Operating in Emerging Markets: A Guide to Management and Strategy in the New International Economy

7. Targeting Emerging Market Clients II: Strategies for the Base of the Pyramid

Introduction

In the previous chapter, we discussed how to target the rich and the middle classes of emerging markets. The question we pose here is whether the poor of emerging markets really represent viable markets for profitable business opportunities. The answer to that is a resounding yes: they can and they do for quite a number of savvy organizations. This chapter discusses the poor as a group of consumers that continue to be, by and large, disconnected from mainstream markets. It illustrates some of the reasons why the poor continue to remain poor but it also demonstrates and provides examples of the kind of market this disconnected group can represent and ...