IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v38y2014icp119-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does quality matter for innovations in low income markets? The case of the Kenyan mobile phone sector

Author

Listed:
  • Foster, Christopher

Abstract

Growing interest in lower income groups as consumers in emerging and developing markets has led to discussion on the issue of product quality, but so far work has generally focussed on simple goods rather than technology and innovations. However with innovations, one would expect that product quality would be more crucial in order to push trust of complex products amongst inexperienced users. Thus, this paper seeks to build understanding around issues around quality of innovations; focussing on what quality declines mean for vulnerable low income groups, and the types of policy approach that can be undertaken to improve quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Foster, Christopher, 2014. "Does quality matter for innovations in low income markets? The case of the Kenyan mobile phone sector," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 119-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:119-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.03.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X14000232
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2014.03.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Foster & Richard Heeks, 2013. "Conceptualising Inclusive Innovation: Modifying Systems of Innovation Frameworks to Understand Diffusion of New Technology to Low-Income Consumers," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 25(3), pages 333-355, July.
    2. Altenburg, Tilman & Schmitz, Hubert & Stamm, Andreas, 2008. "Breakthrough China's and India's Transition from Production to Innovation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 325-344, February.
    3. Susan E Cozzens & Raphael Kaplinsky, 2009. "Innovation, Poverty and Inequality: Cause, Coincidence, or Co-evolution?," Chapters, in: Bengt-Åke Lundvall & K. J. Joseph & Cristina Chaminade & Jan Vang (ed.), Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Spencer Henson & John Humphrey, 2010. "Understanding the Complexities of Private Standards in Global Agri-Food Chains as They Impact Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(9), pages 1628-1646.
    5. Aneel Karnani, 2009. "The Bottom of the Pyramid Strategy for Reducing Poverty: A Failed Promise," Working Papers 80, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    6. Hee‐Jae Cho & Vladimir Pucik, 2005. "Relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(6), pages 555-575, June.
    7. Srinivas, Smita & Sutz, Judith, 2008. "Developing countries and innovation: Searching for a new analytical approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 129-140.
    8. Tilman Altenburg, 2009. "Building Inclusive Innovation Systems in Developing Countries: Challenges for IS Research," Chapters, in: Bengt-Åke Lundvall & K. J. Joseph & Cristina Chaminade & Jan Vang (ed.), Handbook of Innovation Systems and Developing Countries, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Kilelu, Catherine W. & Klerkx, Laurens & Leeuwis, Cees & Hall, Andy, 2011. "Beyond knowledge brokerage: An exploratory study of innovation intermediaries in an evolving smallholder agricultural system in Kenya," MERIT Working Papers 2011-022, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    10. Bergek, Anna & Jacobsson, Staffan & Carlsson, Bo & Lindmark, Sven & Rickne, Annika, 2008. "Analyzing the functional dynamics of technological innovation systems: A scheme of analysis," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 407-429, April.
    11. Stephanie Barrientos & Margareet Visser, 2012. "South African horticulture: opportunities and challenges for economic and social upgrading in value chains," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series ctg-2012-12, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    12. Kaplinsky, Raphael & Terheggen, Anne & Tijaja, Julia, 2011. "China as a Final Market: The Gabon Timber and Thai Cassava Value Chains," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1177-1190, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Xiaoqi & Liu, Wei & Zhang, Zhan & Zou, Xinyu & Li, Pujuan, 2023. "Quantity or quality: Environmental legislation and corporate green innovations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PB).
    2. Octaviano Rojas Luiz & Enzo Barberio Mariano & Hermes Moretti Ribeiro da Silva, 2021. "Pro-Poor Innovations to Promote Instrumental Freedoms: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Woodson, Thomas & Alcantara, Julia Torres & do Nascimento, Milena Silva, 2019. "Is 3D printing an inclusive innovation?: An examination of 3D printing in Brazil," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 80, pages 54-62.
    2. Pansera, Mario & Owen, Richard, 2015. "Framing resource-constrained innovation at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’: Insights from an ethnographic case study in rural Bangladesh," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 300-311.
    3. Gandenberger, Carsten, 2018. "China's trajectory from production to innovation: Insights from the photovoltaics sector," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S03/2018, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    4. Mario Pansera & Fabien Martinez, 2017. "Innovation for development and poverty reduction: an integrative literature review," Post-Print hal-02887777, HAL.
    5. Robra, Ben & Pazaitis, Alex & Giotitsas, Chris & Pansera, Mario, 2023. "From creative destruction to convivial innovation - A post-growth perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Rafael A. Araque-Padilla & Maria Jose Montero-Simo, 2022. "The Dynamics behind the Likelihood of Adopting Inclusive Agrarian Innovations in Disadvantaged Central American Communities," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, January.
    7. Sanghamitra Chakravarty & Georgina Mercedes Gómez, 2024. "A Development Lens to Frugal Innovation: Bringing Back Production and Technological Capabilities into the Discourse," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 82-101, February.
    8. Valentina De Marchi & Elisa Giuliani & Roberta Rabellotti, 2018. "Do Global Value Chains Offer Developing Countries Learning and Innovation Opportunities?," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(3), pages 389-407, July.
    9. Chan-Yuan Wong, 2016. "Evolutionary targeting for inclusive development," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 291-316, May.
    10. Kyunga Na & Kwangsoo Shin, 2019. "The Gender Effect on a Firm’s Innovative Activities in the Emerging Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    11. Villalba Morales, María Luisa & Ruiz Castañeda, Walter & Robledo Velásquez, Jorge, 2023. "Configuration of inclusive innovation systems: Function, agents and capabilities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    12. Tommaso Ciarli & Maria Savona & Jodie Thorpe & Seife Ayele, 2018. "Innovation for Inclusive Structural Change. A Framework and Research Agenda," SPRU Working Paper Series 2018-04, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    13. Hoffecker, Elizabeth, 2021. "Understanding inclusive innovation processes in agricultural systems: A middle-range conceptual model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    14. Sara S Grobbelaar & Mauricio Uriona-Maldonado, 2019. "Using technology to improve access to healthcare: The case of the MomConnect programme in South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(8), pages 838-852, December.
    15. Rasmus Lema & Roberta Rabellotti & Padmashree Gehl Sampath, 2018. "Innovation Trajectories in Developing Countries: Co-evolution of Global Value Chains and Innovation Systems," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(3), pages 345-363, July.
    16. Hodjat Shakiba & Sohrab Delangizan & Yosef Mohamadifar, 2022. "Inclusive urban entrepreneurial ecosystem policies: An application of the meta‐synthesis approach," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(4), pages 342-380, December.
    17. Klarin, Anton, 2019. "Mapping product and service innovation: A bibliometric analysis and a typology," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    18. Lashitew, Addisu A. & van Tulder, Rob & Liasse, Yann, 2019. "Mobile phones for financial inclusion: What explains the diffusion of mobile money innovations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1201-1215.
    19. Jenson, Ian & Doyle, Richard & Miles, Morgan P., 2020. "An entrepreneurial marketing process perspective of the role of intermediaries in producing innovation outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 291-299.
    20. Lema, Zelalem & Lobry de Bruyn, Lisa A. & Marshall, Graham R. & Roschinsky, Romana & Duncan, Alan J., 2021. "Multilevel innovation platforms for development of smallholder livestock systems: How effective are they?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:119-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.