Index of Paper Presentations for the Parallel Sessions - Academy of ...

acquired during times of a bad catch) are often forgotten by the fisherman as they form a very casualmethod of handling money.Most fishermen have more than one motor kept idle at home. Every time a new motor comes into themarket and the feel it could give them some advantage, they go for this motor and they feel to not thinkabout the usability of the earlier one.The system that the fishermen operate is very simple. They need to incur some costs for their daily fishingactivity like the fuel, raw material, food etc. The fishermen get the catch and then subtract the cost fromthe price of fish sold, the remaining money is shared equally among the people who had gone to work thatday, and one equal share to the owner of the boat (in case of a hired boat). Each boat is appointed an agentto negotiate the price of fish in the market and handle all transactions. The fisherman in short engages inonly going to the sea and bringing back the catch. The agent here becomes responsible for the sales offish, provide credit to the fisherman, manage the availability of fuel etc.Communication at the level of the fishermen or the adopter of the innovation in this case, is only throughWOM. The potential customer is unaware of the technology at many instances, unless he has seen thetechnology or has been exposed to it through opinion leaders or other innovators. The absence of otherforms of communication makes the diffusion even more challenging.AgentThe agent is the central character in the fishing in the region. The agent is the person who takes care of thecatch for the boats and also gets the market mechanism running. The agent takes care of activitiesincluding1. Deciding the cost of fish2. Selling of fish in the market3. Middleman in local credit and fuel transactions4. Providing financial assistance to the fishermanIn most cases the boats are attached to an agent informally, but as a social norm.Mukundan, an agent explains that the process of being in charge of a few boats and for all credit and fuelrelated activities of these fishermen. Since the social system calls for the agent to sell the fish of aconcerned fisherman and get the money, the agent become a more credible custodian of guarantee than thefisherman himself. Suppose the fisherman needs money for maintenance in the boat, he gets the moneyfrom the agent through the local money launderer. The launderer makes the agent in charge of therepayment and the agent pays the fisherman only the amount after his repayment amount. This ensuresthat the debt is repaid in time, unlike the fisherman who may not repay the debt, due to his ill handlingcapacity of money.Money LaundererThe money launderer is another strong stakeholder. Due to the low stability in the daily catch of thefisherman, they need credit for their daily operations and this is met by the money launderer. He does notoperate directly with the fisherman, but operates through the agent. The agent is one person who can beeasily relied upon due to his daily money transactions and his unique central place in the ecosystem. Themoney launderer gives the money to the agent who then handles the recovery of money and also therecovery of boats or other tangibles in case of defaults.Modes of DiffusionDifferent ways in which the innovation can be diffused have been explored by the innovator and hissupporters. The need that the innovation has generated with the fuel efficiency in the operation of theinnovation has made a niche market for the innovation. Herein the technology diffusion drivers are the