrupt incumbents was demonstrated through specific
examples. A methodology was also presented for the sys-
tematic development of frugal-innovations. This method-
ology would aid companies in harnessing frugality and
improving their profitability in a world conscious of both
cost and sustainability.

Appendix

The features and prices of selected ordinary products
are listed in this appendix for comparison with their
frugal counterparts. These products are listed in the same
order, i.e., same serial number, as in Tables 1–3 to facili-
tate comparison. All columns refer to the ordinary
products except for “Frugal Cost”, which lists the price for
the corresponding frugal entry in Tables 1–3. The costs of
these ordinary versions are primarily based on existing
literature where available and complemented by current
prices, based on current exchange rates, procured
from India’s popular on-line shopping sites flipkart and
naaptol.

The performance of frugal products, with reference to
Table A1, is at par or better than their ordinary counter-
parts. The descriptions of some of these superior, i.e., better
quality, frugal products are given in the section on discus-
sion. Moreover, the column on features lists only the rele-
vant characteristics that make these ordinary products
distinct from the frugal type.

Fig. 2. Converging iterations of multiple variable constraints in the opti-
mization process for creating a frugal product or frugal-innovation. Note:
Each shrinking oval represents convergence towards optimal value for a
given variable, with a total of 5 iterations shown here for clarity.

Fig. 1. Optimizing the basic design or innovation to frugal type. Note:
Functionality (performance) is the fixed constraint while basic design, pro-
duction, quality and usability and robustness are variable constraints.

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–73 71

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Table A1. Ordinary products and services

No Product/service Ordinary cost Frugal cost Ordinary features References

1 Small Car (Model: Figo for the
Indian market)

$7370 $2900 Higher cost http://www.zigwheels.com/

2 Water purifier $270 $23 a. Higher cost
b. Intricate design

http://www.flipkart.com/

3 Electrocardiogram
(Marquette series)

$2000 $800 a. Higher cost
b. Intricate Design
c. Bulky

[28]

4 Conventional Ultrasound “$100,000 $15,000 a. Higher cost
b. Intricate Design
c. Bulky

[9]

7 Refrigerator (lower capacity) $185 $70 a. Higher cost
b. Intricate Design
c. Bulky

[28]; http://www.flipkart.com/

9 Robotic Hand $250,000 $10,000 a. Higher cost
b. Intricate design

[18]

10 Radio Telescope >$6 million <$2.5 million Higher cost [19] 11 Javelin Missile $147,000 $5000 Higher cost [34] 16 Microscope (educational &

some basic research)
$15 (single lens) $4 a. Higher cost

b. Intricate Design
[21]; http://www.naaptol.com

18 Heart Surgery $20,000–$1,00,000 $2000 Higher cost [10,28]
24 Speech Synthesizer $5000–$10000 $800 a. Higher cost

b. Supports only
one language

[26]

25 Tablet Computer (iPad) $570 $80 Higher cost http://www.ubislate.com/, http://
www.apple.com/in/ipad/

29 Affordable housing $3000 (in the U.S.) $300 Higher cost [6,32]

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–7372

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http://www.zigwheels.com/

http://www.flipkart.com/

http://www.naaptol.com

http://www.ubislate.com/

http://www.apple.com/in/ipad/

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Balkrishna C. Rao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engi-
neering Design at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai,
India. Professor Rao’s research interests include innovations, sustainability
and greenmanufacturing. He received his Ph.D. inmechanical engineering
from Purdue University, USA.

B.C. Rao / Technology in Society 35 (2013) 65–73 73

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