Business and human development in the base of the pyramid: Exploring challenges and opportunities with market heat maps

Acosta, Pablo; Kim, Namsuk; Melzer, Illana; Mendoza, Ronald U; Thelen, Nina

doi:10.1016/j.jwb.2010.05.017

Cited by 34 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Constraining conditions such as poor infrastructure, non‐existent distribution channels, shortage of money, illiteracy, corruption, lack of robust and enforceable legal frameworks, and violent conflicts restrain companies from serving people living in poverty (Kolk and Lenfant, ). Consequently, billions of people have been elided by the private sector, excluded from the market economy and deprived of finding their own paths out of poverty (Acosta et al ., ; UNDP, ). However, pioneers such as Hindustan Unilever in India (Hart and Prahalad, ) or Grameen Bank in Bangladesh (Yunus, ) provide evidence that these markets offer commercial business opportunities and that private companies can realize profitable business activities while simultaneously contributing to the alleviation of poverty (London and Hart, ; Sharma and Ruud, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of Cross‐sector Partnerships in Markets at the Base of the Pyramid

Schuster

Holtbrügge

2013

Bus Strat Env

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper we analyze whether cross-sector partnerships enable companies to respond to the specific conditions at the base of the pyramid (BOP). We develop three hypotheses in which we argue how cross-sector partnerships support companies to face unfamiliar conditions in these markets. We test the developed hypotheses against the data of 103 companies operating in BOP-markets. The results show that companies rely on organizations from the civil society sector in order to meet customer needs. Partners from the business sector are supportive when responding to restrictive market conditions. Institutional partnerships should be considered when companies aim at responding to the regulatory environment. We outline theoretical and managerial implications and reflect some limitations of the study.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benefits of Cross‐sector Partnerships in Markets at the Base of the Pyramid

Schuster

Holtbrügge

2013

Bus Strat Env

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This population, however, constitutes a combined purchasing power of $5,000 billion a year (Perez‐Aleman and Sandilands ; Prahalad ; Acosta et al. ). The population not belonging to this group is generally referred to as the Top of the Pyramid.…”

Section: The Base Of the Pyramid And The Top Of The Pyramidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The BoP is generally referred to as the more than 4 billion people who live on less than $2.00 a day. This population, however, constitutes a combined purchasing power of $5,000 billion a year (Perez-Aleman and Sandilands 2008; Prahalad 2009;Acosta et al 2011). The population not belonging to this group is generally referred to as the Top of the Pyramid.…”

Section: The Base Of the Pyramid And The Top Of The Pyramidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the last decade, the significance of emerging economies in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin/South America in global logistics and supply chain management (LSCM) has been increasing. Using these regions as a context, research attention is beginning to be devoted to a market commonly known as the "Base of the Pyramid" (or BoP), recognizing its poverty reduction imperative and market growth potential (Karnani 2007;Prahalad 2009; Rivera-Santos and Ruf ın 2010; Viswanathan et al 2010;Acosta et al 2011;Singh et al 2015). The BoP includes the majority of the world's population, predominately residing in the least developed countries, who make up the bottom of the world's economic pyramid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Cross‐functional Management and Base‐of‐Pyramid Issues in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Hong

Schoenherr

Hult

et al. 2019

J of Business Logistics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Needs, tastes and preferences of the BoP do not only differ significantly from the developed world but also within the BoP market itself, (Hammond, Prahalad 2004) and high projected growth rates. Therefore more and more companies seeking for new growth opportunities recognize the BoP as an attractive new market that has so far been ignored (London et al 2010;Acosta et al 2011). caused through the various e.g. geographic, cultural, and religious zones covered by the BoP (Hammond, Prahalad 2004;Banerjee, Duflo 2007).…”

Section: Base Of the Pyramidmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer Innovation in the Poor Versus Rich World: Some Differences and Similarities

Praceus

Herstatt

2016

India Studies in Business and Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractInnovative, distinct products and no "cheaper" copies of the "rich" world are essential in order to succeed at the "Base of the Pyramid" (BoP). However, this type of innovation requires more, in-depth information on the BoP and solution spaces, which are both difficult to access.Literature proposes to generate innovations bottom up through user involvement but remains silent on how to identify and integrate BoP consumers into the innovation process. One obvious solution is to connect up with and cooperate with innovating consumers of the BoP.However, this raises the questions whether 1) user innovation exists at the BoP at what levels of quality and 2) how firms can support the innovators to implement them into real world solutions. In this paper we specifically address the first question and analyze patterns and characteristics of a large sample of innovations developed by people living at the Indian BoP collected by the Indian National Innovation Foundation (NIF). We compare these innovations to consumer innovations in the developed world and examine effects of demographic, knowledge and context factors on innovation activity and the outcome. We find similarities with consumer innovation in the developed world and at the same time adaptations to the BoP context, e.g. fulfillment of rather basic necessities than hobby-related needs. Innovation quality is mostly driven by the innovator's knowledge and market recognition is highest for creative innovations developed for others. The paper further shows that consumer innovations are a good starting point for firms seeking solutions for BoP markets. Product needs can be systematically deducted and provide insights on how to identify promising consumer innovators at the BoP. Finally, this research contributes to better understand user innovation behavior in a specific context and by that enriches innovation research.

show abstract

Business and human development in the base of the pyramid: Exploring challenges and opportunities with market heat maps

Cited by 34 publications

References 5 publications

Benefits of Cross‐sector Partnerships in Markets at the Base of the Pyramid

Benefits of Cross‐sector Partnerships in Markets at the Base of the Pyramid

Cross‐functional Management and Base‐of‐Pyramid Issues in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Consumer Innovation in the Poor Versus Rich World: Some Differences and Similarities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About