Bridging Institutional Voids through New Services: Case Studies and Analysis

Abstract

Firms operating in emerging markets face high transaction costs due to the absence of well-functioning market intermediaries. These, referred to as institutional voids, have to be overcome for buyers and sellers to come together and transact efficiently. In this paper, we examine how six IT based service innovations have helped bridge institutional voids in talent, capital and product markets. We begin with an analysis of these new service offerings and describe how they helped bridge institutional voids. We later analyze the case studies on three dimensions - source of innovation and role of technology, acquiring resources and capabilities for innovation, and scaling of the services.