An Integrated Framework for Rural Electrification: Adopting a User-centric Approach to Business Model Development

• Main Authors: SCHILLEBEECKX, Simon J. D., PARIKH, Priti, BANSAL, Rahul, GEORGE, Gerard
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2012
• Subjects: Rural electrification; Business model; Customer; Agribusiness; Business; Strategic Management Policy
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/4636; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/5635/viewcontent/IntegratedFameworkRuralElectrification_2012.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

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.