A Critical Examination of a Leading Paradigm of Innovation Management: A Study of Frugal Innovation in the Agri-food Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and its Role in Furthering Sustainable Rural Development

This thesis provides a critical examination of a leading concept in the field of innovation management, frugal innovation, and it further explores its significance in the context of the agri-food sector in sub-Saharan Africa and specifically regarding the smallholder farmer. In developing an original contribution, this research extends the analysis of the frugal innovation literature from the more prevalent focus upon cases and examples from the Indian sub-continent and expands the coverage to sub-Saharan Africa. The research also explores the agri-food sector as a suitable setting for research, and the cases used provide more nuance to help develop a coherent definition of frugal innovation and in helping to refine a concept that has been described as incomplete. The findings of the research suggest that frugal innovation is prevalent within the agri-food sector and across sub-Saharan Africa and that the cases identified also reflect the idea of frugal innovation in terms of products, services, systems, and business models that have as their essential elements, cost reduction, core functionalities, and optimized performance appropriate to the setting. Further, the topic of sustainability is a key area of focus for government and policymakers, and so this thesis also suggests that frugal innovation provides an appropriate approach for sustainable development in rural areas and aligns with the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This represents a hitherto underexplored aspect of the existing literature and particularly regarding the smallholder farmer. The resulting cases help support the evolving canon of literature within the field of frugal innovation and serve to widen the context within which that research is conducted to a different context in terms of the agri-food sector of sub-Saharan Africa while also developing a further original contribution in terms of the role of frugal innovation in sustainable rural development.