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

demand, but the social developmental characteristics of grassroot innovations make them even moreimperative. We have seen from the case study that the institutions play a very vital role in the diffusion ofgrassroot innovations. To reiterate; grassroot innovation in most cases is a solution or a workaround for asituation faced by people in their day to day employment.The makes the role of intuitions key in the context of diffusion. The diffusion of the innovation in the casehas clearly started from the institutional angle (when Matsyafed planned to diffuse the innovation). Theinnovation having social aspects that can be addressed through the adoption of the innovation makes itimportant to venture into different ways innovation can happen. Unlike in the established literature, in anemerging market grassroot innovation diffusion case, the diffusion cannot just be end-user driven, but canbe institutional driven as the case mentions about Matsyafed and CIFT.Diffusion can happen also through the community. The community, mostly referring to an informalinstitution, can spearhead the diffusion process and thereby get the product to be adopted by the end-user.In the context of the case in discussion this brings in the role of the informal Sangham. The Sanghamoperates in association with Matsyafed, but is different from the Matsyafed organization. Sangham has itsrepresentatives elected on a democratic voting system by the local fishermen; they then act as the agents tointeract with Matsyafed. Unlike the agent system of fish sales in most parts, in places that have a Sanghamoperating the Sangham gets to keep all the fish, they then sell the fish and keep 8% of the money tothemselves. The 8% of the daily sales is further divided into four components• 1% is accumulated and paid as bonus, back to the fisherman for the 2 months fishing isbanned• 1.5% is taken as a charge to the Sangham• 1.5% is paid to Matsyafed for the facility development• 4% is the commission to the agent who operates on the ground for the fish auctionThus the Sangham becomes a very effective and strong organization. The Sangham also provides loans forthe fishermen, which varies based on the needs of people. The Sangham after giving the loan has a uniquesystem of repayment also. They get the entire fish from the fisherman and in case the catch of the day ismore that specific amounts say Rs. 1500, then they take some amount as a loan repayment from this alongwith the normal 8%. This ensures that the fishermen are able and do the payments in time. These forms ofinformal associations can help guide the diffusion of innovation.The key marketing implications here would be to identify the fact that the diffusion of innovation on thegrassroot level could happen through three levels;• Institutional Driven• User Driven• Community DrivenMarketing research has to address this issue by incorporating these concerns into the literature andestablishing guidelines to enable the use of each of these in the diffusion practice.ConclusionThe paper is an attempt to explore the diffusion of grassroot innovations at the grassroot level in anemerging market scenario like in India. The paper builds on an exploratory case study that has looked atthe issues of diffusion of a Diesel based marine engine hat was made to replace the kerosene based engineand provide superior fuel efficiency.The paper looks at the societal context in the grassroot level and identifies issues that need to be addressedto ensure better diffusion of innovations. Challenges are highlighted in the areas of (1) financial resource