Capitalism at the Crossroads: Aligning Business, Earth, and Humanity, Second Edition

6. Reaching the Base of the Pyramid

Now is the time for the leaders of multinational corporations (MNCs) to expand their conception of globalization and strategy.¹ For boards, senior executives, and business leaders with the audacity and desire to compete at the base of the world economic pyramid, the prospective rewards include growth, profits, and incalculable contributions to humankind. As we have seen, countries that are not encumbered by billions of dollars of sunk costs in centralized infrastructure are ideal incubators for environmentally sustainable technologies and products that might one day benefit the entire world. Furthermore, MNC investment at the base of the pyramid means lifting billions of people out of poverty and desperation—and ...