Can technology be leveraged for bridging the rural-urban divide?

Editors

Hattingh, Marie; Matthee, Machdel; Smuts, Hanlie; Pappas, Ilias; Dwivedi, Yogesh K; Mantymaki, Matti

Description

Inequalities exist and persist in society in different forms and are often areas of prime concern for governments and policy makers around the globe. One such inequality that plagues societies is the rural-urban divide. Several social entrepreneurs are attempting to leverage technology to bridge this divide. In our research-in-progress paper, we describe the case of an Indian company, which is leveraging technology to create knowledge-based jobs for the rural Indian population. The approach adopted by the company in initiating and sustaining such an effort was an inside-out approach in contrast to the usual approach of focusing only on the internal resources within the company. Specifically, our research aims at abstracting the process mechanisms that enabled such an initiative. The unearthed mechanisms would inform future research on the modalities for orchestrating such an initiative. The findings would also help practitioners, especially social entrepreneurs, to think of innovative business models that would create value not only for the company but also for society as a whole. The delineated learnings would also help enthused social entrepreneurs to transplant such initiatives to other regions of the world.

Publication Date

1-4-2020

DOI

10.1007/978-3-030-45002-1_25

ISBN

978-3030450014; 978-3030450021

Publisher

Springer

Keywords

Rural-urban divide, Reverse innovation, ICT for development, Business model innovation

Source Link URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45002-1_25

discipline

Business; Technology and Innovation; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Development Studies

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