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The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits (Hardcover)

by C.K. Prahalad (Author) "Turn on your television and you will see calls for money to help the world's 4 billion poor-people who live on far less than $2..." (more)
Key Phrases: Casas Bahia, Patrimonio Hoy, The Fortune (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"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



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

See all Editorial Reviews


Product Details

  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Wharton School Publishing (August 5, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0131467506
  • ISBN-13: 978-0131467507
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #250,788 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #89 in  Books > Professional & Technical > Accounting & Finance > International > Finance > Finance & Investing

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Customer Reviews

64 Reviews
5 star:
 (42)
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 (13)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (64 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
126 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Ruminating at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP), June 12, 2005
"Fortune" is an interesting, inspiring book. The study of poverty eradication gets short shrift in most business schools but this book suggests that a lot of resources and a phalanx of graduate students (since most graduate students claim to be poor, perhaps they empathize better; at least they're cheaper to hire than business faculty) at Wharton and Michigan did a lot of digging for answers. This is a noble cause, well-financed, and maybe these two business schools will support these efforts with a revision to their MBA curricula. While teaching a man to fish is better than giving a man a fish, it is better still to teach a village how to raise fish (or capital, or critical mass, or some other key resource), and that is the fundamental if implicit message and philosophy here. Poor people don't need charity; they need access to and information about the tools of capitalism, and governments and other not-for-profits are not likely to do this as such actions would put them out of business. Read the "Twelve principles of innovation for BOP markets" (pp. 25 - 27) and you'll get the basic Reader's Digest, Harvard Business Review executive summary.

The mendacity of the claim, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you," gets a lot of reinforcement here. Rather than help poor people, an early table (p. 11) shows that the government charges poor people more than rich people for the same water service. And the evidence, much of it discovered by Peru's Hernando De Soto, that governments delight in making entrepreneurship, innovation and capitalism almost a criminal offense, shines right through.

The false conceit exposed here is that governments are not likely to fix poverty, nor are NGOs, the UN, or other alphabetical, "not-for-profit" agencies. Maybe HLL, CEMEX, SMEs or some other, similarly acronymed, profit-seeking organizations will do it. It is not clear that there is a fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, even if there are four billion people (depends, really, on how you define poverty) willing to spend a penny a day on shampoo. There certainly is a profit to be made, but this time it is the poor who stand most to profit from free, global markets.

"Fortune" also has little, nagging problems. Like most empiricists, this book wants to use data as a singular noun. The font is small and flourished, making the text physically difficult to read. There is a cryptic table (exactly what is a `nos' anyway"?), a graph with no labels for the x- and y-axes. The book is awash with acronyms and academic jargon. Some of the bold-faced assertions read like doctoral dissertation hypotheses. Maybe because the book is primarily graduate-student written case studies with a lengthy introduction by the author, there is a tendency to repeat information from previous chapters. Decrying excessive packaging and high transaction costs, the authors also commend single-use purchases on a daily basis, filling land fills with sachets and making shopping a daily chore. If we are going to `microfinance' progress, we might want to start with a store credit for a refillable shampoo bottle (I am pretty sure that Coca-Cola mastered this marketing concept in South America years ago). In case the bookstore browser is unsure as to what the book is about, the book has a title ("The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid"), a subtitle ("Eradicating poverty through profits" and a sub-subtitle ("Enabling dignity and choice through markets"). And the dust cover blurbs from Bill Gates, Madeleine Albright, and similar `names' are a bit hyperbolic.

David Landes ("The wealth and poverty of nations") did a better job of explaining the cultural and legal system changes needed to make transactions easier for the customers. TGO (I'll let you look it up) means we have to have a government that assists wealth creation rather than simply tax, block, or prohibit progress out of poverty by people.
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101 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Hardcover and tradepaperback are different!!!, April 13, 2007
By J. Davis (Stanford CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Here is a note I sent to the editor after buying the tradepaperback version.

Your editorial staff has done something so dumb I am astounded! (Also really $%^& mad.) The hardcover and trade paperback versions of CK Prahalad - The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, are NOT the same. I assigned readings from this book to my class of 100 students. They went and bought the book and found that the case studies aren't there. On closer investigation I see that you shortened the case studies and renamed the chapters. Unfortunately the editing on the shortening is terrible and I simply can't ask my students to read such badly written material.

You did several things wrong
1) You sell two books with identical titles and covers, which have different content
2) You edited very very badly
3) You did this on an award winning book with high visibility

As far as I can tell there is no way for anyone to figure out that the content is different except in the very rare case that they own both versions.

This is a black mark on the Wharton name. What were you thinking?

-james
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110 of 119 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day..., January 31, 2005
By Christian Hunter "Christian hunter" (Austin, TX and Santa Barbara, CA,) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
...Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime". A famous Biblical quote, one that resonated with me strongly, and profoundly influenced my thinking on international aid, but more broadly, the problem of poverty, and the reticence of Capitalism in addressing it.

I'm a strong believer in capitalism, this wonderful book reinforced my belief in that system. It did so by showing how world poverty and consistently non-functional economies aren't because of capitalism, but for lack of capitalist attention.

Times have changed, technology and it's rapidly increasing efficacy in efficient delivery of products and services, necessitates that we change our attitude about heretofore neglected markets, and the nearly 5 billion people in them. "Inclusive Capitalism" as the author calls it.

Rich with important concepts like "Installment Sales" (which address the needs and constraints of low-income consumers), this book is a virtual blueprint for companies, as well as entreprenuers, who are interested in serving low-income consumers around the world.

The hardcover book also contains a CD. I usually skip viewing those, but I'm glad I didn't in this instance. Prahalad gives the introduction, then roughly a dozen case studies follow. From Appliance sales companies in Brazil, to a Cement company in Mexico; seeing the passion on the faces of their customers, how the companies have changed their lives, it is incredibly touching. You aren't watching customers, you're watching "evangalists" that would make your most devout American iPod fan seem like an unsatisfied customer.

I recommend this book highly.

Enjoy,

Christian Hunter
Santa Barbara, California
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars an interesting idea
Prahalad suggests the very interesting marketing idea that the bottom of the pyramid can be a symbiotic source of wealth. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Erica A. Shirts

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Profit by Helping those Less Fortunate
With endorsements by Bill Gates, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright, the CEO of VISA Inernational, and One-Minute Manager co-author Ken Blanchard, this book sets up... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Shel Horowitz

5.0 out of 5 stars Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found the information eye-opening. I was thrilled to read about so many creative and resourceful people (actual case studies) who are truly... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Linda McCabe

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking at Ethical Profits from the Global Poor
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. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Gunjan Bagla

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and insightful read, not just for business people
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. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Bernardo Margulis

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for any serious business person
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.
Published 15 months ago by Paul R. Murphy IV

2.0 out of 5 stars Suspicious
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... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Ronald E. Purser

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good book on the forgotten people of the world
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... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Rafael Isas Romero

4.0 out of 5 stars Saving the World
The author loves his TLA's (3 letter acronyms)! I wish someone had told me how technical this book was; those with an MBA will get the most out of it. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Doretta M. Johnson

3.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and anecdotal evidence is not proof
Last year this book became a best seller hit among the developmental community at Washington, D.C., to the point that all bookstores at Metro DC run out of it. Read more
Published on June 24, 2007 by Emc2

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The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits

In an increasingly turbulent world and fast-changing business environment, businesses and policy makers seek a trusted source for new ideas to grow and manage performance. Wharton School Publishing authors are thought leaders who provide a deep understanding ...

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Created on Nov 24, 2005, last edited on Nov 24, 2005.

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