Inspiration From Emerging Economies

摘要

This month, General Electric's healthcare division will begin marketing a first -of- its - kind electrocardiograph machine in the U.S. Although packed with the lat -est technology, the battery-powered device weighs just six pounds, half as much as the smallest ECG machine currently for sale. It will retail for a mere $2,500,rnan 80% markdown from products with similar capabilities. But what really distinguishes the MAC 800 is its lineage. The machine is basically the same field model that GE Healthcare developed for doctors in India and China in 2008.rnAs such, the diagnostic tool exemplifies a way of thinking that may be ideally suited to dealing with the widening recession: creating entry-level goods for emerging markets and then quickly and cheaply repackaging them for sale in rich na -tions, where customers are increasingly hungry for bargains. The term for this new approach is trickle-up innovation.