Towards the Achievement of Frugal Innovation: Exploring Major Antecedents among SMEs

The study in hand investigates the impact of the Internet of things (IoT) and digital platforms on frugal innovation. Furthermore, we also tested the intervening role of digital platforms and moderating role of organizational readiness. Data were collected from SMEs and the collected data were analyzed with various statistical techniques. Findings shown that the IoT positively affects digital platforms and frugal innovation. Results proved that digital platforms mediate the association between the IoT and frugal innovation. Furthermore, organizational readiness also moderates on the association between digital platforms and frugal innovation. The findings revealed that only those businesses that update their business operations according to the needs of their customers can achieve success. Frugal innovation is an emerging concept, and its achievement is a very tricky and complex task. This study shows that only those businesses that update their business operations using the IoT and digital platforms can achieve success. Moreover, modern SMEs should be able to adapt to the required changes in their business activities. Hence, SMEs also require some strategic changes in their operations in order to cope with changing business circumstances.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) and digital platforms on frugal innovation. The findings show that the IoT has a positive effect on digital platforms and frugal innovation, and digital platforms mediate the association between the IoT and frugal innovation. Organizational readiness also moderates the association between digital platforms and frugal innovation. Only businesses that update their operations according to customer needs can achieve success.