A Configurational Perspective On Bop Innovation Capability

Marketing capabilities are a major driver of competitive advantage across different business contexts. One of these capabilities is the ability to sense consumer needs and to develop innovations to meet these needs, referred to as innovation capability. Innovation holds the potential to improve the living conditions of resource-constrained consumers at the bottom of the world's economic pyramid (BoP) in emerging markets. Surprisingly, research has failed to develop a comprehensive understanding of how firms can innovate successfully in BoP markets. Applying a configurational perspective, this study explores the organisational configurations that characterise firms that successfully develop innovations for the BoP market. Analysing data from an online survey with senior-level managers (n = 245) in 10 emerging markets, the authors offer important insights for firms seeking to develop innovations for BoP consumers in terms of the specific organisational configurations that lead to BoP innovation success.