Erik in a July 10, 2014 online discussion about the reasons for success and failure in bottom of the pyramid markets with Tatiana Bessarabova (UNDP Business Call to Action), Jane Nelson (Harvard Kennedy School’s Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative), Olivier Kayser (Hystra, Founding Manager), and Emily Haves (Ashden, International Program Officer).
The concept of serving the world’s poorest four billion or so people has been popular since CK Prahalad introduced the idea a decade ago. But so far, profits remain elusive.
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/prahalad-base-bottom-pyramid-profit-poor
CK Prahalad’s highly influential 2004 book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, challenged businesses to “do well and do good.” Through innovation and a low price/high volume sales strategy, Prahalad argued that businesses could not only serve the world’s poorest four billion, but serve them profitably. The idea had widespread appeal in both business and international development circles and contributed to a surge in public-private partnerships.
After a decade of experience attempting to put Prahalad’s vision into practice, what have we learned? Please join us for a discussion of this important topic on June 26th 2014.
Erik is an action researcher and authority on innovation and go-to-market strategies for creating and shaping new mass markets in emerging and frontier economies. He brings a unique combination of theoretical rigor with “P&L practicality” to his work, as his frameworks are designed to work in the real world of trade-offs, limited time, and constrained resources.
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