Innovation for Addressing Social Needs: A Case Study of Tesco

Running Head: CREATIVITY AND BUSINESS WEALTH
Creativity and Business Wealth

CREATIVITY AND BUSINESS WEALTH 1
Innovation can be defined as the creative thoughts, new ideas and new imaginations in the form
of a method or device. Innovation is often regarded as the application of better solutions with the
help of which new requirements, existing market needs and unarticulated needs can be met
effectively. Innovations addressing social needs are the strategies, ideas, and concepts which are
adopted by the organizations for the purpose of meeting social needs resulting from education,
working conditions, health and community development. The purpose or goal of creating these
ideas is strengthening and extending the civil society1. This essay focuses on how innovation can
address social needs. Tesco has been selected as the organization for this essay for explaining
how benefit can be derived by those at the bottom of the pyramid from the innovation
imperative. This essay further highlights the manner adopted by Tesco for delivering value.
There are a number of social challenges faced by the people living in UK such as poverty, social
exclusion, health and demographic challenges and substantial levels of inequalities. Therefore, it
is the basic need of such people to be capable of overcoming these social challenges. Innovation
assists in in addressing social exclusion by way of reducing unemployment along with offering
the employment opportunities to the disadvantaged groups2. Furthermore, the introduction of
new products and services such as simplified and cheaper versions of existing goods can further
help in the reduction of differences and inequalities in the living standards of various groups
living in the society. Moreover, a number of health challenges can be addressed by innovation
through more predictive, preventive and personal healthcare products. In other words, social
innovation can play a useful role in providing answers to various social problems and needs
when the solutions are not available through the use of conventional approaches. Innovations are
mostly made by way of making the use of advanced technology. Technology can be regarded as
the immense force for good in the world3.
1 Joel West. and Marcel Bogers, ‘Leveraging external sources of innovation: a review of research
on open innovation’, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 31, no.4, 2014, pp.816.
2 Robert P. van der Have and Luis Rubalcaba, ‘Social innovation research: An emerging area of
innovation studies?’, Research Policy, vol. 45, no.9, 2016, pp.1930.
3 Leonid Kogan et.al., ‘Technological innovation, resource allocation, and growth’, The
Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 132, no.2, 2017, pp.665.

CREATIVITY AND BUSINESS WEALTH 2
The bottom of the pyramid can be defined as the socio- economic concept with the help of which
the vast segment that consist of the poorest citizens of the world who are blocked by challenging
barriers and are therefore prevented from the realization of human potential for their own benefit.
This concept refers to the market- based model of economic development, which provides a
promise of alleviating the widespread poverty along with providing profits and growth for the
multinational corporations. The firms operating in various industries are increasingly adopting
this concept. Unlike the traditional models of economic development, the recast of poverty is
approached by the bottom of the pyramid as an economic opportunity for MNCs4. There are
three premises of the basic argument, firstly, the poor population of the world constitutes
massive profit potential and growth opportunities for MNCs. Secondly, a leading role should be
played by the MNCs for the purpose of unlocking the economic potential of the markets which
are difficult to access. Thirdly, the poor of the world are required to be brought into the global
economy which, in turn, will generate fortunes for the multinational corporations along with
resolving the problem of global poverty. In other words, the population segment at the bottom of
the pyramid remains underserved and therefore, there are a number of opportunities for those
who have the capability of bringing innovation for the purpose of offering aspirational and
original products and services5.
Success can be achieved by way of lowering the cost of ownership along with offering quality
and features which are aspired by the consumers. Small pack sizes are the most well- known and
obvious method for the consumer goods companies for the purpose of targeting the low- income
consumers. However, these methods are often not regarded as the best method. There is a
requirement for employing other innovations as well and should be based after gaining a proper
understanding of the needs of the consumers by engaging the business in the local market.
Furthermore, the chances of the creation of a sustainable business model are also increased with
the help of the immersion strategy.
4 Casado Caneque Fernando and L. Hart Stuart, Base of the Pyramid 3.0: Sustainable
Development through Innovation and Entrepreneurship, USA, Routledge, 2017, p. 3.
5 Jaques Angot and Loic Ple, ‘Serving poor people in rich countries: the bottom-of-the-pyramid
business model solution’, Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 36, no. 2, 2015, pp.3.