Sustainable Innovation for Subsistence Marketplaces

Overview

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This course focuses on understanding subsistence marketplaces and designing business solutions for the billions of people living in poverty in the global marketplace. To develop understanding of these markets, we use exercises to that enable learners to view the world from the eyes of subsistence consumers and entrepreneurs, facilitate bottom‐up understanding generated by participants, and provide insights from extensive research. More broadly, the course uses the context of extreme resource constraints to learn about the bottom-up approach pioneered through the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative and apply it in broadly. A parallel project will focus on understanding a specific need in a subsistence marketplace, and designing a solution and an enterprise plan for implementation. You will be able to: • Develop an understanding of subsistence marketplaces • Design solutions for subsistence marketplaces • Develop enterprise plans to implement solutions for subsistence marketplaces • Apply the bottom-up approach for subsistence marketplaces and other contexts This course is part of Gies College of Business’ suite of online programs, including the iMBA and iMSM. Learn more about admission into these programs and explore how your Coursera work can be leveraged if accepted into a degree program at https://degrees.giesbusiness.illinois.edu/idegrees/.

Syllabus

Course Orientation

You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.

Module 1: Introduction to Subsistence Marketplaces and Bottom-Up Immersion

In this module, you will be introduced to the importance of studying subsistence marketplaces as well as the unique nature of a bottom-up approach to studying it.

Module 2: Bottom-Up Immersion and Emersion

In this module you will learn about unique aspects that characterize marketplace interactions between buyers and sellers in subsistence marketplaces. You will also learn about understanding needs and markets in subsistence marketplaces.

Module 3: Bottom-Up Design

In this module you will learn about gaining marketplace insights in subsistence marketplaces. You will also learn about environmental issues in subsistence marketplaces.

Module 4: Bottom-Up Enterprise

In this module you will learn about understanding needs in subsistence contexts. You will also learn about a structured approach to generating ideas for addressing the needs in subsistence marketplaces.