Bottom of the Pyramid

The quest for the jeopardy at the fanny of the benefit interchange adequate to(p)ly and challenges Dennis A. Pitta The University of Balti much(prenominal), Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo marshal ? Ponti? cia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Abstract Purpose The economic consumption of this phrase is to examine the posterior of the masterfessional personfessional personfessional personfessionalfessional personfessional personfessionalfessional personfit ( moderate unwrap) suggestion, where oc furor companies shadower both be professional personfessional? display panel and stand by alleviate poorness by c atomic come in 18 low-income consumers. Design/methodology/ attack The literature on eff was re ob serviceed and rough key subdivisions of the make out approach were proposed and examined.Findings in that location is no placement in the literature ab turn out the effectiveness bene? ts of the screw approac h for both close companies and low-income consumers. However, raise re hunting on characterizing the fuck part and ? nding the appropriate ancestry sample for dangling the dance end provide almost answers to this issue. virtual(a) importees The article provides any(prenominal) guide tracks to managers as to how they posit to adapt their merchandising strategies to swap to the wallop merchandise, and what type of partnerships they indispensabilityiness to realize in order to succeed.Originality/ valuate The article presents a thorough analysis of the key elements involved in the bebop endeavor companies motivations, portrayal of the progress to sex consumers, and the logical argument good example to attend the know. Keywords Private sector organizations, Emerging trades, Consumers, need, Dis wagesd groups Paper type investigate paper underpin the concept, and refutes its basic premises. Instead of a merchandise of untapped potential, this literature s tream sees a ? nancial desert that wallop principles whitethorn damage more than help. The whack may be a less(prenominal) a source of signi? shadowt pro? ts than a source of serious losses.Karnanis analysis posits that the s hawk(p) may sine qua non the same crossways as the teeming do exclusively by virtue of being scummy, they keister non present them. The measly spend approximately of their income on food, clothing, and fuel. For the measly, the mathematics atomic number 18 hand purchase a brand convergence reduces the funds they must(prenominal)(prenominal) fall in to survival. In contrast, Karnani suggests that raising income w brainsick alleviate their s toleratetiness, provide appeal legal fruits to an early(a)(prenominal) consumers, and cede the formerly misfortunate to consume more. Raising their incomes may devise that they arrest producers with stable jobs and wages. Both viewpoints concentrate on the forgetful entirely draw disaccord ent onclusions closely how to alleviate their poverty. The cardinal positions excessively dissent in the nature and proper role of industry and governing. In dismay of the take issueences, the argument would bene? t from empirical data that tests the underlying premises of distri entirelyively viewpoint. Verifying the premises would allow further logical analysis of implications and applications of the concept. In fact, the need for clari? cation is recognized. In the next section, the authors provide some foundations for the roughly conventionalistic and suave dominant approach to marketplace, i. e. the focus on on the round spend of the profit ( eliminate).The rest of the article focuses on the layer of the gain (BOP) it explores Prahalads hint and the oppose viewpoint, reviews key aspects of the BOP initiative companies motivation the BOP trans feat model the role of micro? cigaret and the key participants and proposes some implications and challenges for trade theory and practice, and ? nally some implications for marketers. An exe bowdleriseive summary for managers and executive readers deal be found at the end of this issue. Introduction The get across of the pyramid (BOP) approach to earning corporate pro? ts has gained come acrossable attention in the arketing literature. It has awakened managers to the potential of answer an unserved market and alleviating the direct of creation(prenominal) poverty temporary hookup simmer down earning a pro? t. However, the BOP propose, while clear, appealing, and enlightening has non been trustworthy in an unquali? ed manner. One branch of the BOP literature puts out the elements of the BOP proposition and supports its ? ndings with legion(predicate) sheath studies (Prahalad, cc4). Those studies portray the hapless as motivated by similar desires as the rich. They regard quality products and both social club that lot supply those products at he right damage bequeath gai n their crinkle. Some of the case studies show the strategies for reducing the progenyive price of products through advancement and ontogeny lower cost size of its. Prahalad and early(a)s place the untapped potential of the BOP, and list strategies that companies may use to tap that potential. An debate branch of the literature (Karnani, 2007a Martinez and Carb unityll, 2007) analyzes the nature of the BOP market, the applic energy of the case studies that The legitimate issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/0736-3761. htm journal of Consumer merchandising 5/7 (2008) 393 401 q Emerald Group Publishing curb ISSN 0736-3761 DOI 10. 1108/07363760810915608 393 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo marshall rule book 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 The top of the pyramid guests, and labeled them as atomic number 78 or G doddering. In contras t, those with lower to very low LCVs earn the prize labels, Iron and Lead. They point out that a single Gold or Platinum customer may take in a Lifetime Customer Value, many an new(prenominal)(prenominal) times amplyer(prenominal) than that of some iodine in the Iron or Lead tier. Speci? ally, one Platinum customer may be worth more than tons of those labeled as Lead. Conceptually, identifying comfort and potential pro? t deriving from the top of the pyramid is straightforward and gibes traditional organization closings. Companies can use cadence market segmentation and product oppositeiation to satisfy these tiers. Dealing with these customers posits professionalism, but the normal market interrogation processes, product forgement, channels of dissemination, promotion, and credit functions should resolution in success. Thus, Zeithaml and her coauthors showed companies how to use their tried and trusted arketing approaches to maximize effectiveness and pro? tability. The key is to serve those customers most likely to engender pro? ts or else of losses. The justi? cation is clear companies squander fixed resources and should concentrate their driving forces where the returns pull up stakes be the gamyest. They exhibit the value at the top of the pyramid (TOP) and sh argond strategies for serving those customers while discouraging or flush ? ring the lower, money-losing tiers. For pro? t desire companies, the customer pyramid approach is appropriate and allows them the best chances to survive in normally agonistical markets.Not surprisingly, the top of the pyramid (TOP) approach is at the nucleus of Western occupancy practice. Traditionally, p atomic number 18ntagees require a set of quaternity conditions to lam successfully in a market segment. The segment must be identi? able, measurable, primary(prenominal), and accessible. In Western economies, employment and conference pedestals atomic number 18 developed suf? ciently to get through all of the criteria for most segments. Arguably, while all four-spot-spot conditions ar valuable, the substantial and accessible elements atomic number 18 the more important. For a pro? t-making ? rm, the segment must be large enough to generate pro? s. If that condition is satis? ed, it is unfavorable that consumers in the segment be r to each one(prenominal)able by communications media to run across promotional messages. In addition, they must be physically accessible to scattering alternatives. From a pro? t perspective, companies concentrate on those argonas in which they can be effective, namely segments that ensure all four requirements. Serving the TOP inevitably means a focus on pro? ts or else of tax revenues, and pro? ts be central to Western business. In practice, over time, numerous Western companies deliver ceded market divvy up or entire markets to others when the pro? ts eclined. One prime specimen is the computer memory chip market. m emory chips were once produced exclusively in the US and europium. As Asian competitors entered the market, they cut prices at the expense of pro? ts. Their goal was to settle chips the US ? rms precious to make pro? ts. Consequently, US ? rms abandoned the marketplace and oceanrched for targets that were more pro? table. European and US companies calm make chips. Their dominance of the microprocessor markets is the result of the strategic quest for pro? tability. However, European or US assembleers do not dominate the huge market for memory chips.To be consummate, the US companies actions atomic number 18 not driven solely by the desire to earn pro? ts. Their organization, corporate culture, and internal processes require economies of denture, which demand exploiting the richest target markets. In many cases, successful companies rush evolved into ef? cient machines whose foundation is last structural cost. Thus targeting the most lucrative segments is vital for continued success. Pro? t, in its simplest form, is the surplus of revenue over be. If companies can drive costs low enough, it is conceivable that prices efficacy be low enough for the inadequate to fford and high enough to generate a pro? t. However, earning a pro? t with such customers to mean solar day takes enormous effort. more(prenominal) important, companies that represent today may be futile to drive costs low enough to succeed. In fact, costs are only one part of the equation. The underlying fuss is that companies are ill equipped to serve the poorest customers. They dont really know what the poor want and dont know what bene? ts they seek in products and services. In addition, companies may not know what mix of product bene? ts, price, quality, promotion, and distribution full treatment best for this segment.However, the focus on pro? ts has led to success. Recognizing the importance of pro? ts, Zeithaml and her colleagues have worked on the customer pyramid concept (Zeith aml et al. , 2001). Without using the term, they cogitate explicitly on the top of the pyramid, those consumers with the highest lifetime customer value (LCV). By dividing the customer pyramid into four sections called customer pro? tability tiers, they identi? ed the best, most pro? table The bottom of the pyramid approach Prahalads proposition In the book The sequel at the Bottom of the Pyramid Eradicating Poverty through Pro? ts, C.K. Prahalad (2004), provided that initial conceptualization that had been missing in marketing thought. His book succeeded in planting the perception that consumers with low levels of income could be pro? table customers. He painted a picture of the double bottom line social goals combined with the business objective, pro? t (Harjula, 2005). Coincidently, he appealed to the best motives among those at the top of the pyramid. By citing examples of successful attempts to em world-beater the poor and cover in global wealth, he kindled the imagination of those who want the world to be a better place. This is an ppealing proposition low-income markets present a prodigious opportunity for the worlds wealthiest companies to seek their fortunes and accept prosperity to the aspiring poor (Prahalad and Hart, 2002). Prahalads proposition is an invitation to company executives, politicians, managers of non-pro? t organizations, and familiar citizens, to view poverty as something that might be alleviated or else than inevitable. He presents a rise upreasoned conceptual view supported with case playing field data of how companies might mine pro? ts from the lowest economic strata (Hart, 2005 Prahalad, 2004). more than of the reatment centers on the nature and scope of pro? ts and the collective wealth of consumers at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP). The of import thesis of Prahalads work rests on the head that the potential issue for many multinational (MNC) and medium size companies does not rest on the little highincome mar ket in the evolution world. Instead, its source is the mass low-income volume that are joining the market for the ? rst time. This idea goes against the following 394 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid Journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo MarshallVolume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 assumptions, which, according to Prahalad, most MNCs make it is not pro? table for them to attend the BOP fixable to their high cost structure the low-income segment cannot afford the products and services they shift and only developed markets value innovation and forget pay for bare-ass technology. These arguments imply that governments and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should take care of the low-income segment. agree to Prahalad, marketers who believe that the BOP is a valuable unserved market also believe that even the poor can be good customers.De injure their low level of income, they are discerning consumers who want value and are sound aware of the value brands favored by more af? uent consumers. This school of thought recognizes the obstacle that low income creates. It postulates that if companies take the refuse steps and devote suf? cient resources to satisfying the demand of the BOP, they can overcome barriers to consumption. This view rests on Prahalads calculations of the immense size of the global BOP, in his view, a $1. 3 trillion dollar market. Prahalad recognizes that serving the low-income sector requires a moneymaking(prenominal) strategy in response to the needs of hose masses to succeed, other players have to get involved mainly topical anaesthetic and central government, ? nancial institutions, and NGOs. He proposes four key elements to thrive in the low-income market 1 creating buy strength 2 shaping aspirations through product innovation and consumer pedagogics 3 improving access through better distribution and communication systems and 4 tailoring local anesthetic solutions. o pportunities and poverty eradication through pro? ts may set unrealistic remainations for business executives (McFalls, 2007). Second, the traditional timelines for achieving social goods versus pro? s differ (Harjula, 2005). Businesses may use a ? ve- course of instruction horizon as their benchmark for returns. In contrast, social goals like reducing smoking and other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors may take generations. Thus, kinda than viewing the poor primarily as consumers, this group suggest a focus on this segment as producers, i. e. potential entrepreneurs that can improve their economic occurrence by increasing their income level. Companies must be bequeathing to invest time, resources and schooling to insure that the producers create products with some barriers to entry and a reasonable level of productivity.They need to do so to avoid the trap of producing commodities that are easy to duplicate and, thereby, keep the poor, poor. Otherwise, alleviating poverty becomes very unlikely. Reconciling the two opposing viewpoints It is clear from the previous discussion that ? ndings in the literature slightly the nature, scope, and value of the BOP proposition are mixed. More research is needed on this topic to gain an accurate view of the presence and extent of opportunities at the bottom of the pyramid. The following sections examine some key elements of the BOP initiative that have been, acknowledged in the literature speci? ally, the ? rms motivations to attend the BOP market, the characterization of the BOP consumers, and the BOP business model. The latter element focuses on terce major issues the role of micro? nance, the importance of establishing alliances among varied actors (e. g. for-pro? t ? rms, NGOs, governments), and how for-pro? t companies need to adapt their marketing mix to attend the BOP pro? tably. The opposing viewpoint The second literature thread emerged years by and by in the discussion and represents a thoughtful attempt t o verify the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) concept.It head words the ease with which companies may tap the BOP and whether pro? ts exist there at all (Karnani, 2007a). First, this group dismisses the published calculations about the size of the BOP and its wealth. They describe the economic size of the BOP as intimately infinitesimaler than Prahalads estimate and cite the inherent subsistence problem the poor spend 80 percent of their income on food, clothing, and fuel. There is hardly anything go forth to spend after that (Karnani, 2007b). Second, they argue that it is very unlikely that companies lead be able to attend the BOP market pro? tably.In fact, the costs of serving this segment can be very high. BOP customers are normally much dispersed geographically they are very heterogeneous, which reduces the opportunities for obtaining signi? cant economies of scale and their individual transactions usually represent a low hail of money. In addition, consumers at the BOP are ver y price sensitive, which, again, makes pro? tability a dif? cult goal to achieve. Those factors show that the ideal that both pro? ts and social good can result from serving the BOP is headlandable. First, each goal has different motivations, demands, and echanisms to satisfy and they can be contradictory. The differences between business realities and information imperatives are not easy to reconcile. Some young case study work suggests that the early language around the inclusive capitalism idea that emphasizes unlimited business Firms motivation to attend the BOP market A comprehensive examination of the BOP approach requires ?rst an interpreting of why for-pro? t companies engage in such an initiative. The literature suggests two main motivations that companies have to attend the BOP market 1 they can alter this segments purchasing power into ro? ts and 2 they can bring prosperity to the poor, and thus alleviate poverty. ? For example, in the 1970s, Nestle was able to car ry to social progress while evolution a competitive wages and making pro? ts in Moga, a district in India. With the purpose ? of establishing local and diverse sources of take out, Nestle built many refrigerated diaries and past sent its trucks to collect product while providing ? nancing, nutritional supplements, and care and schooling to the husbandmans. With this action, ? Nestle step-upd its milk production and the suppliers roductivity, improved the quality of the product and ? processes, and increased the penetration of other Nestle products in the region. In turn, farmers brocaded their standard ? of living Nestle was able to pay higher prices, and farmers were past able to obtain credit. A second case illustrates how a focus on the BOP can be an important strategic goal, with two dimensions pro? tability and corporate social responsibility. Masisa is a prima(p) company in the production and trade of wood boards for furniture and interior architecture in Latin the States. It has 395The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid Journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo Marshall Volume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 open the goal of generating 15 percent of the revenues from inclusive businesses, i. e. the bottom of the pyramid, before 2012. at a lower place their de? nition, inclusive businesses must be pro? table, and socially/ surroundingsally responsible. They expect to help improve the standard of living for low-income race by facilitating their appointment in the value chain as suppliers, distributors, or other element of the hannel, and by providing them with access to products and services that can help them improve their socio-economic condition. hand in glove owned items like a television, a telephone, an electric generator, medical services, or even something to help make products for sale. Managing that sum for the common good presents a major dilemma community welfare versus individual ch oice. People in the BOP would need a high sense of community battle and consumer education to make responsible choices. A non-pro? t community action organization or a socially conscious business would be very helpful in marshalling cooperation.However, too many of the poor make poor choices like spending money on tobacco sooner of food for their children. Even if this optimistic level of potential purchasing power exists, harnessing it for pro? t bequeath be extremely dif? cult. One further concern questions this premise. Traditionally, serving the poor was the role of charities, not for pro? t, and other non-governmental organizations. Much of the excitement that the BOP proposition has generated stems from the inclusion of pro? t making companies in the process. The thought is that pro? t result be a powerful goad toward achieving success.Pro? t is clearly an incentive but beyond the cases cited in Prahalads work, there is little proof that companies can make the shift. More empirical data would aid the process of create purchasing power. Purchasing power and pro? tability Karnani (2007a) notes that BOP concept rests on a fuzzy de? nition of the target market. It is dif? cult to ? nd an article in the BOP literature that does not cite the now popular ?gure four billion. Four billion originally referred to those people who primarily live in developing countries and whose annual per capital income is under US$1,500 per annum.Some of the literature takes as an article of faith that the BOP exists and earns that level of income. The perception is that individually the consumers are poor but together they represent massive purchasing power. However, authors de? ne the BOP income level using several standards, which obscures its true nature. For example, Hammond et al. (2007) consider the bottom of the pyramid as composed of people with per capita incomes below $3,000 in local purchasing power. Prahalad (2004) states that there are more than four billion peo ple with per capita income below $2 per day at purchasing power check bit (PPP) rates ($750 per year).This is a signi? cant decline in previous estimates four billion people with per capita income below $1,500 per year ($4 per day) (Prahalad and Hart, 2002), or four billion people with per capita income below $2,000 per year ($6 per day) (Prahalad and Hammond, 2002). Other contemporaneous sources like the world Bank estimated the number at 2. 7 billion, in 2001. However, other researchers characterize the World Bank projection as an overestimation, with some experts estimating the poor at 600 million (The Economist, 2004). The differences position from four billion to 600 million, a large enough gap to cause oncern. The three reported income levels range from $2-6 per day. The $2 per day criterion is consistent with previous literature in development economics. It is important to date that how to alleviate poverty depends on the de? nition of poverty. employ the $2 per day ? g ure presents different challenges than the higher levels people who earn less than $2 per day have very different needs and priorities than people who earn $4-6 per day. Adopting the higher poverty line obscures these differences (Karnani, 2007b) and overestimates the potential at the BOP.In principle, it is clear that collectively the mass of poor customers do hold wealth. However, an additional problem is that they do not hold it in the right concentrations. If one considers a hypothetical example, the nature of the wealth at the BOP may become a bit clearer. If a village of 1,000 adults earns an average of US$750 per year (the $2 per day ? gure), the gross earnings of the village are signi? cant. However, the question becomes how much remains after satisfying the necessities. Even if an impressive 10 percent of income remains per household, that translates into $0. 0 per day. It is dif? cult to perceive how such fundament sums might generate pro? ts. Collectively, the village m ay have $200 per day in disposable income. That might translate into community- Poverty ministration and prosperity to the poor From a social responsibility perspective, there are distinct differences between a market-establish approach to poverty reduction and approaches that are more traditional. Traditional approaches often focus on the very poor, proceeding from the assumption that they are unable to help themselves and thus need jack ladder or public assistance.In contrast, a market-based approach starts from the recognition that being poor does not eliminate commerce and market processes virtually all poor households trade funds or labor to meet a signi? cant part of their basic needs. The latter approach is the one for-pro? t companies have embraced to pursue the BOP initiative. The argument regarding poverty is that the poor face budding distribution outlets and must pay monopoly prices for the goods they desire. In addition, they are unable to afford the standard quant ities and qualities of products offered to richer consumers. This is consistent withHammond et al. (2007), who describe people at the BOP as having signi? cant unmet needs, and being dependent on informal or subsistence livelihoods. They are vulnerable, poorly integrated to the formal economy, and impacted by a BOP penalty under which they pay higher prices for basic goods and services than wealthier consumers. winning attempts to bring quality products to the poor at affordable prices would overcome the high price of poor distribution (Martinez and Carbonell, 2007). In that sense, it would increase their purchasing power by bringing previously unaffordable goods within their budgets.However, the $2 per day income limit is a signi? cant obstacle and may make this goal unimaginable to attain. There is some hope in alleviating poverty but it is more in line with Karnanis vision of the poor as producers who are able to boost their income suf? ciently to rise above the bottom of the BO P. The very recent example of ITC Limited outlined the distribution based economic problems go about by poor farmers in India. There are many factors that walk out the ? ow of goods and services in and out of cracker-barrel areas, and thus reduce the rural populations income and quality of life 96 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid Journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo Marshall Volume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 (Vachani and Smith, 2008). While the major source of problems was the poor transportation infrastructure, other factors operate to keep disadvantaged groups like poor Indian farmers in poverty. Buyers bully them into accepting buyers prices. Moreover, farmers are ignorant of their rights and the market value of their crops. In addition, they pay monopoly prices for the items they need.These factors act to keep them at a disadvantage and unable to earn the proper income from their efforts. By addressing farmers lack of information about the current value of their crops, the best sow in to use for high yields, proper farming practice, and alternative outlets for their crops, ITC increased their welfare. To accomplish this, ITC set up a parallel distribution system, which led to increases in farmers income and consumption. The effort started at the grassroots with ITC hiring agents already in the ? eld and rewarding them for improvements in farmer welfare and consumption.The company placed computers with satellite based internet connections in each village and taught farmers to use them to assess current crop pricing. ITC guaranteed to suit or exceed the prices offered by others. In addition, ITC provided products farmers needed like seed at a discount from the existing retailers. There was signi? cant missioner education aimed at allaying the farmers fears of exploitation. After a hardly a(prenominal) farmers tried the system, more of them signed on. The result was increased income, higher s atisfaction, more independence, and lower cost to purchase supplies.The example is encouraging and demonstrates the commitment and temper organizations need to operate at the BOP. ITC set up a mystic distribution network that was more closely associated with a cooperative than the typical channel. Farmers and grassroots agents who knew their needs very well cooperated to operate the channel and share in its economic bene? ts. In essence, ITC adopted Karnanis model of acquire from BOP producers to raise their level of income developing them into pro? table customers. groundwork companies really generate pro? ts and alleviate poverty at the BOP? This example seems to show that they can.It also shows the extent to which companies leave have to re-engineer their approaches and trading operations to succeed. There is some data on the interchanges in the size of the BOP that aid in forecasting the future. Chen and Ravallion (2007) report a origin in the proportion of people living under the poverty line in the developing world over the period 19812004. That represents a reduction of about 0. 8 percent points per year over the period. Separate from the numbers, the question remains, Who are BOP customers? Current demographic labels such as blue-collar or working-class, fail to capture the extreme level of poverty.As marketers gain more experience with the BOP, it is possible that other useful differentiations may emerge based on speci? c variables, such as behavioral or psychographic. The global distribution of BOP customers adds another factor to consider culture. The cultures of Latin America, Asia, and Africa differ widely. It is logical that differences in culture will affect future attempts to understand the needs of the BOP segments. In general, DAndrea et al. (2004) ? nd that consumers at the BOP spend a higher portion of their income on consumer goods (50 to 75 percent), as compared to wealthier segments (around 35 percent).These authors also ? nd t hat, due to their limited and unstable cash ? ow, lowincome consumers tend to shop daily and spend small amounts of money each time. Then too, they are reluctant to buy in places that are set(p) far away from their homes. The ? ndings show that stay at home mothers make most of the purchases and family spending decisions by doing this, they ful? ll roles as wife, mother, and household manager. Companies currently devote resources to listening to the voice of the customer and are con? dent in their efforts with currently serviced segments. A change of focus to the BOP ill require new techniques, and freedom from accepted knowledge. The BOP is so radically different that companies will have to ignore what they know as truths that may not apply anymore. Faulty new product development eradicates the potential for pro? t and unfamiliar product development (NPD) territory increases the risks of failure. Firms can increase their NPD success rates by integrating consumers into the process as edge spanning team outgrowths instead of mere respondents to surveys. Thus, product development will bene? t from the input of customers at the lowest levels of income (Pitta and Franzak, 1997).However, that initiative will be supremely different from current successes. A good example of how companies, NGOs, governments, and other institutions can collaborate in this aspect is the formation of BOP learning laboratories (McFalls, 2007). The laboratories were intentional to investigate the complex factors that interact at the BOP as well as opportunities for both sustainable and human development. More initiatives like this one are needed, as well as research on the characteristics of the BOP consumers. Characterization of BOP consumers A fundamental requirement to attend the BOP market uccessfully is to know deeply the characteristics of the people in this segment. Some faculty member studies and reports from NGOs have contributed re? ning the understanding of the BOP how man y they are, where they are located, what their income level is, and what some of their characteristics in terms of needs and habits are. According to Hammond et al. (2007), the BOP is punishing in four regional areas Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. 12. 3 percent of the BOP lives in Africa, 72. 2 percent in Asia, 6. 4 percent in Eastern Europe and the remaining 9. 1 percent lives in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean. Rural areas dominate most BOP markets in Africa and Asia while urban areas dominate most in Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. Estimates of the size of the BOP in US dollars or purchase power approximate $1. 3 trillion. The Asia market has a buying power of $742 billion, Latin America market is $229 billion, the Eastern Europe market $135 billion and Africa $120. The BOP business model In spite of the opposing viewpoints in the literature regarding the extent to which there is a business opportunity at the BOP, there is a greement that serving the low-income sector ro? tably requires a different business model (Chesbrough et al. , 2006 Prahalad and Hart, 2002). Prahalad and Hart (2002) state doing business with the worlds four billion poorest people two thirds of the worlds population will require radical innovations in technology and business models. Moreover, the market at the BOP requires a 397 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid Journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo Marshall Volume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 combination of low cost, good quality, sustainability, and pro? ability (Prahalad and Hart, 2002). As a result, for-pro? t ? rms need to understand how the BOP segment differs from upper tiers, and adapt the marketing approach to meet the characteristics of consumers at the bottom. Prahalads concentration on the bottom of the pyramid requires a sea change in a companys approach to business. Attempts to reap pro? ts from the BOP using current marketing techniques will fail. Failure will result because the products are too expensive or complicated, are not available in small enough quantities or sizes, or are exactly not what the poor want. The BOP is not low hanging fruit.It is a market with potential, and achieving that potential will require costly effort and innovative strategies (Seelos and Mair, 2007). Even with a completely new counsel approach, raise suggests that pro? ts at the bottom of the pyramid may be tangled (Karnani, 2007a). The literature suggest that the three most critical aspects in developing a new business model to serve the BOP are the access to credit, the system of alliances, and the adaptation of the marketing mix. The following subsections address these issues. still in its early stage in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina.Most of the coin banks that have participated in micro? nance are large commercial banks in search of new and attractive markets. The main reasons for c ommercial banks to attend the BOP have been . the strong competition among large banks . the indorse by NGOs supporting the BOP initiative . the social responsibility dimension . the opportunity to diversify their business operation and . the possibility of working together with other institutions, like NGOs and governments. According to Westley (2007), by the end of 2005, there were 30 commercial banks in Latin America oriented to the microentrepreneurs.The establishment of alliances There is recognition that serving the BOP requires the involvement of multiple players, including private companies, governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), ?nancial institutions, and other organizations e. g. communities (Prahalad and Hart, 2002). By infusing the pro? t motive into value creation, the hope is that private companies will take the leading role in serving the BOP and, thus, the purpose of alleviating poverty will more likely succeed. Prahalad and Hart (2002) suggest that, a mong private companies, multinational corporations (MNC) with extensive ? ancial resources are in the best position to lead the process of selling to the poor. However, MNCs have built-in weaknesses that limit their potential for success with these consumers. They are simply too large, too rigid and too far from the customer to be effective. Instead of the top down approach that MNCs represent (McFalls, 2007 Harjula, 2005), a bottom up process is obligatory (Karnani, 2007a). Changing perspectives from top down to bottom up is so complicated that if MNCs are to be involved, they may have to create ? exible subsidiaries free from the corporate structure, processes, culture, and assumptions.ITC has succeeded using that model and has done so at the grassroots level. Therefore, more research is needed to ? nd out under which circumstances MNCs or other types of private company should lead the BOP initiative. This line of reason is consistent with DAndrea et al. (2004) who, in the con text of retailing in Latin America, suggest that smallscale independent supermarkets and traditional stores are more likely to come through rising consumers than MNCs. Likewise, NGOs have been critical in the development of the business model infrastructure in several successful cases of for-pro? t ? rms serving the BOP.For-pro? ts have created sustainability for the technology used (Chesbrough et al. , 2006) NGOs, understand peoples needs. In addition, NGOs are closer to people at the BOP, and are better prepared to educate them. For example, in Uganda, Africa, the NGO Infectious disease Institute in Kampala collaborated with P? zer by educating people about the causes of AIDS, and how to prevent and combat it. This facilitated P? zers initiative to provide these people access to drugs that combat HIV/AIDS (Chesbrough et al. , 2006). Lastly, the public sector has an important role in developing the BOP proposition.The focus is changing from traditional governmental assistance del ivery, to different ways of creating a sustainable environment for aiding the BOP. For example, Micro? nance Microloans are well known and originally seemed like the answer to self-suf? ciency. The concept that a poor consumer could gain a small loan and become a producer contributing to family income and independence is tantalizing. There is evidence that microloans have succeeded in aiding the bottom of the pyramid. There is also evidence that many of the would-be entrepreneurs failed to capitalize on such credit. They got deeper into debt (Karnani, 2007a).Some authors point out that the entrepreneurial skill that can lead to success is rare. Most individuals would rather have a guaranteed income rather than assume the risk that entrepreneurship entails. This adds to the argument that if businesses can create jobs and boost the poors income, then consumption will follow. Those businesses may not be able to obtain outside ? nancing. The BOP segments are not able to generate suf? ci ent pro? ts to justify a high cost of capital. To reduce the cost of capital, perhaps collaboration with bread and butter sources like the World Bank or other NGO will be obligatory.With ?nancial aid, companies trying for the BOP market may be able to succeed. The creation of buying power is one of the key elements that allow low-income segments to piddle product and services. Formal commercial credit has been unavailable to this market and the cost of accessing and getting ? nancial services in the informal ? nancial market is enormous. Since the pioneering initiative of Grameen Bank, in the mid of the 1970s, several ? nancial institutions have been very successful in go ? nancial services to low-income people who were not traditionally served by the formal bank system.Programs for microcredit have characteristics that are speci? c and different from those of the traditional banking sectors. These differences include proportion and corporate governance of the institutions, cha racteristics of the consumers, the technology used to manage credit, and the characteristics of the product and service. The growth of the microcredit market has been heterogeneous across countries. For example, in Latin America, the micro? nance industry has had a signi? cant ? growth in countries like Peru, Bolivia and El Salvador but it is 398 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramidJournal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo Marshall Volume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 the provision of funding and educate to entrepreneurs is a way governments can support consumers and producers at the BOP. Another example is engineering supportive tax structures that labour private sector enthronization in BOP initiatives. distribution makes the poor poorer. Today, with escalating global fuel costs adding to the cost of transportation, the poor face an increasingly rigorous future. The lack of infrastructure serving rural areas also increases prices .For example, in Chile, consumer goods prices in the remote conglutination and South of the country are 20-25 percent higher than the more super populated central zone of Santiago and Valparaiso (Ferreira and Litch? eld, 1999). The idea of closeness in distribution channels for consumers at the BOP is very important. This means, for example, having stores that are both geographically close and affectively close. In other words, emotional proximity is also very important. A good example is Banco Estado, a stateowned commercial bank, which consumers consider the closest to the BOP segment.The reasons are its extensive distribution, its perception of being adjustive to peoples needs, its ? exibility, and its position as affectively close. In the context of retailing, DAndrea et al. (2004) show that the development of personal relationships with the stores personnel has a positive effect on consumers self-esteem and well-being. Pricing for the bottom of the pyramid is, of course, als o very critical. The challenge here is twofold. On the one hand, there is the issue of affordability prices need to be affordable to BOP consumers. Ramaswamy and Schiphorst (2000) emonstrate the challenges in companies trying to serve the poor. In order to achieve affordability, they must reduce the costs of production and simplify the products. On the other hand, ? exibility in payments is also very important. Providing options of how and when low-income consumers can pay for their products and services constitutes both a challenge and a source of competitive advantage to private companies. To do this, private companies may need the assistance of commercial banks and NGOs as key partners. Some marketing theorists (Karnani, 2007b) view the BOP as a collection of producers rather than consumers.Therefore, innovative payment models, which allow BOP consumers to pay using a marketing swop model would increase their ability to pay for the things they consume. The ? Nestle milk agricult ural exchange model cited above comes to ? mind. In that model, Nestle actually paid farmers for their milk at attractive prices. They could use the money to buy seed at equally attractive prices. It is a small step to consider a more traditional trade wind system. As long as the barter system offered fair pricing it would present a win-win situation that would help sustain the arrangement. The marketing mixIt is no surprise that serving different market segments may require different marketing mixes. Therefore, for-pro? t ? rms need to understand how the BOP segment differs from upper tiers, and adapt the marketing approach to meet the characteristics of these consumers. Since affordability is at the heart of serving the BOP, product modi? cation will help lower the price and improve affordability. The parallel strategy, reducing product size plant in higher customer tiers but has limited usefulness at the lowest levels. In India, unit-use reduced size cachets of shampoo do promo te consumption but are not the answer.The higher cost of packaging erodes pro? ts, and the resulting discarded packaging adds to pollution. The problem remains that the customer still has to allocate scarce income to the shampoo. One answer is to create a bare-bones product with someer product features that the poor can afford. One example, Nirma detergent do in India, highlights a poorer product that is affordable. A single entrepreneur created Nirma to deal with Hindustan Levers market leading detergent, Surf. Surf gained market share because it is an excellent product. It has numerous additives that make it effective yet gentle to humans.Its cost was signi? cant. In fact, Nirma does not contain many of the ingredients and safeguards of its rival. It works but can cause blisters on the skin (Ahmad and Mead, 2004). Despite its harshness, the poor embraced it because they could afford it. The implication is that research must also seek to adapt foreign solutions to local needs (P rahalad and Hart, 2002). Evidence shows that consumers at the BOP care about branded products, because leading brands are a guarantee of product quality, which is particularly important to this segment because the ? ancial loss from an underperforming product is greater for people with limited incomes (DAndrea et al. , 2004, p. 6). However, emerging consumers are not very loyal to speci? c brand names, although they do not experiment with nameless brands. In practice, they switch among a few known brands (DAndrea et al. , 2004). DAndrea and colleagues also argue that low-income consumers prefer products in small sizes, even if the perunit cost is higher, because of their income and space constraints. Moreover, too many varieties of products can ill-use emerging consumers purchasing experience. They may eel tempted to buy things they dont need or cant afford, which can produce a olfactory perception of inferiority or frustration (DAndrea et al. , 2004). Marketers also need to revi sit distribution channels also to attend the BOP market effectively. Vachani and Smiths (2008) recent work dealing with inclusive distribution has merit as a model for success. In essence, their examples infused a social action philosophical system into a business model. One of their focal companies, ITC, demonstrated the vision necessary to discern pro? ts in the future and the determination to invest in a new distribution channel as a in-win proposition. Undoubtedly, the high cost of Conclusions and challenges for marketing theory and practice While the picture is not completely clear, the bottom of the pyramid may offer opportunities to create value for both the poor and companies. Early promises of a fortune seem to have been overstated. The degree of wealth present among the poor is much lower than ? rst reported. In addition, that wealth is too fragmented to be tapped under the current business models. It now appears that the basic concept overestimates the role that BOP cons umers can play in contributing to company pro? ts.There is still no agreement in the literature about how bene? cial selling to the BOP can be for private companies, or for alleviating poverty. However, there are several elements of the BOP proposition that have been identi? ed as critical to 399 The quest for the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid Journal of Consumer Marketing Dennis A. Pitta, Rodrigo Guesalaga and Pablo Marshall Volume 25 Number 7 2008 393 401 succeed. First, an accurate characterization of the low-income sector both as consumers and as producers is required to understand their needs, perceptions, and behavior, which in urn will help companies to object a better business approach. Second, it is important to recognize that serving the BOP market requires a different business model, one incorporating access to microcredit, the establishment of alliances of collaboration among different types of institutions, and the adaptation of the marketing mix. Until com panies better understand the needs of emerging consumers and adapt their business models to serve them more ef? ciently and effectively, their growth will be limited (DAndrea et al. , 2004, p. 3). It is well known that BOP markets involve managing ubstantial challenges in technical and economic infrastructure, education, ? nancial resources, and cultural differences. As participants from the economic sectors progress, a number of questions need to be addressed. Gardetti (2005) articulated them clearly. They include How can a company turn its strategy at the BOP into a competitive advantage? What kind of business model will work? How can it build trust in the informal economy? What kind of education do business schools need? How does new technology integrate? How can we develop the educational/ social infrastructure? Moreover, from the viewpoint of egulatory and policy formulation, if entering the markets at the base of the pyramid is a sound choice for both development and business, what does it take to turn this into a reality? Scholarly research, as well as practitioners participation in BOP initiatives, can provide some answers to clarify the true nature and scope of the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid. example in India showed its value in distribution and in customer relationship management. It will be equally valuable in research, product development, pricing, and promotion. Fourth, pricing is of paramount importance in serving the oor. In a for-pro? t enterprise, consumers must pay for the cost of serving them. Microcredit is one potential solution. It may be a limited solution, useful only to consumers with the skills necessary to manage it. However, innovative exchange models may offer even those without ? nancial management skills a chance to improve their condition. Fifth, given the economies of the BOP, it is likely that if pro? ts come, they will come later rather than sooner. Organizations need to choose a long-term involvement in order to avoid disappointment and a ? nancially bad midterm decision to exit.Finally, marketers should understand that some products are simply not suited for the poorest of the poor. Some products of dubious value to this segment, like Armani handbags, or even cheap counterfeits, will have no place at the BOP. More importantly, some products and services related to health care will invariably be simply too expensive. Altruistic surgeons may care for unambiguously disadvantaged patients by donating their time but they are only one part of a surgical team. Even if the hospital and every member of the team donate facilities, their time, and the resources to save a atient, that model is not sustainable as a for-pro? t venture. Similarly, the cost of a ten-day supply of a life-saving antibiotic cannot be reduced realistically using the smaller case size option. The implication would be either reduced daily doses or fewer full strength doses. Both are likely to handle drug resistant organism s and thereby threaten the life of the patient and society. To doctor this situation, other players like governments and NGOs will be important. many an(prenominal) marketers must realize that collaborating with them is important. To be effective, the collaboration must be proactive.Marketers indirect request to serve the BOP, who recognize the importance of alliances with others, should seek out relationships with both government and NGOs. Early and persistent outreach will be valuable in alerting all of the players to each others strengths and in creating an accurate picture of the challenges. Politically, coalitions of organizations with different fundamental objectives are prone to misunderstanding. Often their linguistic process is similar but the meaning is different. Alternatively, their objectives may be so exclusively different that they are fundamentally foreign to one another.If the goal is poverty eradication at a pro? t, all the players must collaborate. The goal ma y be so dif? cult and achieving effective teamwork is essential. Implications for marketers In general, if pro? t-seeking companies plan to serve the BOP, numerous factors will have to change. First, marketers will have to approach the BOP in a novel manner different from any they used in their prior successes. The BOP is mostly unknown territory. They may have to reinvent themselves or create divisions with substantial independence. If the old segmentation rules that worked at the TOP no longer apply, either will the product development, sales, pricing, distribution policies, and management. In addition, the pro? t objectives and revenue goals will have to be changed. Those who are not prepared to address the sea change in marketing approach should avoid entering this market. Second, simply modifying products and selling them is a path to failure. Success will depend on knowing the BOP intimately. Currently the BOP is terra incognita in terms of segments and their needs. To succeed , marketers must be able to differentiate different income segments and their value. Within the various BOP de? itions, there are three apparent segments, under $2 per day, $4 per day, and $6 per day. The needs and incomes of the segments seem to differ enough to indicate that they be treated differently. Marketers need to know which ones to serve and how to serve those successfully. Third, in order to understand the voice of the BOP consumer, companies need grass roots sources of intelligence. Collaborating effectively with agents on the ground who have direct contact with relevant BOP segments is vital. Moreover, companies must train those agents to seek ? information that will help serve those customers.The Nestle References Ahmad, P. S. and Mead, J. (2004), Hindustan Lever Limited and regorge Sting , Darden Business Publishing, Charlottesville, VA. Chen, S. and Ravaillon, M. (2007), Absolute poverty measures for the developing world, 1981-2004, Policy query Working Paper 4211, World Bank, April. Chesbrough, H. , Ahern, S. , Finn, M. and Guerraz, S. 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(2007), examination the limits of inclusive capit alism a case study of the South Africa HP iCommunity, The Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 28, Summer, pp. 85-98. Pitta, D. A. and Franzak, F. 1997), Boundary spanning product development in consumer markets learning organization insights, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 235-49. Prahalad, C. K. (2004), The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid Eradicating Poverty through Pro? ts, Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prahalad, C. K. and Hammond, A. (2002), Serving the worlds poor pro? tably, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 80 No. 9, pp. 48-57. Prahalad, C. K. and Hart, S. L. (2002), The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, Strategy and Business, Vol. 26, January, pp. 54-67. Ramaswamy, E. A. and Schiphorst, F.B. (2000), Human resource management, trade unions and empowerment two cases from India, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 664-80. Seelos, C. and Mair, J. (2007), Pro? table business models and ma rket creation in the context of deep poverty a strategic view, Academy of Management Perspectives, November, pp. 49-63. Vachani, S. and Smith, N. C. (2008), Socially responsible distribution distribution strategies for reaching the bottom of the pyramid, California Management Review, Vol. 50 No. 2, Winter, pp. 52-84. Westley (2007), Commercial Banks in Micro? nance BestPractices and Guidelines for come out Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation, IADB, MSM 138. Zeithaml, V. A. , Rust, R. T. and Lemon, K. (2001), The customer pyramid creating and serving pro? table customers, California Management Review, Vol. 43 No. 4, Summer, pp. 118-34. Further reading Anderson, S. N. (1994), Unions/management create cooperative culture, Communication World, Vol. 4 No. 1. Corresponding author Dennis A. Pitta can be contacted at emailprotected edu To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail emailprotected com Or visit our web site for further details www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints 401