Marketing and Bop
Bottom of the Pyramid Case Study
1. As a junior member of your company’s committee to explore new markets, you have received a memo from the chairperson telling you to be prepared at the next meeting to discuss key questions that need to be addressed if the company decides to look further into the possibility of marketing to the BOP segment. The ultimate goal of this meeting will be to establish a set of general guidelines to use in developing a market strategy for any one of the company’s products to be marketed to the “aspirational poor”. These guidelines needs not be company or product specific at this time. In fact, think of the final guideline as a checklist- a series of questions that a company could use as a start in evaluating the potential of a specific BOP market segment for one of its products.
Right now on this planet there are 2,582 people living for less than $2 a day and it is this group that makes up the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP). With this group constituting such a large and diverse part of the market, many organizations have been seeking to make their presence larger in this area of the market with their products and services. This move is incredibly organizationally strategic as the BOP market has a need for advanced technology. However in order for this market initiative to be successful these products must be accompanied by the correct infrastructure support. Even more to this point, for most products, demand is contingent on the customer having sufficient purchasing power. With this in mind, designing a business model to serve the market BOP has to start with a basic insight rather than tinkering or tailoring a minor detail of the current business model. Firms and companies must understand that the creation of markets out of unmet needs is paramount. Along with this, companies need to ensure that their products are profitable, actually serve the poor and are good for them as well. The BOP is a hard market to crack. Not only
1. As a junior member of your company’s committee to explore new markets, you have received a memo from the chairperson telling you to be prepared at the next meeting to discuss key questions that need to be addressed if the company decides to look further into the possibility of marketing to the BOP segment. The ultimate goal of this meeting will be to establish a set of general guidelines to use in developing a market strategy for any one of the company’s products to be marketed to the “aspirational poor”. These guidelines needs not be company or product specific at this time. In fact, think of the final guideline as a checklist- a series of questions that a company could use as a start in evaluating the potential of a specific BOP market segment for one of its products.
Right now on this planet there are 2,582 people living for less than $2 a day and it is this group that makes up the bottom of the economic pyramid (BOP). With this group constituting such a large and diverse part of the market, many organizations have been seeking to make their presence larger in this area of the market with their products and services. This move is incredibly organizationally strategic as the BOP market has a need for advanced technology. However in order for this market initiative to be successful these products must be accompanied by the correct infrastructure support. Even more to this point, for most products, demand is contingent on the customer having sufficient purchasing power. With this in mind, designing a business model to serve the market BOP has to start with a basic insight rather than tinkering or tailoring a minor detail of the current business model. Firms and companies must understand that the creation of markets out of unmet needs is paramount. Along with this, companies need to ensure that their products are profitable, actually serve the poor and are good for them as well. The BOP is a hard market to crack. Not only