Tag Archives: seasonality

Why does the prepaid model work so well and what are the lessons for business model innovation?

By Niti Bhan | Published: March 1, 2018

Increasingly, employment is becoming ad hoc and flexible. The gig economy and the informal sector share a common characteristic of incomes which are irregular and unpredictable, unlike the timely wages characteristic of formal employment. Both budgeting and planning thus become a challenge when there’s no predictable paycheck to rely on. Expenses are managed against cash […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Analysis, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Frameworks, Income, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Marketing, Mobile platform, Perspective, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Research, Retail in Africa, Rural Economy, Strategy | Also tagged business model innovation, flexibility, lessons from prepaid, negotiability, opportunity, reciprocity | Leave a comment

Financial Behaviour Patterns Observed Among Households in Rural Informal Economy in Asia

By Niti Bhan | Published: July 24, 2017

This is the original working paper of the research conducted on rural household financial management, in developing country conditions, pioneering the use of methods from human centered design for discovery, during Nov 2008 to March 2009, aka the Prepaid Economy Project. It was peer reviewed by Brett Hudson Matthews, and I have incorporated his comments into […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Airtime, Alternative currency, Analysis, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Banking, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Cattle, Consumer Behaviour, Design, Economy, Ecosystem, Emerging Markets, Flexibility, Frameworks, global, Income, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Livestock, Marchés africains, Marketing, Migrant worker, Mobile platform, Philipines, Platforms, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Process, Produits de grande consommation (FMCG), Projects and Reports, Research, Retail in Africa, Risk, rural, Rural Economy, Savings, Scarcity, South Asia, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, User research | Also tagged asean, biashara economics, bottom of the pyramid, cash based markets, design research for development, financial management, household finance, india, informal economy, irregular incomes, philippines, prepaid, prepaid business model, prepaid economy, research, rural economy, south asia, The prepaid economy | Leave a comment

Permanently seasonal

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 11, 2017

Now Dinesh, the chick (bamboo or rattan blinds and awnings) maker offers a seasonal service in the warmer months, yet his signage and product display seems to imply a permanent storefront. More likely, it’s permanent during the spring and summer, when the chicks are replaced and installed to protect and cool against the heat of […]

Posted in Perspective | Also tagged delhi, india, informal sector, street vendor | Leave a comment

A matter of timing: seasonal opportunities

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 9, 2017

These stalls full of water pistols and balloons sprouted overnight a couple of days before the spring festival of Holi (March 13th 2017) – these vendors are neither local nor regulars in the market complex. They’re here to offer seasonal products and might even have been invited by the local shopkeepers to provide attractive temporary […]

Posted in Biashara Economics, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Economy, Emerging Markets, India, Indigenous & Traditional, Innovation Planning, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, rural, Rural Economy, Strategy, User research | Also tagged festival, holi, india, rural economy, street vendor | Leave a comment

Poverty is Dynamic and Flexible, Just like the Informal Economy: Evidence from India

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 8, 2016

…the concept of poverty today is fundamentally different from that of poverty three decades ago, and that safety nets need to be tailored to meet the needs of a society in transition.~ The Hindu, 2 Aug 2016 When quantitative data provided by the India Human Development Survey (the first large panel survey in India) provokes […]

Posted in Analysis, Assumption filter, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Ecosystem, Frameworks, India, Informal & Flexible, Literature review, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Research, Rural Economy, User research | Also tagged biashara economics, data, Emerging Futures Lab, evidence, flexibility, informal economy, robust methodology | Leave a comment

Seasonality as an element of contextual planning for emerging consumer markets

By Niti Bhan | Published: September 6, 2016

Growing up as a Hindu expat in multicultural ‘West Malaysia’ of the 1970s and 80s, it was a matter of course that every festival would be a big occasion. We had Christmas in December, and Chinese New Year soon after, to be followed by Hari Raya (Eid) and Deepawali – each of them deserving of […]

Posted in African Consumer Market, Analysis, ASEAN, Assumption filter, Biashara Economics, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Emerging Markets, Indigenous & Traditional, Mama Biashara, Marchés africains, Marketing, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Retail in Africa, Strategy | Also tagged cash flow, consumer behaviour, informal economy, irregular incomes, marketing, prepaid economy, Purchasing patterns, user research | Leave a comment

Part 2: The Observations made during original research on rural economic behaviour

By Niti Bhan | Published: October 30, 2013

One can roughly consider the relative income (or wealth) across three regions where observations were conducted on a continuum where the Indian village was the ‘wealthiest’ while the Malawians were living closest to the edge. However, on synthesizing the combined data collected across geographies, patterns of financial behaviour emerged that showed similarities of intention and […]

Posted in Africa, Alternative currency, Assumption filter, Banking, Base of the Pyramid, Business Models, Cashless transactions, Consumer Behaviour, Culture, Economy, Indigenous & Traditional, Informal & Flexible, Livestock, Projects and Reports, Research, Rural Economy, User research | Also tagged bop, exploratory user research, household financial management, india, livestock, malawi, patterns, philippines, prepaid economy, rural economy | 1 Response