An Exploratory Journey towards the Research and Practice of the 'Base of the Pyramid'

Today, there is little dispute that poverty is one of the most pressing global problems calling for innovative solutions. One approach currently attracting much attention is the so-called base-of-the-pyramid (BOP; also referred to as "bottom-of-the-pyramid") concept, a novel approach that, it is suggested, can deliver at least a partial solution to poverty. Pioneering work by Prahalad and Hart suggests that there is a fortune to be made for entrepreneurs in BOP initiatives, while at the same time great opportunities for the world's poor to escape from poverty. Prahalad has championed a profitable win-win engagement scenario for the private sector. The topic has unleashed an extensive and generally enthusiastic response from academics, businesses, NGOs and governments. This special issue brings together leading research in this nascent field. The majority of the papers are based on empirical case studies from several countries in Asia, Africa and South America. The issues that the articles deal with include social embeddedness of firms or innovations in the low-income markets, multi-stakeholder collaborations in facilitating the development of BOP product-service concepts, or tensions between different stakeholders involved in the introduction of potentially disruptive innovations to BOP markets. One of the more provocative papers is a conceptual critique of the BOP approach.