INNOBLOG

In their recent Harvard Business Review article "Disruptive Innovation for Social Change, Clayton Christensen, Heiner Baumann, Rudy Ruggles, and Thomas Sadtler argue that the same forces underlying innovation in the corporate world impact the sociopolitical sphere. Just as disruptive innovations reshape markets by beating reigning solutions on previously underappreciated measures of performance think of Southwest making flying more convenient and cheaper, in exchange for no-frills service so called "catalytic innovations can transform social spheres by alleviating longstanding frustrations in areas like healthcare, education, and economic development. The key to both disruptive and catalytic innovation is finding good enough solutions for important Jobs in peoples lives.

Christensen et al. lay out "Five Qualities of Catalytic Innovators:

1. They create systemic social change through scaling and replication.
2. They meet a need that is either overserved (because the existing solution is more complex than many people require) or not served at all.
3. They offer products and services that are simpler and less costly than existing alternatives and may be perceived as having a lower level of performance, but users consider them to be good enough.
4. They generate resources, such as donations, grants, volunteer manpower or intellectual capital, in ways that are initially unattractive to incumbent competitors.
5. They are often ignored, disparaged, or even encouraged by existing players for whom the business model is unprofitable or otherwise unattractive and who therefore avoid or retreat from the market segment.

There are a number of compelling examples provided in the article; Ill focus on one, a non-profit called KickStart, here. They provide low-cost "appropriate technology solutions to accelerate economic development and alleviate poverty in central Africa. One of their most successful products to date is the MoneyMaker Pump (pictured above), a simple, foot-powered tool that draws water from nearby wells, ponds, or streams for micro-irrigation. Since its launch in 1996, over 45,000 pumps have been sold, creating as much as 10-fold increases in wages for their users, some $37 million per year in new profits and wages overall, 29,000 new jobs, and an entire value chain to manufacture, distribute, and retail the machines.

Why has this product been successful, and what lessons can be transferred to other non- and for- profit initiatives?

The pump has been successful because it provides accessible, low cost, and good enough functionality to an underserved market, thereby solving critical consumer Jobs. Many Africans farm small, non-irrigated plots that do not yield enough to pay for school fees and healthcare. They carry water from nearby sources in buckets an arduous, inefficient, and time-consuming task. Modern irrigation systems would do wonders for their crops, but the technologies in use in the developed world are simply inaccessible to these farmers; they are way too expensive, not sold locally, and if, say, an NGO airlifted a system in it would be impossible to run it, since there is no electricity. The pedal powered, limited range MoneyMaker Pump, then, is not competing against irrigation systems but against schlepping water in buckets or not irrigating at all. It is locally assembled and distributed, and relatively affordable. It would be of no use to a Western farmer, but it is definitely good enough for the population it serves. It has catalyzed economic development and alleviated poverty for many in a desperately underserved part of the world.

These factors Jobs to be Done, non-consumers, underserved populations, good enough functionality, accessibility, low-cost are central to market changing innovations. Keep them in mind when assessing the potential of new products and services.

See:

Christensen, Clayton et al., "Disruptive Innovation for Social Change, Harvard Business Review, December 2006.

www.kickstart.org