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

innovation. The adopter might be influenced by social hurdles that will restrict him from adopting aninnovation; even after being completely satisfied with the need fulfilling capacity of the innovation.The marketing challenge in the area of financial resource unavailability with the adopter is multifold. Thebelow points summarize the same.• Need to ensure the availability of financial resources with the adopter.• Need to understand and establish the role of social norms and networks, which influence the adopter inhis decision making.• Marketing research has to incorporate and establish a generalized set of factors that represent thegrassroot innovation adopter. This would require the changing of earlier understood nature of the adopter;as being classified only on the basis of innovativeness coefficients.Communication is another major concern for the marketer in the diffusion of grassroot innovations. In thecase of the diffusion of the diesel based marine engine, the communication was only through WOM. Thisis the case in many emerging markets, especially the rural markets in India. One might argue that thecollectivist societies in India, with good network effects, would have a high level of WOMcommunications; thus, this concern being invalid. In the case study the innovation was a potential productfor all the coastal states in India, but due to the regional differences, these innovations die down within afew settled communities. There are numerous similar examples in the National Innovation Foundation(NIF) libraries. The challenge of marketing here is to understand the required communication strategies toleverage on the WOM availability and ensure that the word keeps spreading.Challenges of the innovatorAny classic textbook of marketing will provide details on what the marketing strategy should be whenintroducing a new product. The role of communication, the role of promotions, the distribution mechanismand other aspects of how to manage the market have all been spoken time and again in the marketingliterature. But, does this work for the innovator turned entrepreneur at the grassroot? The characteristic ofan innovator at the grassroot is mostly a combination of low marketing budgets, unavailability ofmarketing expertise and concerns of survival. It would not be difficult for one to imagine the case whenthe innovator keeps the innovation to him and does not consider diffusing it into the market. Themarketing challenge here is to ensure that the innovator brings the product to the market and gets aid toget it diffused.Marketing must address this challenge by adopting an institutional setting. Marketing challenges that needto be addressed include;• To ensure that the innovator has the required set of resources to avail the market opportunity.• To enable the innovator with the marketing expertise that would enable him to ensure the marketingstrategy‘s successful implementation• Motivate the innovator to take the product to market• Marketing research has to ensure theorizing custom marketing activities plan for thegrassroot environments and emerging markets.The view that marketing must incorporate here is that the innovator has to be empowered to take theproduct to market with ease. The roles of institutions have to be highlighted in the theorizing of themarketing functionThe diffusion challengesThe challenges with the diffusion of the products are important in emerging markets, so as in any othermarket. But, in the emerging market context the importance of understanding the source of diffusionbecomes important. The network effects of the market may have a pull for the product due to its extreme