Shaping Frugal Innovation Processes, and Ensuring Security and Sustainable Development of Enterprises in the Environment
Shamsher Mohamad Ramadili Mohd
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
1. Explain the specific factors/activities and HOW these factors can shape the frugal innovative process and contribute towards security & sustainability of firms.
2. Also need to sample the not so innovative sectors to validate these factors.
3. Need to explain WHY the sample was from 2017 and not earlier, the larger the sample the batter the validity.
4. Need to test if it would make a difference if the sector sampled was government-linked or totally private. There should be different.
5. Need to justify the research methodology used.
6. The write-up is too wordy. Suggest tabulating ALL MAIN FINDINGS and then explain the findings WITH THE INSIGHTS rather than just mentioning the numbers.
7. It is important to highlight the practical implications of the findings.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer. Our answers are as follows:
Explain the specific factors/activities and HOW these factors can shape the frugal innovative process and contribute towards security & sustainability of firms.
Dear Reviewer, this description of the impact of various factors and activities related to the frugal innovations was included in the introduction of all research hypotheses.
Also need to sample the not so innovative sectors to validate these factors.
Need to test if it would make a difference if the sector sampled was government-linked or totally private. There should be different.
Dear Reviewer, we agree, but this is not a subject of the contemporary research. We did not conduct a comparative analysis in terms of the impact of the FI on the safety and sustainable development of enterprises, but the aim was to initially identify the issue and scale of the impact of the FI on enterprises. Of course, in the next phases of the study we will expand the analysis with this aspect. Many thanks for the suggestion to complete the study.
Need to explain WHY the sample was from 2017 and not earlier, the larger the sample the batter the validity.
Dear Reviewer, the research sample was drawn in 2022. It includes enterprises that have been innovating in the last 5 years, i.e. starting from 2017. In the study, we adopted a period of 5 years as the minimum, which may confirm that the surveyed entities have actually conducted real innovative activities in recent years.
Need to justify the research methodology used.
Dear Reviewer, we added this to the paper:
As previously mentioned, the study used a quantitative approach. This is due to the fact that recognizing the scale of the impact of frugal innovations on the security and sustainable development of enterprises requires an assessment of the extent to which managers and business owners observe certain factors and activities in their innovative activities, and how important they are for them. Therefore, a 5-level rating scale was used for evaluation. On the basis of this assessment, four components (C1–C4) were developed (based on the reduction of the 28-dimensional phenomenon to 4 dimensions), reflecting the innovative activity (in the area of frugal innovations) of all surveyed entities and the use of all activities specified in the study. In order to develop the components, a standard quantitative method of factor analysis (PCA) has been used, which became the basis for the construction of research hypotheses. Moreover, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the U Mann-Whitney test are standard statistical tests used to identify statistical differences between sets/groups of respondents taking into account selected criteria. In turn, the cluster analysis (k-mean method) has made it possible to determine what attributes characterize companies belonging to individual clusters as follows: (1) innovative companies characterized by the high importance of all factors/activities in ensuring their safety and sustainable development, (2) innovative companies characterized by the low importance of all factors/activities in ensuring their safety and sustainable development, and (3) innovative companies characterized by the moderate importance of all factors/activities in ensuring their safety and sustainable development.
The write-up is too wordy. Suggest tabulating ALL MAIN FINDINGS and then explain the findings WITH THE INSIGHTS rather than just mentioning the numbers.
Dear Reviewer, thank you very, very much for such a remark. Unfortunately, in this article we are not able to make this change, because it would completely change the content and structure of the work. Of course, we will definitely use this suggestion in the next article. Thank you very much for your valuable attention!
It is important to highlight the practical implications of the findings.
Dear Reviewer, the practical implications are added now:
The study can be a source of guidance for innovative companies operating on the basis of the frugal model in the preparation and improvement of innovative processes. This is particularly important from the point of view of contemporary socio-economic, as well as technological and ecological circumstances. Introducing frugal innovations to enterprises and establishing a kind of "core" of innovation activities can be used on the one hand to identify the needs of external stakeholders more precisely and then to provide them with a higher value (e.g. in the form of usability, reliability, lower price, greater availability of products, etc.). The conducted research may therefore provide companies with indications that areas such as: (1) the costs reducing and increasing the efficiency of innovative activities, (2) the use of the potential of human resources, as well as relations with other entities in innovative activities, (3) the functioning of the market, as well as (4) the macro-environment circumstances, may be most responsible for ensuring the broadly understood security of enterprises. What's more, the four components specified in the quantitative analyses (i.e. the problem areas of shaping security and sustainable development) may be a kind of "pillar" for starting work in enterprises on the construction of the simplified Risk Management System (RMS). In addition, the study can serve as an indication for companies that criteria such as: the length of service (i.e. the age of the enterprise), the scale of operation, the average annual turnovers, and the profile of operation (i.e. the sector), do not significantly affect the security of innovative enterprises in the use of the frugal model – which can also be the basis for the RMS.
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
Dear authors,
1. This research intends to analyze the importance of linking the activity of companies, in terms of the implementation of the 42 budgets for frugal innovations. In addition, it takes into account the consequent importance of these purchases in guaranteeing the security and sustainable development of companies.
2. I consider it medium relevant.
3. To my understanding is enriches the research area of frugal innovative processes by considering a research sample of 200 polish organisations.
On page 8, authors state as: "in the scientific literature there are no direct and strong references to the subject of the implementation of processes for ensuring the security and sustainable development of enterprises".
4. It grounds on the actual literature and adds the outcomes based on this polish research.
5. It would be important to highlight from where, which LR the questions raised up, one by one. Furthermore, authors could explain how managers and owners have been selected randomly, so as, how the organisations have been selected (page 8), marked in blue.
6. To my understanding yes, there is a link between the aim and the conclusion.
7. I already mentioned, that to my understanding, researchers should include recent and relevant literature, not focusing exclusively on other countries
8. Along the paper I mentioned some improvement suggestions related to the tables and figures.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer, thank you for all kind words as follows:
- This research intends to analyze the importance of linking the activity of companies, in terms of the implementation of the 42 budgets for frugal innovations. In addition, it takes into account the consequent importance of these purchases in guaranteeing the security and sustainable development of companies.
- I consider it medium relevant.
- To my understanding is enriches the research area of frugal innovative processes by considering a research sample of 200 polish organisations.
- On page 8, authors state as: "in the scientific literature there are no direct and strong references to the subject of the implementation of processes for ensuring the security and sustainable development of enterprises".
- It grounds on the actual literature and adds the outcomes based on this polish research.
- To my understanding yes, there is a link between the aim and the conclusion.
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Dear Reviewer. Our answers are as follows:
It would be important to highlight from where, which LR the questions raised up, one by one. Furthermore, authors could explain how managers and owners have been selected randomly, so as, how the organisations have been selected (page 8), marked in blue.
Dear Reviewer, we highlighted from where the questions raised up.
In addition, respondents (managers and owners) have been selected for the research sample in a randomly systematic manner (the probability of a company being included in the sample is the same for all elements and is 0.03%, the population size is 703 058 enterprises, and the drawing interval is k=3587), taking into account 10 layers – each layer was defined by the company's business profile. Each layer included 10% of enterprises, i.e. 20 entities. In addition, representatives of a given company decided for themselves whether the respondent would be a manager or an owner. From the point of view of the purpose of the study, this did not matter.
I already mentioned, that to my understanding, researchers should include recent and relevant literature, not focusing exclusively on other countries
Dear Reviewer, thank you very much for this comment. We added 15 other, new literature sources. All of them are included in the References.
- Iqbal, Q.; Ahmad, N.H.; Halim, H.A. Insights on entrepreneurial bricolage and frugal innovation for sustainable performance. Bus Strat Dev. 2021, 4, 237–245.
- Arnold, M.G. Sustainability value creation in frugal contexts to foster Sustainable Development Goals. Bus Strat Dev. 2018, 1, 265–275
- Rao, B.C., Advances in science and technology through frugality. IEEE Engineering Management Review 2017, 45(1), 32–
- Fischer, B.; Guerrero, M.; Guimón, J.; Schaeffer, P.R. Knowledge transfer for frugal innovation: where do entrepreneurial universities stand?. Journal of Knowledge Management 2021, 25(2), 360–
- Dressler, A.; Bucher, J. Introducing a Sustainability Evaluation Framework based on the Sustainable Development Goals applied to Four Cases of South African Frugal Innovation. Bus Strat Dev. 2018, 1, 276–285.
- Pansera, M.; Sarkar, S. Crafting Sustainable Development Solutions: Frugal Innovations of Grassroots Entrepreneurs. Sustainability 2016, 8, 51.
- Iqbal, Q., Ahmad, N.H.; Li, Z. Frugal-based innovation model for sustainable development: technological and market turbulence. Leadership & Organization Development Journal 2021, 42(3), 396–
- Shibin, K.T.; Dubey, R.; Gunasekaran, A.; Luo, Z.; Papadopoulos, T.; Roubaud, D. Frugal innovation for supply chain sustainability in SMEs: multi-method research design. Production Planning & Control 2018, 29(11), 908–
- Albert, M. Assessing the sustainability impacts of frugal innovation – A literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production 2022, 365, 132754.
- Ebolor, A.; Agarwal, N.; Brem, A. Sustainable development in the construction industry: The role of frugal innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production 2022, 380, 134922.
- Gandenberger, C.; Kroll, H.; Walz, R. The role of frugal innovation in the global diffusion of green technologies. International Journal of Technology Management 2020, 83(1–3), 97–
- Levänen, J.; Hossain, M.; Lyytinen, T.; Hyvärinen, A.; Numminen, S.; Halme, M. Implications of Frugal Innovations on Sustainable Development: Evaluating Water and Energy Innovations. Sustainability 2016, 8, 4.
- Ebolor, A.; Agarwal, N.; Brem, A. Fostering the Sustainable Development Goals with technologies underpinned by frugal innovation. International Journal of Technology Management 2022, 88(2–4), 155–
- Mokter, H. Frugal innovation: Unveiling the uncomfortable reality. Technology in Society 2021, 67, 101759.
- Hassani, Y.; Ionescu, R.C.; Mansour, J. Contribution of Frugal Innovation to Sustainable Development. Quality-Access to Success 2019, 20(S2), 302–306.
Along the paper I mentioned some improvement suggestions related to the tables and figures.
Dear Reviewer, thank you very much for the improvement suggestions related to the tables and figures. We regarded all of them.
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Authors had addressed the concerns raised in the earlier version.
