Discussion of Findings and Conclusion

This research explores the phenomenon of disruptive innovations addressing the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) markets, in the context of affordable healthcare innovations from India. Inductive qualitative research was chosen as the methodology to probe into this emerging and vital phenomenon. Innovations from four companies were examined in detail to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature and origins of these innovations. Empirical insights from the four companies informed three studies. The first study aimed at setting the scene and analyzed previous research to build theoretical links between the BOP concept and disruptive innovation theory. It also examined the case studies of two low-cost hospital chains from India, namely the Aravind Eye Care System and Narayana Hrudayalaya hospitals. The analysis of the innovation drivers of these companies revealed that the BOP market is a very fitting and favorable context for disruptive innovations. Subsequently, the disruptive innovation theory was used as a framework to explore the phenomenon of BOP innovations. In turn, aspects of this phenomenon were analyzed to enrich disruptive innovation theory. The GE Healthcare and Tata case studies explored how established companies are developing disruptive innovations for BOP markets from within their boundaries. This chapter provides a good opportunity to contrast and integrate findings from the GE Healthcare and Tata cases. Following this, the theoretical contributions of this research will be discussed. In this section, pertinent managerial implications will be derived. Finally, limitations of this research and future research agenda will be discussed and conclusions to this research will be drawn.