Applying Marketing Frameworks to Social Entrepreneurship New Product Development: A Case Study
Open Access
Author:
Lehman, Ernie
Area of Honors:
Marketing
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Min Ding, Thesis Supervisor Lisa Elizabeth Bolton, Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Marketing Kahn New Product Development Social Entrepreneurship iDE Paul Polak Framework
Abstract:
Social ventures are using business practices to combat some of the world’s biggest problems. By capitalizing on entrepreneurial philosophies, these enterprises are able to create sustainable changes in the regions where they work. Unfortunately, there exists in these ventures a high failure rate due in large part to a gap between what the consumer needs and what the ventures are producing. This case study explores the use of frameworks developed for commercial firms to analyze the new product development processes in the iDE Treadle Pump social venture. The study made qualitative assessments on each proposition of these frameworks, examining them for their potential usefulness in evaluating social ventures. The study suggests changes to be made to these frameworks, as well as future research methodologies for examining the cross-organizational validity of these managerial tools.