Mapping the field: a bibliometric analysis of intellectual communities in frugal innovation

Frugal innovation literature is experiencing a high turbulent era due to its increasing diffusion. Frugal innovation is the process of innovating to respond to severe resource constraints with products that have cost advantages compared to existing solutions; the philosophy behind frugal innovation can be applied both to product and services from different sectors, as showed from academia and managerial applications. The purpose of this paper is to examine the intellectual structure of the rough developing research domain of frugal innovation in order to identify the most active and influential communities, as well as the most seminal works and scholars active in the field. Therefore, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the literature of Frugal Innovation: the outcomes of our analysis allowed us to offer an objective and scientific mapping of the development of this field. Four distinct intellectual communities have been identified: Strategic Challenges; Industrial Applications; Inclusiveness; Healthcare. We provide insights about the strength of the bridges between these distinct communities and the intellectual structure of the domain, as well as to provide indications for future developments.