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CK Prahala an economist at the University of
Michigan has been one of the leaders of this bottom
up economy movement. He has done research on the
success of ICT augmented programs like such as
e-Choupal in India. We believe
that best practices like this if properly scaled
could be rapidly replicated to other areas. Our
hypothesis and that of the WRI Conference participants
organizers is that if properly organized the world's
low income people can be well-served by a productive
economic partnership with private sector companies,
reducing poverty and making money for companies
at the same time--"doing good and doing well".
The 4 billion people plus people that live in
low income countries generate $1.7 trillion of
income which is equal Germany's GDP. As noted
by the Low income people in underserved communities
represent a source of both innovation for businesses,
as well as the largest untapped consumer market
on the planet. Business engagement with the low
income people serves two critical purposes: it
is a source of growth for business, and a means
for the poor to end economic isolation and expand
opportunities.
Right now affluent markets are maturing as people
are confronted with the reality that they can
only consume so much. According to an interview
with Clayton Christiansen, producing a better
product at a higher margin for a company's best
customers often leads to "overshooting"
and missing huge market opportunities. Disruptive
technologies and approaches are now emerging from
developing world markets. This is causing people
to rethink not only technological innovation and
business models, but the very definition of progress.
For example Bhutan is now challenging the assumption
that more GDP growth is always better. They have
come up with the Gross
Happiness Index as an alternative to GDP.
According to Jim Koch, these huge markets can
foster unconventional thinking and they could
represent the largest business opportunity in
the history of commerce. The approach taken, however,
is conceptualized in a much deeper understanding
of these "new markets" and how the potential
benefits of technology must co-evolve with social
innovation.
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