Conditions of implementation for frugality in engineering and innovation processes

Abstract

How most countries around the world do business has a significant impact on the environment. For too long, the negative external effects of production and consumption have been neglected. A rethinking towards the reconciliation of economy and ecology is necessary in order to ensure environment-friendly protection of prosperity. However, in comparison, green products are often expensive, and inexpensive products are often associated with higher environmental damage. The early inclusion of low-income households is an opportunity to replace consumption of environmentally harmful products faster and to accelerate the change to a greener economy. Frugality in product development and innovation processes is able to combine green product characteristics with low costs. In this dissertation, the implementation conditions of the emergence of advanced frugal product characteristics in innovation processes are investigated, which are then called Advanced Frugal Innovation. While a stronger focus is put on the product development process in the scientific literature, also systemic and social conditions are brought to the fore in this dissertation. Both technological capabilities and conducive systemic and societal conditions are essential prerequisites for the emergence of Advanced Frugal Innovation. The empirical findings indicate that societal framework conditions do not currently facilitate the development of Advanced Frugal Innovation in Germany. Due to a lack of usable prior research, the findings of this dissertation are based on an exploratory research approach. In addition to using relevant academic literature and deducing from existing theories and concepts, qualitative and quantitative data are examined. For this purpose, the focus is on a survey of companies in the manufacturing sector in Hesse and Lower Saxony. The results of this dissertation offer first empirical findings, insights into the development of Advanced Frugal Innovation and provide an impulse for further research.