Value chain integration of base of the pyramid consumers: An empirical study of drivers and performance outcomes

The seminal works on Base of the Pyramid (BOP) markets encourage companies to explore untapped low-income markets and to alleviate poverty by providing affordable products and services. The transition to second generation BOP strategies has centred on the integration of local consumers across value chain activities. This integration presents challenges both for firms and for low-income consumers due to the nature of informal BOP markets, severe institutional voids and lack of local knowledge of firms. In this context, little is known about the motivational drivers of firms to integrate BOP consumers in value creation activities and the impact on different performance dimensions, namely economic, social and ecological. This study adopts the perspective of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and investigates drivers and performance outcomes of BOP consumer integration. For this purpose, we develop a theoretical framework and test it empirically by employing a unique dataset of 142 enterprises which provide basic products and services to low-income markets. Our findings provide empirical support for the claim that BOP consumer integration enhances economic, social and ecological performance. MSMEs in our sample engage consumers mainly due to a strong intrinsic motivation to drive social impact rather than a pragmatic motivation to overcome information asymmetries. While studies of multinationals entering BOP markets almost exclusively report the need for cross-sector partner collaboration, our findings suggest that this may not be the case for MSMEs.     

A naturological approach to marketing exchanges: Implications for the bottom of the pyramid

Marketing as exchange has been the sine qua non of the field for over thirty years. While buyer-seller dyads dominate traditional conversations, other forms of transactions are included as long as value transfer occurs. The most logical extension is Stakeholder Theory, an approach with the same basic structure for understanding, maintaining, and advancing important relationships among firms and their constituencies. Together, they posit that self-contained individuals or units have a marked impact on one another, which passes across defined boundaries at discrete periods of time. Yet the failure to capture organic and dynamic ways in which such entities interact necessities a new approach, such as the naturological perspective that recognizes porous boundaries and reverberating consequences of marketing exchanges, especially among consumers and other impacted parties who survive at or near the proverbial bottom of the economic pyramid.     

Kafkaesque institutions at the base of the pyramid

Impelled by neo-liberal ideology, base-of-the-pyramid (BOP) and subsistence market discourses have put emphases on markets, profits and entrepreneurialism. Because of this ideological mooring, there is a marginal understanding of the role of the State and its impact on the poor in these discourses. Franz Kafka’s work provides a critical perspective on the role of the State in BOP or subsistence settings. This ethnographic study in India examines transactions related to land and highlights the Kafkaesque nature of the State. The institutional setting is fraught with Kafkaesque elements such as inaccessible and indecipherable legality, abusive power relations and alienation of subaltern subjects. It further shows that the illicit character of the State is an important reason for illegal practices in subaltern settings.     

Strategic motivations and choice in subsistence markets

This paper examines the different motivations behind strategic choice in base of the pyramid or subsistence markets. Two strategies are examined through comparative analysis: market extension and strategic intent. Using two commercial bank's micro-lending business strategies in Sri Lanka, a comparative case study suggests that strategic intent is motivated by building capabilities over time that results in successful poverty alleviation, whereas market expansion is motivated by an immediate desire to expand overall sales revenue. This conclusion may help reframe subsistence market or BoP arguments away from such false choices as appropriate size (e.g., multinational corporations versus small and medium size enterprises) toward more useful discussion on understanding why firms participate in subsistence markets and what is the motivation behind their strategic choice. By considering more than just size and scope and studying the motivations behind long-term solutions to poverty alleviation, firm success can be better understood and achieved.     

Marketing to subsistence consumers: Lessons from practice

Over 4 billion people live in what is commonly referred to as the “bottom of the pyramid” or as subsistence marketplaces. These individuals and families live in substandard housing, with limited or no access to sanitation, potable water, and health care, have low levels of literacy, and earn very low incomes. Scholars and practitioners alike suggest that the problems existing in subsistence marketplaces demand the attention and involvement of responsible businesses and that doing business with consumers in such marketplaces can be both socially responsible and profitable. This research explores the strategies and tactics currently being used across commercial and social enterprises engaged in subsistence marketplaces. The analysis leads to recommendations about marketing practices currently used by companies and organizations that are successfully operating in subsistence marketplaces.     

The opportunity not taken: The occupational identity of entrepreneurs in contexts of poverty

Innovative entrepreneurship is an essential but often missing outcome of poverty alleviation efforts. This qualitative study set in rural Ghana explores the occupational identity of entrepreneurs, the institutions that shape it in isolated “island networks”, and how it influences entrepreneurs' practices and decisions. We find that the institutional forces of “collectivism” and “fatalism” feature prominently. Being an entrepreneur in such settings means being a mentor, market link, and community safety net, and the types of opportunities entrepreneurs pursue are largely seen as pre-destined and inherited rather than individually chosen. As a result, the pursuit of innovative opportunities may be significantly limited.     

Subalterns,empowerment and the failed imagination of markets

In our earlier paper, we drew upon Franz Kafka’s literary writings to attend to the repressive sides of the State and markets and their impact on subaltern positions. Moreover, we pointed to some of the key limitations in the theories of the base of the pyramid and subsistence marketplace. In this paper, responding to the commentaries, we clarify some doubts, provide correctives to misinterpretations and further develop the broad theoretical argument we made in our earlier paper. In response to Viswanathan’s commentary, we specifically clarify the role of neoliberal ideology as it impels discourse of subsistence markets. Moreover, as a corrective to Karnani’s reading, we explain the limitations of the State, markets and private enterprises in alleviating poverty in India. Through these clarifications, we ask scholars to attend to systemic features of the current political economy that create poverty and call for an imagination beyond the current capitalist zeitgeist to empower the subaltern.     

Enhancing value creation of device vendors in the medical service industry: a relationship perspective

Around the world, hospitals receiving government funding and insurance payments are under increasing pressure to cut costs. Based on the literature in relationship value and transaction cost economics, long-term relationships between suppliers and customers can be beneficial to cost reduction and value creation. This study explores the value of long-term relationships between medical device vendors and hospitals from the hospital perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted employing a grounded theory approach. The results show that in addition to product benefits/costs and supportive services, vendor reputation and sales personnel specificity are most influential towards the value of their long-term relationships.     

论公允价值准则在应用中存在的问题与对策

新<企业会计准则--基本准则>中对公允价值的定义是:在公平交易中,熟悉情况的交易双方自愿进行资产交换或债务清偿的金额.按照国际会计准则的定义,公允价值是指熟悉情况并自愿的双方,在公平交易的基础上进行资产交换或债务结算的金额.     

租金视角下供应链竞合的价值创造途径

供应链成员关系的本质是竞争与合作并存,其目的是价值创造,不同内涵的租的创造与保持构成了供应链价值创造活动的主要内容和目的.文章运用租金理论分析了供应链‘价值创造的途径,提出供应链是通过构筑进入壁垒获取张伯伦租、通过知识传递与知识创造获取熊彼特租、通过培育核心资源获取理查德租以及通过资源的互补效应与集束效应获取准租来进行价值创造的,而这种价值创造是通过竞争与合作共同实现的.     

Resources and governance in “base of the pyramid”-partnerships: Assessing collaborations between businesses and non-business actors

Identifying, building, and maintaining partnerships with non-business actors are crucial challenges for multinational companies (MNCs) when implementing Base of the Pyramid (BoP) projects. Using a multiple-case study we analyze such partnerships through the lens of the relational view, focusing on resources generating inter-organizational value and on mechanisms for governing the partnerships. The cross-case analysis suggests that proficiency in identifying appropriate partners featuring non-tangible synergy-sensitive resources is vital for BoP ventures. MNCs compensate for their lack of local knowledge, contacts, and legitimacy by recruiting non-business actors for this consultancy and brokering function. Once a suitable network of partners has been identified, these resources need to be explored and exploited by developing personal relationships, communication routines, common goals, and partner-specific capacity building. Synergy-sensitive resources facilitate performance and long-term maintenance of BoP partnerships by establishing well-adapted and well-informed management practice and by creating a lock-in that works as an informal self-enforcing governance mechanism.     

Value Creation from Intellectual Capital: Convergence of Knowledge Management and Collaboration in the Intellectual Bandwidth Model

Current efforts in managing knowledge have concentrated on creating, sharing and storing knowledge while business problems require the combined use of these intellectual resources to enable organizations to provide innovative and customized services. The Intellectual Bandwidth model posits that an organization's potential to create value is determined by its intellectual assets and collaboration capabilities. While this is a potentially powerful assertion, the model does not explain the relationship between knowledge management and collaboration. This paper argues that knowledge management and collaboration have common, mutually interdependent purposes and practices. It demonstrates this interdependence, by mapping collaboration processes to knowledge management activities. Following an analysis of the relationship between knowledge management activities and collaboration, this paper concludes with implications for the use of collaboration technologies for increasing the potential of an organization to create value.     

The Business of Business is the Human Person: Lessons from the Catholic Social Tradition

I describe an ethic for business administration based on the social tradition of the Catholic Church. I find that much current thinking about business falters for its conceit of truth. Abstractions such as the shareholder-value model contain truth – namely, that business is an economic enterprise to manage for the wealth of its owners. But, as in all abstractions, this truth comes at the expense of falsehood – namely, that persons are assets to deploy on behalf of owners. This last is “wrong” in both senses of the word – it is factually wrong in that persons are far more than business assets, they are supernatural beings, children of God; and it is morally wrong in that it is an injustice to treat them as the former when they are the latter. I draw upon the social tradition of the Catholic Church to recognize that the business of business is not business, but is instead the human person. Following Church teachings, I describe a person-centered ethic of business based upon eight social principles that both correct and enlarge the shareholder-centered ethic of much current business thinking. I discuss implications of this person-centered ethic for business administration.     

It's a secret: Marketing value and the denial of availability

Marketing thrives on secrets, yet surprisingly little formal attention has been paid to how the marketing of secrecy and the secrecy of marketing can play a significant role in contemporary organizations. We draw upon the fields of organizational studies, psychology, and marketing to develop a typology of secrets that reflects their marketing value and their knowledge value. Marketing secrets can have value to the firm (strategic value), to the customer (marketing value), or to both parties. Based on these two dimensions, we identify four different types of marketing secrets: (1) appealing secrets have high strategic value, as well as high marketing value; (2) mythical secrets mean little to the firm but a lot to the customer; (3) plain secrets are critical to the firm but are irrelevant to customers; and (4) weak secrets have neither strategic value nor marketing value. Our typology enables academics to formulate research questions regarding secrecy in marketing, and serves as a guide for practitioners in the construction of strategies that can exploit the strategic value of secrets by ‘romancing’ them, and increase their knowledge value by ‘educating’ the secrets.     

品牌德商:品牌道德诉求的效用

品牌德商的提出把道德价值作为品牌形象的考量尺度,其要旨是企业品牌经营活动应基于正当性、合理性和规范性,并以独特的道德价值主张,通过品牌管理,把品牌的经济效益与社会效益有机结合起来,从而以内生的德性力量不断推进品牌持续发展壮大。基于迄今中国众多品牌的发展现状及社会营销环境,把品牌道德规范及合德行为作为品牌德商提出是可行的也是必要的,它把品牌道德诉求及行为作为一种内在于品牌的道德力量,使企业品牌经营的合德性从监督的被动变为自律的主动,从仅仅满足物质功利欲求擢升至社会精神价值总量的创造。     

内生交易费用:战略联盟价值创造的动力抑或阻力

战略联盟是自利决策主体为获取分工经济性而进行专业化水平交互决策的内生均衡结果.各具内生专业化优势差异的联盟成员相互间信息不对称,引致联盟成员机会主义行为,在战略联盟价值创造双赢的完全分工结构中,联盟成员动态博弈的主要目标就是争夺联盟分工价值创造的好处,由此两方面而产生内生交易费用.战略联盟双方企业的内生专业化优势以及信息不对称,既是分工专业化利益的来源,又是产生内生交易费用而使得联盟均衡合作经济性难以实现帕累托最优的根源.     

价值基础的建构:略论社会主义核心价值观的提炼与表述

核心价值观是一个国家与政党自我认同的密码,也是体现国家软实力的"核心"基因。提炼社会主义核心价值观要做到:弄清文本依据、明确学理基础、尊重实践逻辑、把握价值导向和获得群众认同。据此,可以将社会主义核心价值观表述为:以人为本、公正和谐、天下大同。     

加权值敏感性对信用评价指标的影响——来自我国中小企业板块的检验

中小企业信用评价体系的构建及其信用度量,是世界各国信用体系和信用管理制度建设的重要组成部分。本文运用已有的信用评价体系对中小企业板块进行实证分析,并通过变动加权值来验证评价体系的有效性,发现目前的信用评价体系还是存在不少问题。     

农村社会养老保险制度分析——以北京市大兴区为例

农村社会养老保险能否建立并保持可持续发展,仅仅依靠需求动机是不够的,还需要政府的态度、财政能力、农民的意愿、制度设计的合理性等多方面条件。结合北京市大兴区农村社会养老保险试点方案,对上述问题作了简要分析。农村全面实行社会养老保险制度的时机还不够成熟。从防范老年贫困风险的角度出发,对处于贫困线以下的人群提供最低收入保障,尽快建立农村最低生活保障制度和完善农村社会救助制度是目前大多数农业地区比较理性的选择。     

第二大股东持股的治理效应——基于上市公司的实证分析

本文以763家上市公司2003年的横截面数据为样本,通过考察公司绩效与第二大股东持股之间的经验关系,考察了第二大股东持股的治理功能。通过结合上市公司数据建立一个多元模型来说明第二大股东是如何监督第一大股东、影响公司价值的。研究发现,第二大股东的存在没有显示出积极的治理激励功能及对第一大股东的监督激励作用;在我国目前的制度背景下,相对控股是一种最佳的平衡状态。