i'm sticking with consumers/ customers

_lance durham — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:19:06 -0400

you might call them 'producers', like you might call henry ford a 'producer'.

but, 'producer' denotes a complete lack of relationship with the people of the BOP. only 'customer', 'supplier' and 'competitor' connote any kind of business relationship. but, given their scale, 'supplier' and 'competitor' is rather less likely than 'customer'.

so, you may market products to them because they are 'producers', but their status changes to 'customer' once you build that relationship. and, if you want to engage the BOP, then you have to look toward building a relationship with them - and that means making them a 'customer'.

a 'producer' is somebody out there i've heard about; a 'customer' (or 'potential customer') is someone i want to serve.

Mirage at the BOP? Acumen Fund Weighs In

Rob Katz — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:45:02 -0400

It has been a couple of weeks since Professor Aneel Karnani and Professor C.K. Prahalad debated the best (and worst) ways to serve bottom of the pyramid markets here at NextBillion.net. You may recall that it started when Karnani posted his criticism of Prahalad’s best-selling book; Prahalad responded in-kind. Now the Acumen Fund weighs in on the debate:

NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Mirage at the BOP? Acumen Fund Weighs In - Comments

i'm sticking with consumers/ customers

Mirage at the BOP? Acumen Fund Weighs In