| The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Wharton School Publishing Paperbacks) | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 61 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6902
Category: Book
Author: Ck Prahalad
Publisher: Wharton School Publishing
Studio: Wharton School Publishing
Manufacturer: Wharton School Publishing
Label: Wharton School Publishing
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 0131877291
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.8881724
EAN: 9780131877290
ASIN: 0131877291
Publication Date: February 6, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market? It's where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world's billions of poor people have immense entrepreneurial capabilities and buying power. You can learn how to serve them and help millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty. It is being done-profitably. Whether you're a business leader or an anti-poverty activist, business guru Prahalad shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets. In the book and accompanying CD videos, Prahalad presents... Why what you know about BOP markets is wrong A world of surprises-from spending patterns to distribution and marketing Unlocking the "poverty penalty" The most enduring contributions your company can make Delivering dignity, empowerment, and choice-not just products Corporations and BOP entrepreneurs Profiting together from an inclusive new capitalism "C. K. Prahalad argues that companies must revolutionize how they dobusiness in developing countries if both sides of that economic equation areto prosper. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, his compelling new bookoffers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability." Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect,Microsoft "The Bottom of the Pyramid belongs at the top of the reading list forbusiness people, academics, and experts pursuing the elusive goal ofsustainable growth in the developing world. C. K. Prahalad writes withuncommon insight about consumer needs in poor societies andopportunities for the private sector to serve important public purposes whileenhancing its own bottom line. If you are looking for fresh thinking aboutemerging markets, your search is ended. This is the book for you." Madeleine K. Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State "Prahalad challenges readers to re-evaluate their pre-conceived notionsabout the commercial opportunities in serving the relatively poor nations ofthe world. The Bottom of the Pyramid highlights the way to commercialsuccess and societal improvement--but only if the developed worldreconceives the way it delivers products and services to the developingworld." Christopher Rodrigues, CEO, Visa International "An important and insightful work showing persuasively how the privatesector can be put at the center of development, not just as a rhetoricalflourish but as a real engine of jobs and services for the poor." Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 Looking at Ethical Profits from the Global Poor September 10, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Rather than teaching the poor how to fish you should provide them with the information they need to reach a life beyond fish and rice. That goal is nicely laid out by author C.K. Prahalad in his wonderful volume "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid."
Prahalad correctly points out that it is the poor who stand most to profit from free, global markets. While that is true, the goal cannot be reached without a government being willing to assume a leadership role in making transactions easier for customers and accepting the responsibility of helping to create wealth rather than merely taxing wealth.
Prahalad shares the belief of many that poverty and non-functional economies are not caused by Western dominance but by the inattention of the West. The author issues a call to change, insisting that business no longer can afford to neglect a market of 5 billion people who already are consumers and will help business generate even more profits once these 5 billion become more highly-informed consumers. It is information, not charity, that provides meaningful relief, stresses Prahalad, who calls upon business leaders to make meaningful and sustained improvements in the lives of billions of people.
In case study after case study the author provides evidence for his premise that the win-win formula of innovation offers the dual function of helping the poorest of the poor while at the same time generating corporate profits.
When you take a close look at India and its opportunities for successful business intervention, you see further evidence for Prahalad's assertion that the greatest potential for economic growth is in the billions of people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid.
By Gunjan Bagla
Author of Doing Business in 21st Century India
Interesting and insightful read, not just for business people June 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I learned about CK Prahalad and the BOP about two years ago doing a school project. I'm a graphic designer, so my approach is far removed from the typical business person's. After this project, I used this book to guide my senior project (design equivalent of a thesis), in which I made up a company that served the BOP in Venezuela and created a brand and packaging system for it. As a non-business person, it was sometimes challenging to follow the book, but it was not overwhelming. I agree with other comments that say that it was a bit technical (especially with all the abbreviations), but it was still approachable.
I'd recommend this not just for business people and entrepreneurs. Poverty is a world-wide issue and this book shows new and innovative ways of dealing with it. We can find uses for this theory in many different realms and disciplines and the theory forces us to think outside of the box. I was especially appreciative of the non-subsidies and the notion that poverty alleviation can come from sustainably profitable operations. I also like the idea of environmental sustainability as a must when dealing with the vast majority of the world as consumers.
I would also recommend "Out of Poverty" by Paul Polack. I liked Prahalad's position better, as Polack falls short in addressing exclusively money as a poverty factor and disregards life quality as something we should address; something that Prahalad does address. But Polack addresses an even poorer segment of the world and we can learn from both theories.
 Great book for any serious business person April 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a great book for anyone serious about expanding their business, or starting their own business. It gives a real look at the world's poor. Every stereotype is wrong.
 Suspicious February 23, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The author has noble intentions and some of the arguments are persuasive. But something does not quite add for me:
Solve third world poverty by making everyone consumers? Buy more plastic goods?
Some of the cases are good stories and I am not against the idea...but something is missing here. What about the mass environmental impact?
What about eradicating poverty but increasing impoverishment? Make everyone a consumer, eradicate their customs and culture, Americanize every Third World country by turning its native peoples into consumers. Sounds like a profitable enterprise for the MNCs--but not sure how much "Fortune" will be redistributed to the native peoples. I doubt much.
Another good book on the forgotten people of the world December 4, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author, C.K. Prahalad gives outstanding evidence that working to develop marketing strategies at the bottom of the social pyramid is a profitable business, besides of providing meaningful and practical ways to incorporate millions of excluded people on the modern world economy.
The stories Prahalad includes on his book have more force and prove to be more succesful than the wasteful, gigantic and bureaucratic government programs that have been highly publicized in the past that have resulted as complete failures.
In that sense the idea that Jeffrey Sachs explores on his book "The end of poverty" does not make any sense at all in practical terms, because only piecemeal solutions such as the one developed by Grameen Bank, for example, are the right answers to the quest for economic development.
Prahalad's work goes in tandem with the magnifecent work done by William Easterly on his book "The elusive quest for growth".
Let the people to be free to choose their own exit door from poverty, give them the means to do it by themselves, and not from the world development agencies desks.
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