Global Poverty:

Business Solutions and Approaches

December 1-3, 2005, Cambridge, MA

The problem of global poverty is ubiquitous and enduring. According to the latest World Bank statistics, nearly half the world’s population (2.8 billion people) are forced to survive on less than $2/day, with 1.2 billion (nearly 20% of the world’s population) living in abject poverty under $1/day. This conference explored what response and contribution business can make to address the problem of global poverty. Recent attention has been drawn to this problem through perspectives offered by Prahalad and Hammond (Serving the World’s Poor Profitably [1], HBR, Sept. 2002), and several others. The conference built on that early momentum by focusing on successful business models, the role of civil society and government, and the ethical and operational challenges faced by businesses who seek out poor customers.

Poverty is a multi-faceted construct, with social, cultural, economic, and political factors at play. So much so that the solution to poverty has to be equally multi-faceted, involving governments, NGOs, bilateral and multi-lateral development institutions. Curiously, the business sector has thus far neither sought a significant role in poverty reduction, nor has it been awarded one. In the past, its contributions have predominantly come under the umbrella of “Corporate Social Responsibility,” an extension of its role as a good corporate citizen. Accordingly, the involvement of the business sector in poverty alleviation has been overwhelmingly driven by a philanthropic rather than a business motive. Nonetheless, there are cases where businesses, while not setting out to address poverty issues, do reach out to the poor as customers and potentially contribute substantially to the solution of the persistent problem of poverty.

Moreover, in recent years, examples have emerged in the business sector that have placed the interaction with the poor, not as a secondary activity, but as one integral to the market potential assessment of a product line, a geographic market, a corporate division or the company itself. By viewing the poor as a direct and tangible element of the business value proposition, we aim to raise the issue of whether the poor can be a profitable part of the definition of business. By extension, we are also interested in what impact this approach has on poverty itself. Can this business and market-based approach be a major catalyst of change in the path out of poverty?

The aim of this conference was to explore whether serving the poor is a viable business proposition. In the process, it tested the premise that increasingly the world’s poverty problem can only be solved if business plays a significant role.

To view a Participant List, please click here [2].

Panel Sessions

Panel 1 - Understanding BOP Markets

Marketing Programs to Reach India's Underserved - Abstract [3] / PowerPoint [4]
Kunal Sinha, Executive Director, Discovery, Ogilvy & Mather India
John Goodman, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather India
Ajay Mookerjee, Executive Director, HBS India Research Center
John Quelch, Professor, Harvard Business School

Microcredit and Poverty Alleviation Strategies for Women: Who are the Customers?
Fauzia Ahmed, Resident Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University

Nestlé’s Milk District Model: Economic Development for a Value-Added Food Chain and Improved Nutrition - Abstract [5]
Ray Goldberg, Professor, Harvard Business School
Kerry Herman, Senior Researcher, Harvard Business School

Patrimonio Hoy: A Groundbreaking Corporate Program to Alleviate Mexico’s Housing Crisis - Abstract [6]
Arthur Segel, Professor, Harvard Business School
Nadeem Meghji, MBA Student, Harvard Business School

Understanding Consumers and Retailers at the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America - Abstract [7] / PowerPoint [8]
Guillermo D'Andrea, Professor, IAE School of Business, Universidad Austral
Gustavo Herrero, Executive Director, Latin America Research Center


Panel 2 - Innovative Solutions

Energizing the Bottom of the Pyramid: Scaling Up Successful Business Models to Achieve Universal Electrification - Abstract [9] / PowerPoint [10]
David Jhirad, Vice President for Science and Research, World Resources Institute
Annie Woollam, Business Research Analyst, World Resources Institute

Incubating Enterprise Solutions for the BOP- PowerPoint [11]
Allen Hammond, VP for Innovation and Special Projects, World Resources Institute

Into the Local: Technology in Support of Local Economic Productivity - Abstract [12]
Tony Salvador, Design Ethnographer, Intel
John W. Sherry, Joydeep Bose, Herman D’Hooge, Louis W. Agatstein, Lawrence Carr, Intel

ITC’s E-Choupal: A Platform Strategy for Rural Transformation - Abstract [13] / Presentation [14]
Ravi Anupindi, Professor, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
S. Sivakumar, CEO, International Business Division, ITC Limited

Photography and Low Income Classes in Brazil: A Case Study of Kodak - Abstract [15]
Paulo Cesar Motta, Professor, IAG Business School, PUC-Rio
Melchior Dikkers, Researcher, IAG Business School, PUC-Rio


Panel 3 - Managing Business at the BOP

Building New Business Value Chains with Low Income Sectors in Latin America - Abstract [16]
James Austin, Gabriel Berger, Cristina Fedato, Rosa Maria Fischer, Francisco Leguizamón, Gerardo Lozano, Patricia Márquez, Andrea Prado, Ezequiel Reficco, Social Enterprise Knowledge Network

Entrepreneurship and Poverty Reduction in South Africa - Abstract [17] / PowerPoint [18]
Frederick Ahwrieng-Obeng, Professor, Wits Business School
Mthuli Ncube, Professor of Finance, University of Witwatersrand

The Complex Business of Serving the Poor: Insights from Unilever’s Project Shakti in India - Abstract [19] / PowerPoint [20]
Kash Rangan, Professor, Harvard Business School
Rohithari Rajan, Market Development Manager, Hindustan Lever Ltd
Dalip Sehgal, Director of New Ventures, Hindustan Lever Ltd

Developing Viable Business Models to Serve Low-Income Consumers: Lessons from the Philippines - Abstract [21]
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, President & CEO, Ayala Corporation
Chris Beshouri, President, McKinsey Philippines
Gerardo Ablaza, Jr., President, Globe Telecom
Antonino Aquino, President, Manila Water Company

MULTIAHORRO: Successful Business Model Innovations to Better Serve BOP Customer Needs for Goods and Services, Profitably - Abstract [22] / PowerPoint [23]
Wilson Jácome, Director of the Advanced Management Program, IDE Business School
Luis E. Loría, Director of the Research Center on Economic Environment & Enterprise, IDE Business School
Luis Reyes, General Director, TIA

When Giants Discover the Disadvantaged: Managerial Challenges and Success Factors in Building Capacity to Serve Underserved Markets - Abstract [24]
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor, Harvard Business School


Panel 4 - Measuring Success at the BOP

Alleviating Global Poverty through Microfinance: Factors and Measures of Financial, Economic and Social Performance - Abstract [25]
Christopher Crane, CEO, Opportunity International
Marc Epstein, Professor, Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University

Economic Returns and Social Value: The Case of Microfinance - Abstract [26]
Michael Chu, Professor, Harvard Business School - PowerPoint [27]

Private Development Banking: Managing the Tensions - Abstract [28]
David Porteous, Principal, Bankable Frontier Associates - PowerPoint [29]
Peter Blom, CEO, Triodos
Ron Grzywinski, Chairman, Shorebank Corporation
Mary Houghton, President, Shorebank Corporation
Jesus Tambunting, Chair & CEO, Plantersbank

Utilities and the Poor: A Story from Colombia - Abstract [30] / PowerPoint [31]
Carlos Rufín, Assistant Professor of Management, Babson College
Luis Fernando Arboleda, Independent


Panel 5 - Civil Society and Social Entrepreneurship

The Expansion of Public Services into Poor Areas: The Case of Piped Gas in Cuartel V – Moreno - Abstract [32]
Marcelo Paladino, Deputy Dean, IAE Business School, Universidad Austral
Lisandro Blas, IAE Business School, Universidad Austral

A Gentler Capitalism: Black Business Leadership in New South Africa - Abstract [33]
Linda Hill, Professor, Harvard Business School
Maria Farkas, Sociology Doctoral Student, University of Michigan

How Social Entrepreneurs Enable Human, Social and Economic Development - Abstract [34] / PowerPoint [35]
Christian Seelos, Researcher, IESE Business School
Johanna Mair, Professor, IESE Business School

Hybrid Value Chains: Social Innovations and the Development of the Small Farmer Irrigation Market in Mexico - Abstract [36] / PowerPoint [37]

Valeria Budinich, Vice President, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Kimberly Manno Reott, Mexico Country Director, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Stephanie Schmidt, Senior Program Manager, Ashoka

Understanding Low-Income Market Business Models: Process Development and Main Components - Abstract [38] / PowerPoint [39]
Joan Enric Ricart, Professor, IESE Business School
Miguel Angel Rodríguez, Lecturer, IESE Business School
Pablo Sánchez, Research Assistant, IESE Business School


Panel 6 - Government Regulation & Public-Private Partnerships

Banking Regulation, Public-Private Collaboration, and Local Leadership: How a Community Development Bank Promotes Local Economic Development in Low-Income Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. - Abstract [40]
Carolyn Welch, Community Affairs Team Leader, Federal Reserve Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - PowerPoint [41]
Ann Scoffier, Vice President for Resource Development, City First Bank of D.C

Fighting AIDS, Fighting Poverty - Abstract [42]
Rohit Deshpandé, Professor, Harvard Business School
Zoe Chance, Doctoral Student, Sloan School of Management, MIT - PowerPoint [43]

Health Services for the Poor in Developing Countries: Private vs. Public vs. Private and Public - Abstract [44]
David Bloom, Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
Tarun Khanna, Professor, Harvard Business School

Houses for the Poor and New Business for Banks: The Creation of a Market for Affordable Housing - Abstract [45]
Doug Guthrie, Professor, Harvard Business School
Michael McQuarrie, New York University

The South African Financial Services Sector Charter - Abstract [46] / Powerpoint [47]
Bruce Scott, Professor, Harvard Business School
Bob Tucker, Director, Standard Bank of South Africa
Tom Mondschean, Professor, DePaul University


Panel 7 - Pre-conditions, Limitations & New Models

Brcko and the Arizona Market - Abstract [48]
Bruce Scott, Professor, Harvard Business School - PowerPoint [49]
William Nash, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention, Council on Foreign Relations

BENEX: Business Effectiveness - the Next Level: Being Served by the Poor, as Partners - Abstract [50] / PowerPoint [51]
Kapil Marwaha, Adjunct Faculty, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
Anil Kulkarni, Professor, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
J. Mukophadyay, Professor, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
S. Sivakumar, CEO, International Business Division, ITC Limited

H&R Block’s Refund Anticipation Loan: A Paradox of Profitability? - Abstract [52] / PowerPoint [53]
David Rose, AVP, Competitive Strategy, H&R Block
Daniel Schneider, Research Associate, Harvard Business School
Peter Tufano, Professor, Harvard Business School

Toward a Base of the Pyramid Protocol - PowerPoint [54]
Stuart Hart, Professor, Cornell University

When is Doing Business with the Poor Good – for the Poor? A Household and National Income Accounting Approach - Abstract [55]
Herman “Dutch” Leonard, Professor, Harvard Business School


Closing Plenary- PowerPoint [56]

Jim Austin, Professor, Harvard Business School
Allen Grossman, Professor, Harvard Business School
Dutch Leonard, Professor, Harvard Business School