Business Model Innovation

Energy Policy 48 (2012) 687–697

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An integrated framework for rural electrification: Adopting a user-centric approach to business model development
Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Priti Parikh, Rahul Bansal, Gerard George n
Business School, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK

H I G H L I G H T S c c c c

Review of two decades of rural electrification research. Content analysis of 232 scholarly articles. Literature is categorized into four focal lenses: technology, institutional, viability and user-centric. We develop a business model framework for rural electrification strategies.

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 8 March 2012 Accepted 30 May 2012 Available online 22 June 2012 Keywords: Rural electrification Business model Customer

abstract
Rural electrification (RE) has gained prominence over the past two decades as an effective means for improving living conditions. This growth has largely been driven by socio-economic and political imperatives to improve rural livelihood and by technological innovation. Based on a content analysis of 232 scholarly articles, the literature is categorized into four focal lenses: technology, institutional, viability and user-centric. We find that the first two dominate the RE debate. The viability lens has been used less frequently, whilst the user-centric lens began to engage scholars as late as 2007. We provide an overview of the technological, institutional and viability lenses, and elaborate upon the user-centric lens in greater detail. For energy policy and practice, we combine the four lenses to develop a business model framework that policy makers, practitioners and investors could use to assess RE projects or to design future rural electrification strategies. & 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Rural electrification (RE) – the

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