Inclusive Technology for Rural Development: Rural Call Centre in Orissa, India

Literature Review

With advent of technological revolution, relationship between technology, information and knowledge have impacted business models of many organizations. Drucker (1965) stated that creation, organization and institutionalization of knowledge was the first technological revolution in history. However, this relationship has gone through a paradigm shift. Porter (1979) talked of five forces that are important for any organization to maintain its competitive edge. Technology had tremendous impact on the same forces (Porter, 2001) and for organizations, role of technology on these forces for development and maintenance of competitive edge has changed over time. Laszlo and Laszlo (2002) argue that there was greater focus on internal processes aiming at production and managerial efficiency during the first half of the twentieth century. Then technology led competition and economic expansions brought change in focus and it shifted to inclusive technologies, where bottom of pyramid stand to gain the most (Prahlad, 2004) as consumers. Prahlad (2004) argued that using inclusive technology, not only bottom of pyramid can get benefits, but the organizations will also get profit for sustainability.