Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Innovation For Social Good: Case Studies and Principles For BoP Businesses Robert Monroe Innovative Product Development April 19, 2011

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Agenda Final project Q&A Mini-case studies from challenge problem 6/7 C.K. Prahalad’s Bottom of the Pyramid business principles Course wrap-up Faculty Course Evaluations

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Final Project Presentations Begin promptly at 10:30 on Thursday Each group will have 15 minutes to present their proposal for a new product or service concept at a “Gate 3 (Go/No-Go) Review” –Details and expectations specified in final project assignment I will be available to give groups feedback after class from 12:00 – 1:30 on Thursday. –I will also be available next week to meet with groups individually

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Challenge Problem 6/7 Questions: What does the organization do? What social problem is the organization addressing? What are they doing to address this problem? Why is this an innovative approach?

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Challenge Problem 6/7 Organizations Submitted Lifesaver bottle (x2) charity:water (x2) One Laptop Per Child Food Revolution: Cooking and Company Kiva iSTEP Reach Out To Asia Delivery simulation SKS Educational Society The Body Shop Unilever Aravind Eye Hospital Vodaphone

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course C.K. Prahalad’s Principles for “Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP)” Businesses

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Prahalad’s Principles for BoP Business 1.Focus on price performance of products and services. Serving BoP markets is not just about lower prices it is about creating a new price-performance envelope 2.Innovation requires hybrid solutions. BoP consumer problems cannot be solved with old technologies alone. 3.Solutions must be scalable and transportable across countries, cultures, and languages. Solutions must be designed with ease of adaptation in similar BoP markets. This is a key consideration in gaining scale. Source: [Pra09] C.K. Prahalad, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, 5 th edition, Wharton School Publishing, New Jersey, 2009.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Prahalad’s Principles for BoP Business 4.All innovations must focus on conserving resources: eliminate, reduce, and recycle 5.Product development must start from a deep understanding of functionality, not just form. Marginal changes to products developed for developed-world customers will not work. 6.Process innovations are just as critical as product innovations. In developed markets, the logistics system for accessing potential customers, selling to them, and servicing products is welll developed. This is not the case in BoP markets; access and education can be a daunting task. Source: [Pra09]

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Prahalad’s Principles for BoP Business 7.Deskilling work is critical. Most BoP markets are poor in skills. The design of products and services must take into account the skill levels, poor infrastructure, and difficulty of access for service in remote areas. 8.Education of customers on product usage is key. In the absence of traditional approaches to education, new and creative approaches must be adopted. 9.Products must work in hostile environments. Products must be developed to accomodte the low quality of the infrastructure. Source: [Pra09]

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Prahalad’s Principles for BoP Business 10. Research on interfaces is critical given the nature of the consumer population 11.Innovations must reach the consumer. Designing methods for accessing the poor at low cost is critical 12.Product developers must focus on the broad architecture of the system – the platform – so that new features can be easily incorporated Source: [Pra09]

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Course Wrap Up

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course The Big Ideas To Leave With: You can learn to be an innovator! Start by understanding the problem and opportunity deeply, then figure out how to solve it with a new product or service –You probably don’t know exactly what your customers need or want (they may not know yet either), but you can find out –Be humble, have a beginner’s mind, listen, observe, ask, watch, brainstorm, experiment, try things, improve on what is already, get your hands dirty, reconsider why and how, … –Repeat. Then repeat again. –Innovation is a process and a journey, not just a destination You have many tools at your disposal, use them or ignore them when and as appropriate These ideas, tools, and techniques can be used for social good as well as for profits –… and the two often go together.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Faculty Course Evaluations Please take a few minutes now to complete your Faculty Course Evaluation for this course Your feedback: –Helps me improve the course –Is anonymous – I get a report with results and comments 2-3 weeks after grades are in –Should only take 8-10 minutes to complete –Is very important for: Faculty reviews and evaluation Selection of course electives offered

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course Thank You!

Carnegie Mellon Qatar © Robert T. Monroe Course References [Chr97] Christensen, Clayton M., The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail. Harvard Business Press, 1997, ISBN [Pra09] C.K. Prahalad, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits, 5th edition, Wharton School Publishing, New Jersey, 2009