Pablo was kind enough to forward me the latest issue of A Closer Look, Aspen Institute's monthly briefing on the latest in MBA education. This month's topic is BOP in the classroom -- check out the PDF, which is posted online via Aspen's Business and Society Program.It's a well-done issue, featuring short interviews with Stuart Hart and Aneel Karnani as well as descriptions of actual BOP classes offered throughout the world. To me, it's interesting to read about BOP courses offered at Stellenbosch (in South Africa), San Francisco State, Vanderbilt, and Thunderbird -- usually I read more about the BOP programs at Cornell and Michigan.
Kudos to Aspen for a job well done on this issue of A Closer Look. If I have one complaint (and I'm bound to), it's that they didn't refer to The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid report and specifically, the new data that were introduced back in March (Aspen claims that the BOP market is worth $14 trillion annually, when it's actually more like $5 trillion). On the other hand, it asks some tough questions, such as whether civil society is strong enough in some BOP communities to rebuff the introduction of inappropriate products.
Check it out, and thanks again to Pablo for pointing me towards this.
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Economics & Management in Developing Countries Compares the effectiveness of aid and other efforts at fighting poverty in developing countries, then moves into the role of business, introducing BoP models and case studies.
Business in the Social Sector Examines the role of innovative business models in tackling social problems including BoP.
International Development Field Project On-site consulting projects for BoP businesses in developing countries, usually focused on scaling up or making the business sustainable. One current project is the Danone/Grameen Bank yogurt in Bangladesh.
The largest student club at INSEAD is INDEVOR (an affiliate chapter of Net Impact), which focuses on these and other issues. And the school is in the process of launching a new Social Innovation Centre, bringing the various research activities and stakeholders interested in BoP, CSR, etc. They've also published numerous cases with topics covering the BoP of major multi-nationals to local entrepreneurs.