One laptop to change the world Ian Howard, Schulich School of Business, 30 March 2008
Jun 25, 2015
One laptop to change the world
Ian Howard, Schulich School of Business, 30 March 2008
he has a dream...
the “movement of recorded music ... is about to become the instantaneous and inexpensive”
Negroponte, 1995
a disruptive technology
According to Christiansen:
disruptive technologies offer “a different package of attributes valued only in emerging markets
remote from, and unimportant to, the mainstream.”
source: Wikipedia
evolution of disruptionJan 2005 – OLPC project officially begins at World Economic ForumWorking Prototype WSIS Nov 2005Oct 2007 – Uruguay orders 100,000 unitsNov 2007 – OLPC begins mass productionJan 3rd 2008 – Intel quitsJan 5th 2008 – Give one get one laptops begin to be sent to Cambodia, Nepal...CES Jan 7th 2008 – Asus eeePC, Intel ...
1. the big push vs. pull development debate
2. the fortune at the BOP debate
A disruption in two camps
Debate 1: Push vs. Pull
Sachs Easterly
vs.
Debate 1: Push vs. Pull
Big Push
Utopianism
Planners
neo-colonialists
Non-Interventionist/
Pull
Pessimistic
Seekers
SimplisticSachs’s ... conviction [is] that Africa can be saved with $75 billion a year in Western aid. ... In Easterly’s opinion, the present generation of white philanthropists is no more likely than earlier ones to succeed in a self-appointed (and at times unwittingly imperial) mission of enlightening the Dark Continent. source: Economist's View
vs.
Debate 1: Push vs. Pull
“our breathtaking opportunity {is to} spread the benefits of technology... to all parts of the world...”
a quote taken by Easterly from Sachs' book The End of Poverty
is a $100 laptop affordable for the poor?
will they ever buy it?
(or will someone buy it for them?)
(or are cell phones the answer?)
Debate 2: is there a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid?
Prahalad's Principles for BOP Products:
1) Price
2) Hybrid
3) Scalable and Transportable
Prahalad's Principles for BOP Products:
4) Resource conservative
5) Functionality over form
6) Process innovations are just as critical as product innovations.
Prahalad's Principles for BOP Products:
7) Deskilling work is critical
8) Education of customers on product usage is key
9) Resilient and durable
10) Appropriate interfaces
Prahalad's Principles for BOP Products:
11) Innovations must reach the consumer (urban and rural)
12) Platform approach so that it can be added to and adapted quickly
Nov 2007: a $180 laptop is born
and Intel reacts with a $280 laptop
and ASUS with a $400 laptop...
is there a fortune at the bottom?
162,000 XOs have been sold since November!
(to US and Canadian consumers)
ASUS expects to sell over 5 million units worldwide (but not to the poor)
There is a fortune at the middle and top of the pyramid
Competition is good.
Two models have emerged, a commercial “pull” model that is attempting to straddle markets (Intel,
ASUS) – middle of pyramid
vs.
A “big push” market that is attempting to create a “blue ocean” (OLPC) – bottom of pyramid
The OLPC has certainly caused a disruption, but perhaps not the one that
Negroponte had wanted.
Is OLPC a BOP product?