trends and future of sustainable development - TransEco

1. IntroductionCompanies leading in their industry with huge market shares suddenly begins to lose their marketposition and gradually loses their leading position because a new innovation which they saw but ignoredis rapidly soaking away their market and jeopardizing the projected future of their business this is atypical disruptive innovation scenario. Disruptive Innovations by their very nature induces a reshufflingof the relative positioning of companies across sectors. They are usually seen when evolving but largelyunderestimated because what they offer at their inception rarely suits the demands of the mainstreammarket adequately. This is primarily attributed to the fact that they usually start as cheap, unstable &inferior innovations. (Christensen et al., 2001).On a different but similar pedestal, the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is characterized as anenvironment where innovation capabilities are ignored and cheap frugal innovations with inferiorofferings thrive. This is typified by the fact that this market segment comprises of people with a lowincomeearning below 2000 dollars per year (Prahalad and Lieberthal, 1998). The BOP also haschallenges and problems that foster creation of new markets (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002) that arenot necessarily visible in TOP markets.This paper is a result of exploring in more details the characteristic fit between attributes ofdisruptive innovation and attributes of the BOP (Baiyere et al. 2010). It also examines the potential fordisruptive innovations to occur at the BOP and the impact of such occurrence on the sustainability oftoday’s developed companies.Research ApproachThis research paper is a result of a qualitative research involving interviews, analysis of literatures, casestudies, academic journals, news articles, and industry publications concerning BOP concepts, disruptiveinnovation tendencies and potential market drivers. 13 innovation, R&D & management professionals oftop companies leading in their sectors were interviewed. 5 of the interviewees have had prior experienceworking or living in both TOP and BOP countries/markets.The purview of this paper is focused on the effect of disruptive innovation from the BOPs oncompanies with established sustainable markets at the top of the pyramid. The paper however does notfocus on the process of creating disruptive innovations and it also does not focus on the businessdynamics at the TOP market. This research builds on existing research, which provides a framework forthe analysis of several perceptions of the ensuing problem statement can disruptive innovations at theBOP impact the sustainability of companies in the developed world?Research questions Can BOP innovations be disruptive? Can they impact on the sustainability of today’s developed companies?326