[.ca] The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating ... (ISBN 0131877291)

Unperceived Profits and Business Models for Serving the Poor:
Poor people in developing countries are at the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy. They are often focusing on scratching out the most fundamental needs for food, clean water, shelter and a chance to earn a living to provide for those same needs. Economic statistics suggest that they have no money to spend, and many companies act as though the poor don't exist. C.K. Prahalad and his graduate student collaborators strive to make a different case. Large companies can earn good profits by providing solutions to those problems the poor have that are most costly to them economically. Solving the problems then generates spendable income that will find its way to the large company. A good example comes in creating reasonable cost credit and access to futures markets to farmers so they earn more profits. The inefficient system that most go through now simply clips them like the feudal lords did on their domains. The strength of the book comes in its detailed case histories which I found to be much more revealing than the primary text. In fact, the text seemed sometimes almost to be at odds with the main points of the case histories. If you find you are pressed for time, read the case histories and skip the text. There is also a brief CD to help illustrate the cases. Some of the cases are only on the CD so be sure to watch it. I especially found the cases of Aravind Eye Care, CEMEX, Jaipur Foot, ITC e-Choupals and Voxiva to be interesting. These are essentially business model innovation stories, something that interests me very deeply. I learned from these cases how using local people can eliminate unnecessary overhead and that adapting the business model to the situation requires the local perspective of the poor . . . not that of the executives of a large company. One reason that the main text reads a little strangely is that if everyone focused just at the bottom of the poorest consumers you would have too many companies working on the same problems (clean water, hygiene, overcoming simple forms of disease, etc.). It looked to me like the best business areas were ones that catered to those further up the ladder economically . . . but who were still poor. I was especially fascinated by how the Aravind solution is so powerful that people will be coming to India from the developed world to have their cataracts treated . . . and will save money even after paying for the travel costs! In this way, poor countries could become laboratories for better business models that could be transferred at least in part to wealthier people and countries. I was also surprised not to see any material in here about Philip Morris, Coca Cola and Gillette who have been selling their products to the poorest people around the world for decades. When I first wanted to learn about the problem defined by this book, I went to visit those countries and learned many helpful answers that are only partially captured by this book. Finally, I felt like the book makes a mistake in primarily looking at cases involving quite large companies. The bulk of innovation comes from much smaller firms. What role can these organizations plan in partnering with poor consumers around the world to create better business models and products? Genius isn't determined by whether you are born rich or poor. How can we tap into the potential of genius in more ways?