Group Danone got creative in Bangladesh, given the country's lack of refrigeration. It built localized microplants and outfitted salespeople with cooler bags. | Photograph by Tom Haley/Sipa Press
A similar example might come from Indian banks, where transactions are about one-tenth of the typical U.S. bank's. India's ICICI operates profitably in such a climate, thanks to its highly efficient systems. Suddenly cash-starved U.S. financial firms are looking to ICICI -- and the substantial number of lower-income consumers in their own backyard -- and asking, "How is it that companies in emerging markets can serve these customers and we can't?" says McKinsey's James Manyika.
Innovation won't always trickle up, of course. At Nokia, Ledlie isn't sure something like Mosoko will ever break through the West's cluttered retail market. But he's confident that Nokia has a proving ground for voice recognition in a sales application. And, Ledlie says, "there's trickling sideways." If it works in Kenya, it should work in other developing markets where cell-phone penetration far exceeds desktop Internet, such as Mexico. Harold L. Sirkin, coauthor of 2008's Globality: Competing With Everyone From Everywhere for Everything, cites some successful "sideways" examples, including Brazil's Natura, a cosmetics firm that bested Western companies on its home turf and has expanded throughout Latin America and now Europe, and China's Goodbaby, which has 28% of the U.S. stroller market.
The emerging world, then, is no longer a dumping ground for trailing-edge technology. Brace yourself for the next wave of immigrants: ideas.
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Recent Comments | 9 Total
February 27, 2009 at 11:43am by Ken Smith
Trickle-up must become a torrent in the cleantech industry if we are to make a measurable change in the types of energy we power this and other nations. Innovations now in the lab and those funded with VC must be able to penetrate markets even more rapidly than any industry changing innovation in the past. It took about 20 years+ for TVs to reach 'mass market' penetration, 50 for the phone, and 15 for the Internet - with clean tech/renewable energy we have 10 years - period. Social, individual and cultural barriers will have to be overcome, but the ecological imperative demands that we find ways to allow 'green' innovations to reach mass market consumers. And the energy indsutry must change from its focus on a centralized system of large-scale plants to a distributed system of community-scale plants. And then we must start to build baby build - www.buildbabybuild.net.
March 2, 2009 at 4:51pm by Hans Erickson
I like this article and the information in it is valuable, but the conclusions are incorrect for the wireless marketplace. There is a much more important reason why innovation MUST occur outside the US and then perhaps one day (if we are lucky) find it's way back in. It isn't user choice as the article hints at with the quick references to two obscure wireless companies, insinuating they just couldn't get customers interested. In the US, we have a walled garden where the wireless gatekeepers don't let innovators in because it would jeopardize a rich revenue stream for them. If they don't get a significant cut of the pie, you can't play ball, and they would rather just do it themselves. See a recent article from ARSTechnica on Canadian reaction to these restrictions.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/canadian-websites-wirele...
This is what has caused countless US entrepreneurial casualties as they attempt to enter the wireless market with it's capital intensive gauntlet. A startup can't afford to pay the rates being demanded by the carriers to ride. The wireless market in the US is over $100 billion - that is a market worth fighting for, and you have entrenched vendors that are protecting turf with FCC assistance. You can go back as far as you like to find more examples, many on ARSTechnica, such as Skype lobbying the FCC in 2007 http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2007/02/8895.ars
Device providers are also threatened that they have to follow the rules, or their devices will be pulled. Nokia is currently battling providers because they put Skype on a cell phone. That phone will either get 'fixed' (like at the vet!) or it won't make it to market.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/cellular-providers-want-noki...
The wireless economy in the US has huge potential. As an economic engine for a recovery, it probably has more potential than almost any other single segment of our economy. But with the way it is currently structured, it can't happen. Laurence Lessig makes some good points on how to fix the government regulation on several levels http://www.spectrumofgreed.com/?p=215.
July 31, 2009 at 2:48am by John Bruno
How to make all countries in the world equal? No more very rich and very poor countries anymore?
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A1Article
October 14, 2009 at 6:11am by beobow beobow
I like this article and the information in it is valuable, but the conclusions are incorrect for the wireless marketplace. There is a much more important reason why innovation MUST occur outside the US and then perhaps one day
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November 3, 2009 at 11:18pm by Somchai Yhai
There are a lot of good example for innovations from the developing country in this article.
Are India and China the developing country?
Somchai Yhai
VP of Marketing at หางาน
November 22, 2009 at 3:53pm by Fotograf Ślubny
this is a great article! fotograf zdjecia slubne and fotografia slubna bielsko Katowice krakow fine art. Psycholog on Line korzysci pomocy online fotografia dziecieca zdjecia dzieci, fotograf slubny fotografia dzieci depresja stres psycholog i pomoc psychologiczna pomoc psychologa and internetowy psycholog psychologia internetowa poradnia psychologiczna and Psychologia and psycholog online psycholog on-line pomoc psychologiczna przez Internet and psycholog online psycholog internetowy and psycholog przez internet
December 6, 2009 at 3:19am by Anuwat Makpat
There are a lot of good example for innovations from the developing country in this article.
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December 7, 2009 at 11:37am by Fiona Robbins
Its about time technology was built with the needs of the developing nations put first, rather than them just having the West's cast offs. Well done Nokia.
December 7, 2009 at 1:42pm by abah jamu
here ideas take shape in developing markets first alti plano media |
media automobiles |
mass media |