Product Description
The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market is where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world's billions of poor people have immense untapped buying power. They represent an enormous opportunity for companies who learn how to serve them. Not only can it be done, it is being done--very profitably. What's more, companies aren't just making money: by serving these markets, they're helping millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty.
C.K. Prahalad's global bestseller The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, now available in paperback, shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets. Now available in paperback, it offers a blueprint for driving the radical innovation you'll need to profit in emerging markets--and using those innovations to become more competitive everywhere. This new paperback edition includes eleven concise, fast-paced success stories from India, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela--ranging from salt to soap, banking to cellphones, healthcare to housing. These stories are backed by more detailed case studies and 10 hours of digital videos on whartonsp.com. Simply put, this book is about making a revolution: building profitable "bottom of the pyramid" markets, reducing poverty, and creating an inclusive capitalism that works for everyone.
Preface xi
About the Author xix
Part I: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid 1
Chapter 1: The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid 3
Chapter 2: Products and Services for the BOP 23
Chapter 3: BOP: A Global Opportunity? 47
Chapter 4: The Ecosystem for Wealth Creation 63
Chapter 5: Reducing Corruption: Transaction Governance Capacity 77
Chapter 6: Development as Social Transformation 99
Part II: Business Success Stories from the Bottom of the Pyramid 113
Financing the Poor 115
Aravind Eye Care—The Most Precious Gift 131
Energy for Everyone 137
Agricultural Advances for the Poor—The EID Parry Story 149
Retail for the Poor 159
Information Technology to the Poor 169
The Jaipur Foot Story 187
Health Alerts for All 191
Transparent Government 201
The Annapurna Salt Story 213
Homes for the Poor—The CEMEX Story 221
From Hand to Mouth—The HHL Soap Story 235
Part III: On the Web at Whartonsp.com
Video Success Stories
Casas Bahia
CEMEX
Annapurna Salt
Hindustan Lever
Jaipur Foot
Aravind Eye Care
ICICI Bank
ITC e-Choupal
EID Parry
Voxiva
E+Co/Tecnosol
Andhra Pradesh
Full Success Case Stories in pdf format
The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Known Problems and Known Solutions: What Is the Missing Link?
Known Problems and Unique Solutions
Known Problems and Systemwide Reform
Scaling Innovations
Creating Enabling Conditions for the Development of the Private Sector
The EID Parry Story
Biographies of the Researchers/Writers of the Success Case Stories from The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid 247
About the Video Success Stories 255
Index 257
From the Back Cover
The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market? It's where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world's billions of poor people have immense entrepreneurial capabilities and buying power. You can learn how to serve them and help millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty.
It is being done—profitably. Whether you're a business leader or an anti-poverty activist, business guru Prahalad shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets.
In the book and accompanying CD videos, Prahalad presents...
Why what you know about BOP markets is wrong
A world of surprises—from spending patterns to distribution and marketing
Unlocking the "poverty penalty"
The most enduring contributions your company can make
Delivering dignity, empowerment, and choice—not just products
Corporations and BOP entrepreneurs
Profiting together from an inclusive new capitalism
Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect,Microsoft"The Bottom of the Pyramid belongs at the top of the reading list forbusiness people, academics, and experts pursuing the elusive goal ofsustainable growth in the developing world. C. K. Prahalad writes withuncommon insight about consumer needs in poor societies andopportunities for the private sector to serve important public purposes whileenhancing its own bottom line. If you are looking for fresh thinking aboutemerging markets, your search is ended. This is the book for you."
Madeleine K. Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State"Prahalad challenges readers to re-evaluate their pre-conceived notionsabout the commercial opportunities in serving the relatively poor nations ofthe world. The Bottom of the Pyramid highlights the way to commercialsuccess and societal improvement--but only if the developed worldreconceives the way it delivers products and services to the developingworld."
Christopher Rodrigues, CEO, Visa International"An important and insightful work showing persuasively how the privatesector can be put at the center of development, not just as a rhetoricalflourish but as a real engine of jobs and services for the poor."
Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
About the Author
“…he may well be the most influential thinker on business strategy today.”
BusinessWeek
Internationally recognized as a specialist on corporate strategy and value-added of top management in multinational corporations, C.K. Prahalad has consulted with many of the world’s foremost companies. In addition to being the Harvey C. Fruehauf Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, he serves on the board of Directors of NCR Corp., Hindustan Lever Ltd., and the World Resources Institute.
A prolific author as well, his book, Competing for the Future (co-authored with Gary Hamel), was a national bestseller and was the Best Selling Business Book of the Year in 1994. He also co-authored Multinational Mission: Balancing Local Demands and Global Vision (in 1987 with Yves Doz) and The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers (in 2004 with Venkat Ramaswamy).
He has been named among the top ten management thinkers of the world in every major survey for over ten years.
