The Art of Enabling Reverse Innovation : a Complexity-Based Approach

Abstract

“If you hear advice from a grandmother or elders, odds are that it works 90 percent of the time. On the other hand, in part because of scientism and academic prostitution, in part because the world is hard, if you read anything by psychologists and behavioral scientists, odds are that works at less than 10 percent.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb in Skin in the Game.

This chapter is neither praise for grandmothers nor an argument against science and academic institutions. This chapter is about reverse innovation. Reverse innovation is an innovation for the poor that potentially transforms the lives of the people in rich countries (Govindarajan & Trimble 2015). Innovation is called ‘reverse’ as it challenges many assumptions about how innovations originate and diffuse. A car that costs only 2000 USD or a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) for less than 1000 dollars are tempting value propositions, which will also be noticed in economically developed countries. Grandmothers can play important roles in reverse innovation as they can help to understand the lived experiences in the particular context. On the other hand, academic research is needed and/or requires for the generalization of the particularities with concerns or observations.