Organizational Drivers for Social Alliance Formation in Bottom of the Pyramid Markets

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, University of Mannheim, course: MAN 720 Research Seminar Organizational Theory, language: English, abstract: To be successful, MNEs need a deep understanding of BOP markets, which significantly differ from their Western home markets. As several academic studies have shown, one promising strategy for MNEs is to enter alliances with social organizations that are mutually beneficial for both partners.

However, a comprehensive link between the main organizational challenges in BOP markets and their alleviating factors provided through social alliances is still unclear in the scholarly literature. This leads to the following research question: "What are the organizational drivers for social alliance formation from a corporate and social organization perspective within BOP markets?"

The seminar thesis answers the research question in a three-step approach. In section two, the theoretical foundation describing the underlying concepts is provided. The third chapter aims to identify the main organizational constraints for each alliance partner and explains how social alliances can help to resolve them. Finally, the theoretical framework developed in section three is applied to an alliance example followed by a discussion of the findings and the conclusion