Frugal engineering to address modern global forces

McKinsey Global Institute’s The four global forces breaking all the trends lays a foundation for readers to consider four major trends that are and will continue to shape the modern world; economic activity shifting towards the eastern and southern parts of the world, technology accelerating at an exponential rate, world population increasing at a slower rate, and an expanding global connection. These four forces propose opportunities and challenges for social innovation. 

In parallel with the benefits to rapid economic growth, growing pains are undeniable, particularly when culture and values become compromised at the expense of rapid economic growth. The following article, http://www.ibtimes.com/effects-rapid-growth-economy-chinas-booming-fast-food-culture-takes-its-toll-health-photos-1155083, illustrates the consequences of rapid-growth Chinese economy in fast food culture. Gina Kennedy of the Food and Agriculture organization quotes, “What we are seeing in developing countries, which are undergoing rapid economic transition is undernutrition, overnutrition and infections and chronic diseases coexisting over long periods of time”.  Despite the figures that China’s GDP has doubled between 2005 and 2009, the obesity count multiplied from 18 million to 100 million, with a drastic disparity between those with too much to eat, and those with not enough. The high intake of protein with fat and sugar is relatively new for the local diet.

The fast food adoption in developing countries is an example of the negative consequences of substituting western trends into eastern countries, and a failed opportunity at social innovation. In this case, it is taking a good from a developed country and placing it in a developing space by stripping away the original fancier qualities, without consideration for the true needs of the community.  The strategy + business’s article titled “The Importance of Frugal Engineering” discusses the principles behind the benefit of maximizing values and minimizing nonessential costs. When inexpensive products or items are built, they tend to be built from existing design or components to be made cheaper. The article argues that frugal engineering instead uses design thinking to identify and address from the bottom up the true needs of the users, as opposed to simply cutting down the existing over-engineered products. In the case of fast food, design thinking can be applied to observe the actual dietary needs of the people (particularly those under-nutritioned), or innovate creative approaches to adopting healthier food alternatives at lower costs. In a world where consumer wants often drive what suppliers provide, it is difficult to balance users’ self-directed actions and what research observation may in fact show. Moving forward, how do we find a healthy balance between the two?