Harvard Review Paper

The bottom of the economic pyramid concept has pros and cons alike. From a business perspective there are vast untapped markets sitting there waiting for someone to take hold. Unfortunately, the limitations of entering new global markets make it difficult and possibly unsafe for companies to tap some markets. The obvious potential to add a new source of revenue should be tempting for large companies who have the means to attempt breaking into a new market. Overcoming the “red tape” per say has been an issue for companies breaking into the global market since the beginning. Therefore, eventually someone will tempt the feat of breaking into these underdeveloped poor markets. Once these underdeveloped poor markets are broken into the possibilities are endless. Based on the statistics in “Serving the World’s Poor, Profitably” poor people are more likely to spend money versus saving it in order to improve their quality of life. Businesses should see this as an opportunity. Poor people want to improve their standard of living but cannot afford to do so for the most part. This opens up a new market within a new market. Here in the United States we have many companies in many different market sectors that stock discount items of fair quality. Discount stores such as these should flourish in underdeveloped poor markets. Developing poor markets would offer the potential of a new standard of life for residents of those countries. New employment opportunities, education systems, infrastructure, and food/water sources are among a few of the great benefits that could be offered.
Concepts like this can be implemented in the United States as well as other developed countries. Currently, the United States does a fairly good job of servicing the poor markets but there is always room to improve. With the current economic woes in the United States there are more poor markets than ever. If large companies were to expand or switch their business strategy from