Marketing at the Bottom of the Pyramid
The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid
urn on your television and you will see calls for money to help :he world's 4 billion poor-people who live on far less than $2 a day. In ict, the cry is so constant and the need so chronic that the tendency for nany people is to tune out these images as well as the message. Even :hose who do hear and heed the cry are limited in what they can :ccomplish. For more than 50 years, the Vorld Bank, donor nations, tarious aid agencies, narional governments, and, lately, civil society :rganizations have all fought the good fight, but have not eradicated io'erty. The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by ::r United Nations only underscores that reality; as we enter the 21st :::rurv, poverty-and the disenfranchisement that accompanies it:.:rarns one of the world's most daunting problems. The purpose of this book is to change that familiar image on TV. It is :: :llustrate that the typical pictures ofpoverty mask the fact that the
r.:r' poor
represent resilient entrepreneurs and vaIue-conscious :::sumers. What is needed is a better approach to help the poor, an
rgproach that involves partnering with them
to innovate
and
xhieve sustainable win-win scenarios where the poor are actively mgaged and, at the same time, the companies providing products
The Fortme at the Bottom of the
Bnmid
I
Figur0l.l
Theeconomicpyramid.SourreC.N.PrahaladandStuartHart,2002.TheFortuneatthe
Bottom 0t the Pyramid, Slralegl+ 8us/ress, lssue 26, 2002. Reprinted with permissi0n trom
strategt + business, the award-winning management quarterly published by B00z Allen
Hamilton. M.strategy-business.com.
and services to them are profitable. This collaboration between the poor, civil society organizations, governments, and large firms
can create
the largest and fastest growing markets in the world. Large-scale and wide-spread entrepreneurship is at the heart of the solution to poverry. Such an approach
urn on your television and you will see calls for money to help :he world's 4 billion poor-people who live on far less than $2 a day. In ict, the cry is so constant and the need so chronic that the tendency for nany people is to tune out these images as well as the message. Even :hose who do hear and heed the cry are limited in what they can :ccomplish. For more than 50 years, the Vorld Bank, donor nations, tarious aid agencies, narional governments, and, lately, civil society :rganizations have all fought the good fight, but have not eradicated io'erty. The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by ::r United Nations only underscores that reality; as we enter the 21st :::rurv, poverty-and the disenfranchisement that accompanies it:.:rarns one of the world's most daunting problems. The purpose of this book is to change that familiar image on TV. It is :: :llustrate that the typical pictures ofpoverty mask the fact that the
r.:r' poor
represent resilient entrepreneurs and vaIue-conscious :::sumers. What is needed is a better approach to help the poor, an
rgproach that involves partnering with them
to innovate
and
xhieve sustainable win-win scenarios where the poor are actively mgaged and, at the same time, the companies providing products
The Fortme at the Bottom of the
Bnmid
I
Figur0l.l
Theeconomicpyramid.SourreC.N.PrahaladandStuartHart,2002.TheFortuneatthe
Bottom 0t the Pyramid, Slralegl+ 8us/ress, lssue 26, 2002. Reprinted with permissi0n trom
strategt + business, the award-winning management quarterly published by B00z Allen
Hamilton. M.strategy-business.com.
and services to them are profitable. This collaboration between the poor, civil society organizations, governments, and large firms
can create
the largest and fastest growing markets in the world. Large-scale and wide-spread entrepreneurship is at the heart of the solution to poverry. Such an approach