Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
This paper is divided into four sections. The first section provides a background by defining and
explaining relevant key terms such as indigenous entrepreneurship, indigenous knowledge and grassroots
innovations. The second section discusses the importance of integrating incumbent mainstream
knowledge systems with indigenous knowledge and the relevance of understanding the innovation
process of indigenous entrepreneurs. The third section discusses the proposed conceptual framework to be
explored in the field study and the final section suggests future directions for indigenous entrepreneurship
research.
Indigenous entrepreneurship and grassroots innovations
This paper looks at the relatively little known phenomenon of indigenous entrepreneurship which tends to
involve the application of IK. Indigenous entrepreneurship (IE), is defined as enterprise related activities
carried out by indigenous people (Peredo, Anderson, Galbraith, Honig, & Dana, 2004: 3). It is also
considered as, “self-employment based on indigenous knowledge” (Dana, 2007). Indigenous
entrepreneurs tend to apply indigenous knowledge which is defined as “a systematic body of knowledge
acquired by local people through the accumulation of experiences, informal experiments and an intimate
understanding of the environment in a given culture” (Warren & Rajasekaran, 1993). It is not restricted
to rural dwellers as it is present in all communities that have built a body of knowledge over generations
(Subba Rao, 2006).
Indigenous entrepreneurs tend to generate grassroots innovations which are defined as need-based,
simple, cost-effective and sustainable solutions generated to address problems faced by indigenous
communities, with the potential to solve contemporary problems (Gupta, 2001). Though GIs originate
mostly from indigenous communities by individuals who tend to be economically poor and with little or
no formal education, they are also generated by other individuals educated in formal systems and from
higher income groups, who are embedded to some extent in the same environment and thus posses some
degree of IK (Subba Rao, 2006).
Most of the literature on innovation and entrepreneurship proceeds from research in developed countries
(Lindsay, 2005), creating a tendency to focus on mainstream innovations which are usually related to the
context of developed economies. Much less attention has so far been paid to the wealth of innovations
that occur outside formal R&D structures such as grassroots innovations which are derived from
indigenous/traditional knowledge and have the potential to solve contemporary problems (Gupta, 2001).
This paper thus highlights the need to extend the existing paradigm of innovation to include these
idiosyncratic forms of innovation and attempts to contribute to indigenous entrepreneurship research by
investigating the innovation process of indigenous entrepreneurs.
Innovations by IEs tend to be cost-effective, ecosystem friendly and sustainable because indigenous
people usually have an intimate knowledge of the ecosystem in their locality and through accumulated
experience, have learnt to manage the resources available in their environment in a sustainable way
(Gupta, 1999). However, though GIs represent an important source of value creating innovations they are
sometimes not so effective and usually fail to scale up as most IEs lack the funds and knowledge required
to commercialize their innovations on a large scale. The phenomenon of technology blending which
involves the integration of grassroots and mainstream innovations has been suggested as a means to scaleup
GIs as well as increase their effectiveness (Srinivas & Sutz, 2008; James, 1988). Extant literature
reveals a number of instances when the integration of indigenous knowledge and modern scientific
knowledge result in improved outcomes (Douthwaite, 2006; James, 1988) and also proposes a conceptual
framework depicting how mainstream practices can harness the benefits of indigenous knowledge
(Monaghan, 2009). While the innovation process of mainstream innovations is extensively discussed by
various authors (Hansen & Birkinshaw, 2007; Roper, Du, & Love, 2008; Van Horne, Frayret, & Poulin,
2006), no empirical study was found in the literature regarding the innovation process of IEs. In this
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