Legitimacy Contexts of BoP Markets: Characterization and Implications for Supply Chain Functions

An important market that is receiving increasing attention by firms relates to the poorest at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP). BoP businesses contribute to the first UN Sustainable Development Goal that calls for an end to poverty in all its manifestations. BoP businesses are regarded as financially and socially beneficial for both participating firms and poor communities. It is, however, understood that success in BoP markets cannot (and should not) be assumed, as it demands a profoundly different view towards managing supply chains. Focusing on this issue, our conceptual study contributes to the emerging debates in BoP and supply chain management research by elaborating the notion of legitimacy contexts (LCs) at BoP. We draw on institutional theory to characterize the LCs in BoP markets and discuss their implications for key supply chain functions. We argue that firms often design their supply chain functions for BoP business using their own LCs as opposed to those of BoP actors. This implies ignoring the institutional distance between BoP markets and firms and reveals a key culprit in the failure of BoP projects. We offer practical implications for firms intending to engage in BoP business.

Engaging symbiotic ecosystems to build community centred business models for the BoP: Evidence from small social enterprises in East Africa

This article examines how small social enterprises (SSEs) in East Africa build business models for base of the pyramid (BoP) markets, through engaging symbiotic ecosystems. Through in-depth qualitative research, a three-stage process is identified. First, SSEs learn and become sensitised to the manifold challenges of building business models for BoP markets. Second, SSEs identify and connect with key BoP actors, weaving them together to create a symbiotic ecosystem and to overcome the aforementioned challenges. Third, SSEs harness this symbiotic ecosystem to deliver community-centred business models for the BoP. This research contributes to social entrepreneurship, small business, and BoP literatures, by shedding light on the challenges faced by SSEs working in the BoP, and through novel elaboration of how SSEs develop and interact with symbiotic ecosystems to surmount these challenges. It also provides important practical insights, for social entrepreneurs and social enterprise managers in Africa and elsewhere.

A CONFIGURATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON BOP INNOVATION CAPABILITY

Marketing capabilities are a major driver of competitive advantage across different business contexts. One of these capabilities is the ability to sense consumer needs and to develop innovations to meet these needs, referred to as innovation capability. Innovation holds the potential to improve the living conditions of resource-constrained consumers at the bottom of the world’s economic pyramid (BoP) in emerging markets. Surprisingly, research has failed to develop a comprehensive understanding of how firms can innovate successfully in BoP markets. Applying a configurational perspective, this study explores the organisational configurations that characterise firms that successfully develop innovations for the BoP market. Analysing data from an online survey with senior-level managers ([Formula: see text] = 245) in 10 emerging markets, the authors offer important insights for firms seeking to develop innovations for BoP consumers in terms of the specific organisational configurations that lead to BoP innovation success.

Communicating in Media Dark Areas

Companies have to communicate with their consumers and deliver value. This is achievable in areas where consumers are educated and have access to media – and these conditions exist in markets in the developed world and also in urban areas in developing countries. But communicating to distant, scattered villages, or areas where the majority of the population is poor—areas called media-dark—poses a great challenge for business. Further, the target audience may also have no access to education or media. Communicating in these markets physically is simply not economical or feasible. This chapter describes the challenges of reaching consumers in media dark environments. It explores how companies are getting over these obstacles. Drawing on case studies describing innovative use of communication methods, it explains how initiatives can succeed in BOP areas using innovative approaches. A media communication mix is proposed for successfully reaching out to consumers in BOP markets.

Towards Sustainable Base of Pyramid Market: Role of ICTs in Shared Innovation

The purpose of this paper is to make a systematic review of the literature on role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in sustainability of the Base of the Pyramid (BOP) markets by studying the impact of ICT on innovation development at BOP. BOP markets are those segments of the global markets that have an income of about two to four dollars or less and are untapped fortunes for the business (Prahalad, 2002). BOP is fraught with dearth of infrastructure and resources which makes it hard for business firms to work out viable and sustainable strategies as the separations between the producers and end users are much wider in these markets compared with developed markets. Use of ICT helps reduce these separations by developing shared innovations with the people at BOP. Systematic literature review approach has been adopted to analyze the peer-reviewed journals for the period 2000 to 2019 using Google Scholar and Science Direct. BOP, ICT and Shared Innovations were the key words used in this search. Our findings suggest that ICT has significant role in development of shared innovations at the BOP markets as it bridges the physical market separation with its internet and web-based networks. This research has implications for busines managers, as it will guide them in making viable and sustainable strategies to run their businesses in these huge un-tapped markets.

The impact of institutional voids on risk and performance in base-of-the-pyramid supply chains

PurposeBase-of-the-pyramid (BoP) markets are frequently characterized by institutional voids. However, it remains unclear how institutional voids impact corporate and supply chain risk and performance. This intersection will be analyzed in this paper.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a systematic literature review of 94 BoP papers published between 2004 and 2019 in peer-reviewed, English-language journals available on Scopus. Drawing upon established frameworks for examining institutional voids, supply chain risks and BoP performance, frequency, and contingency analyses are conducted. Contingencies are established to provide insights into the associations between different constructs from the selected frameworks.FindingsSupply chain risks are pervasive in the BoP discourse, especially when BoP markets are characterized by institutional voids. The frequency analysis of the constructs suggests that the key supply chain risks discussed in the BoP literature include social risk, credit risk, product market and operating uncertainties, knowledge and skill biases and decision-maker risks due to bounded rationality. The contingency analysis suggests that institutional voids are associated with supply chain risks that affect performance.Research limitations/implicationsA theoretical framework aligning three research streams in the context of BoP calls for future studies to test the causality of highlighted constructs that are significantly associated. The analysis is confined to the constructs that are taken into account based on specific conceptual frameworks.Practical implicationsThe study provides practitioners with a framework to manage supply chain risks in BoP-related firms to enhance firm performance. Managers can use key dimensions of supply chain risk, such as the product market, the input market and operating uncertainties, to evaluate performance in the BoP context.Originality/valueSpecifically, this research has strengthened the inquiry of supply chain risks in the presence of institutional voids that may have an impact on firm performance