Frugal innovation principles as a response to the Covid-19 crisis in Western countries

Abstract

The current thesis consists of a qualitative study that investigates whether Western countries have developed frugal innovations to respond the challenges posed by the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. First, the study provides a literature review to enable the reader to better understand how the topic of frugality has been addressed in the context of both emerging and developed countries. In a second stage, the study provides a theoretical conceptual framework to define frugal innovation, hence suggesting broader frugal attributes that can find application in Western countries. In the last stage, the study investigates whether the attributes provided in the conceptual framework have found application among the covid innovations developed in the West. To do so, a qualitative content analysis has been employed, relying on both deductive and inductive approach. At the end, the study comes to the following conclusion: the application of a frugal mindset in Western countries is confirmed and the model is assumed to fit properly to the definition of frugality in Western countries.