I thank my friends Gautam Ahuja, Gunter Dufey, Pierre Dussauge, Sendil Ethiraj, Rob
Kazanjian, Linda Lim, my wife, Felicia Karnani, and two anonymous reviewers for their
constructive comments that improved the logic and smoothed the rough edges of earlier
versions of the paper, and absolve them of any responsibility for the views presented
here.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage
How the private sector can help alleviate poverty
Abstract
The popular ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (BOP) proposition argues that large companies can
make a fortune by selling to poor people and simultaneously help eradicate poverty.
While a few market opportunities do exist, the market at the BOP is generally too small
monetarily to be very profitable for most multinationals. At the same time, the private
sector can play a key role in poverty alleviation by viewing the poor as producers, and
emphasize buying from them, rather than selling to them.
Widespread poverty is an economic, social, political and moral problem. Eradicating, or
at least alleviating, poverty is an urgent challenge. For many decades, various institutions
have tried to address this challenge: local governments, developed country governments,
international organizations (such as the World Bank and the United Nations), aid
foundations and non-governmental organizations. So far, the intellectual discourse has
been largely in the fields of public policy and development economics.
More recently, management experts and business schools have entered this arena.
CK Prahalad has been one of the pioneers of this movement, and he is certainly the most
visible and prolific writer in this field. Thus, we focus on his 2004 book as the most
visible work incorporating the ideas about ‘the bottom of the pyramid’ (BOP). The BOP
proposition can be summarized as follows:
- 1. There is much untapped purchasing power at the bottom of the pyramid. Private companies can make significant profits by selling to the poor.
- 2. By selling to the poor, private companies can bring prosperity to the poor, and thus can help eradicate poverty.
- 3. Large multinational companies (MNCs) should play the leading role in this process of selling to the poor.
Thus, Prahalad argues that selling to the poor can simultaneously be profitable and
eradicate poverty. This is, of course, a very appealing proposition and has drawn much
attention from senior managers, large companies and business schools.
The BOP proposition is indeed too good to be true. It is seductively appealing, but it is
riddled with fallacies. There is little glory or fortune at the bottom of the pyramid –
unfortunately, it is (almost) all a mirage. This paper will argue that the BOP proposition
is both logically flawed and inconsistent with the evidence. This analysis has serious
implications for both company strategies and public policy. I will propose an alternative
perspective on how the private sector can help alleviate poverty. Rather than viewing the
poor primarily as consumers, an alternative approach is to focus on the poor as producers
and to emphasize buying from the poor. The only way to alleviate poverty is to raise the
real income of the poor.
Target Market
Poverty is a matter of degrees and involves subjective judgments. Prahalad (2004, p. 4)
uses the criterion of $2 per day at purchasing power parity (PPP) rates in 1990 prices
(equivalent to $3.10 in 2006 prices).1 At this level of poverty, the basic needs of survival
are met, but just barely. I will use the same definition of poverty in this article.2
Prahalad (2004, p.4) states that there are more than 4 billion people with per capita
income below $2 per day at PPP rates.3 The World Bank estimates the number at 2.7
1 PPP exchange rates are used because they take into account the local prices of goods and services not traded internationally.
2 Virtually all discussion of poverty in development economics and public policy uses a poverty line somewhere in between $1 to $2 per day. The Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations use the $1 per day measure (Sachs, 2005).
3 Actually there is much confusion in the BOP field here. Prahalad and Hart (2002) state that there are 4 billion people with per capita income below $1500 per year. Prahalad and Hammond (2002) assert there 5 billion in 2001. Many researchers (for example, Virmani, 2006; Sala-I-Martin, 2006) contend that the World Bank already over-estimates the number of poor people, with some researchers estimating the poor at 600 million (The Economist, 2004). Surprisingly, Prahalad (2004, p.33) even claims that “the poor as a market are 5 billion
strong.”
Prahalad (2004, p. 21) also claims that the BOP potential market is $13 trillion at PPP.
This grossly over-estimates the BOP market size. The average consumption of poor
people is $1.25 per day (The World Bank, 2005). Assuming there are 2.7 billion poor
people, this implies a BOP market size of $1.2 trillion, at PPP in 2002.4 Even this is an
overestimate. From the perspective of a multi-national company from a developed
country, profits will be repatriated at the financial market exchange rates, not at PPP
rates. In that case, the global BOP market is less than $0.3 trillion, compared to the $11
trillion economy in the US alone – making the BOP a difficult place to look for a
fortune.5
are 4 billion people with per capita income below $2000 per year. Prahalad (2004, p.4) states that there are
more than 4 billion people with per capita income below $2 per day. I adopt the $2 per day criterion to be
consistent with the vast previous literature in development economics. How to alleviate poverty depends
on the definition of poverty. People who consume less than $2 per day have very different needs and
priorities than people who consume $2 to $6 per day; adopting the higher poverty line would obscure these
differences.
4 The BOP market is huge in terms of number of consumers, but small monetarily.
5 The number $0.3 trillion is calculated using an approximate average of the ratio of exchange rates to PPP rates for developing countries.
6
No Fortune
Not only is the BOP market quite small, it is unlikely to be very profitable, especially for
a large company. The costs of serving the markets at the bottom of the pyramid can be
very high. The poor are often geographically dispersed (except for the urban poor
concentrated into slums) and culturally heterogeneous. This dispersion of the rural poor
increases distribution and marketing costs and makes it difficult to exploit economies of
scale. Weak infrastructure (transportation, communication, media, and legal) further
increases the cost of doing business. Another factor leading to high costs is the small size
of each transaction.
Poor people are, of course, price sensitive. “Companies assume that poor people spend
only on basic needs like food and shelter.” Prahalad and Hammond (2002) disagree,
stating that “such assumptions reflect a narrow and largely outdated view of the
developing world. …In fact, the poor often do buy ‘luxury’ items.” The poor spend
about 80% of their meager income on food, clothing and fuel alone (Gangopadhyay and
Wadhwa, 2004). This clearly does not leave much room for luxuries!
Companies following the BOP proposition often fail because they overestimate the
purchasing power of poor people and set prices too high. Virtually none of the examples
cited by BOP proponents support the recommendation that companies can make a fortune
by selling to the poor; see Table 1 for an assessment of the nine case studies presented by
Prahalad (2004). Several of the examples that apparently support the BOP proposition
7
involve companies that are profitable by selling to people well above the $2/day poverty
line, although even these consumers seem poor to a Western researcher.
Casas Bahia
The case of Casas Bahia has been cited (Prahalad, 2004, p. 117) as an illustration
supporting the BOP concept. The firm has become a large retailer in Brazil by
“converting the BOP into consumers. … Casas Bahia carries and sells top-quality brands:
Sony, Toshiba, JVC, and Brastemp (Whirlpool). There is a misconception that because
customers are poor they do not desire quality products” (Prahalad, 2004, page 131).
Now, it is undeniably true that poor people desire quality products; the problem is that
they can not afford such products. As mentioned earlier, Prahalad defines the BOP to be
income below $2 per day. But, he also states that the Casas Bahia customers have an
“average monthly income twice the minimum wage (R$400)”, that is equivalent to
income of $800 per month at PPP (Prahalad, 2004, p. 119). Even assuming only one
earner per household and four people in a household, this implies per capita income of
$6.66 per day, well above the $2 per day poverty line.6 The company is a big, profitable
retailer but it has little to do with the BOP proposition if the poverty line is defined as
Prahalad does.
Iodized Salt
Iodized salt is an effective and inexpensive way to prevent iodine deficiency, especially
in developing countries. Iodine deficiency is a leading cause of mental disorders; it also
6 Elsewhere, Prahalad (2004, p. 119) also states that Casas Bahia customers have a family income of above
R$2,000 per month, which would imply a per capita income of above $16.66 per day.
8
adversely affects the entire body, and causes growth retardation. A problem is that some
of the iodine in salt is lost in the process of storage, transportation and cooking.
Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), the Indian subsidiary of Unilever, has developed a
proprietary micro-encapsulation technology to stabilize the iodine content in salt.
Prahalad (2004) cites the case of Annapurna salt marketed to the bottom of the pyramid
by HLL.
But, the fact is that the penetration of Annapurna salt among the poor is miniscule.7
Annapurna salt is priced at Rs. 7.5/kg (equivalent to $0.85/kg at PPP), the same as the
market leader Tata salt; whereas numerous small regional producers sell iodized salt at
Rs. 2/kg (Prahalad, 2004, page 181). At a price premium of 275%, not too many poor
people see it as a bargain. Annapurna may be a profitable business based on a good
product embodying a valuable technology, but it is not an example supporting the BOP
proposition.
Coca-Cola
Balakrishna and Sidharth (2004) applauded Coca Cola in India for launching in 2003 its
low-price, affordability strategy, which hinged on raising the overall consumer base by
offering carbonated soft drinks in smaller pack sizes of 200 ml at Rs. 5, which is
equivalent to $0.57 (at PPP). People living on less than $2/day do not find this to be
‘affordable’. Coca Cola’s BOP initiative is certainly not helping the poor. Nor is it
7 The branded salt market in India accounts for only 20-30% of the total market; the rest of the market is
served by the unorganized sector. Annapurna is the second largest with a market share of 35% of the
branded sector, which implies a share of 7-10% of the total market. Given the price premium of the
branded salt, it is unlikely that many poor people buy branded salt.
9
helping Coca Cola. Facing declining profits, the company reversed this low-price
strategy in August 2004 (Bhattacharya, 2005).
Ice Cream
“Amul, a large Indian dairy cooperative, found an instant market in 2001 when it
introduced ice cream, a luxury in tropical India, at affordable prices (2 cents per serving).
Poor people want to buy their children ice cream every bit as much as middle-class
families, but before Amul targeted the poor as consumers, they lacked that option”
(Hammond and Prahalad, 2004). Actually, according to Amul’s website in 2006, their
cheapest ice cream sells for Rs. 5 – equivalent to $0.57 (at PPP) for a 50ml serving (a
rather small serving). Not too many poor people living on less than $2 per day will find
this ice cream a bargain.
Till Amul entered the Indian ice cream market in 2001, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL)
was the largest firm in this market. Prahalad and Hart (2002) commend HLL for radical
innovation that allows ice cream to be transported across the country cheaply in nonrefrigerated
trucks, and thus reach the BOP market. The reality is that in 2002 HLL
decided to compete on differentiation rather than on price, and narrowed its focus to six
cities only (Kamath, 2002; Bhattacharya, 2004). After this change in strategy towards the
very top of the pyramid, HLL made a profit in the ice cream business for the first time
ever.
Table 1. Assessment of case studies presented in Prahalad’s (2004) book
Case Study Product/service Target Market Profitablity
Organization
Type
Casas Bahia Retailer of electronics,
appliances and furniture.
Provides financial credit
to customers.
Above $6/day, and
maybe even above
$16/day, at PPP.
(see discussion in this
article)
Very profitable Large Brazilian
company
Cemex
Patrimonio
Hoy
Cement. Patrimonio
Hoy program provides
credit to customers.
Above US$5/day
(equivalent to $7/day at
PPP)
(Prahalad, 2004, p. 153)
“Not as high as for
Cemex corporate”.
“Too early to use
profits as measure of
success”
(Prahalad, 2004, p.162)
Large MNC
Annapurna
Salt
Iodized salt Above BOP. Sells at a
price premium of 275%.
No data. Probably
profitable.
Large MNC
HLL & Soap
Market
Soap BOP No data on HLL’s
profits from this
project. Government
and civil society
scaling back their
involvement (Prahalad,
2004, p. 219)
MNC partnering
with government
and civil society
Jaipur Foot Prosthetic foot BOP Not profitable by
design.
Not-for-profit
Aravind Eye
Care System
Eye care and surgery BOP and more affluent
people
Financially selfsupporting.
More
affluent customers
cross-subsidize the
BOP customers.
Not-for-profit
11
Case Study Product/service Target Market Profitablity
Organization
Type
ICICI and
microfinance
Microfinance BOP. But it is debatable
whether microcredit
significantly helps
alleviate poverty (see
discussion in this
article).
No data on ICICI’s
microfinance business.
Most microfinance
organizations are not
profitable.
Large Indian
company
partnering with
NGOs
e-Choupal Procurement of
soybeans
BOP. No data in Prahalad
(2004). Not yet
profitable, according to
CEO of parent
company
(The Hindu, 2006).
Division of a large
Indian company
Voxiva Surveillance of
emerging public health
crisis.
Clients are government
and large public health
organizations in both
rich and poor countries.
No data. Probably
profitable.
Small private
company; capital
raised about $10
million.
(Prahalad, 2004,
p.364)
Single Serve Revolution: A Dud
The single most mentioned example in the BOP literature is shampoo sold in sachets to
the poor (Prahalad, 2004, p. 16). 'A single-serve revolution' is sweeping through poor
countries, as companies learn to sell small packets of various products such as shampoo,
ketchup, tea, coffee, biscuits, and skin cream. It is interesting to note that the pioneer of
this revolution was CavinKare, an Indian start-up firm which first introduced shampoo in
sachets in 1983, and not MNCs such as Unilever and P&G with their technological and
marketing prowess. “A rapidly evolving approach to encouraging consumption and
choice at the BOP is to make unit packages that are small and, therefore, affordable”
(Prahalad, 2004, page 16).
This claim of ‘affordability’ is a fallacy. Companies might prefer to sell small packages
at lower profit margins to encourage trial and brand sampling. The poor might prefer
small packages because of convenience and managing cash flow. The poor find it
difficult to save money due to lack of security and lack of banking services. The poor
might not have the money to buy a bottle of shampoo, but could buy shampoo sachets for
occasional use. This option does create value for the poor, and can thus lead to increased
consumption. Small packages also increase consumption by facilitating impulse buying.
It is common for paanwallas (small kiosks selling tobacco and other sundry products) in
India to sell single cigarettes resulting in increased consumption. In Malaysia, ‘samsu’
(the generic name for cheap liquor) is sold in small bottles of 150ml. Another possibility
is a customer might be ‘fooled’ into thinking a lower price for a smaller package makes it
truly cheaper.8
Even though small packages create value by increasing convenience and helping manage
cash flow, they do not increase ‘affordability’. The only way to increase real
affordability is to reduce the price per use. By the BOP logic, an easy way to solve the
problems of hunger and malnutrition would be to sell food in smaller packages thus
making it more affordable to the poor! HLL sells Annapurna salt in a small package size
to target the BOP market, but at exactly the same price per kilogram as larger packages.
(Recall that Annapurna salt sells at a 275% price premium to unbranded salt.) It is not
surprising that small packages of Annapurna “have been slow to penetrate mass markets;
however, they have been successful in surprise niche markets such as college students
living in hostels” (Prahalad, 2004, page 186).
Prahalad (2004, page 57) recognizes the negative impact of the proliferation of single
serve packages on the environment. He then optimistically dismisses the problem by
arguing that MNCs have both the incentives and resources to solve the environmental
problem. But, it has been over twenty years since the first introduction of shampoo in
sachets, and companies have not yet solved the environmental problem caused by plastic
packaging. This problem is exacerbated in poor villages and slums where trash collection
facilities are grossly inadequate. 8 This is the reason why supermarkets in the USA are required to display per unit price in addition to price
per package.
14
Financing schemes
“More BOP consumers in Brazil are able to buy appliances through Casas Bahia because
the firm provides credit even for consumers with low and unpredictable income streams.
… Casas Bahia is able to provide access to high-quality appliances to consumers who
could not otherwise afford them” (Prahalad, 2004, page 17). The BOP proposition again
falls prey to a fallacy: providing credit does not change the affordability of a product,
even though it does provide some other value to the poor. The finance term for Casas
Bahia ranges from four months to one year, with an average of six months. The customer
can choose between saving money for six months and buying the appliance later, or
buying now and repaying the loan over the next six months. The financing scheme does
provide value: instant gratification; for the privilege of this instant gratification, the
consumer pays an interest rate of over 4% per month. It is true that these customers often
lack access to efficient credit markets; and, the interest rate charged by Casas Bahia is
lower than that of informal money lenders. But, this does not change whether the
customer can really ‘afford’ the appliance, which is a function of the price of the product.
People with “low and unpredictable income” would be well advised to save and pay in
cash; this will enable them to do a better job of comparison shopping too.9 It is not
surprising that many of Casas Bahia’s customers do not understand well how to unbundle
the purchase price and the interest cost and instead focus on the monthly installment
payment (Aparna, 2005).
9 In a similar vein, consumer groups in the USA advise low income people not to buy appliances from ‘rent
to own’ stores (for example, Consumers League of New Jersey, 2006).
15
Role of MNCs
An important element of the BOP proposition is that MNCs should take the lead role in
the BOP initiative to sell to the poor (Prahalad and Hart, 2002). In fact, to the extent that
there are opportunities to sell to the poor, it is usually small to medium sized local
enterprises that are best suited to exploiting these opportunities. Markets for selling to
the poor usually do not involve significant economies of scale. Markets of the rural poor
are often geographically and culturally fragmented; this combined with weak
infrastructure makes it hard to exploit scale economies. Products sold to the poor are
often less complex reducing the scale economies in technology and operations. As
examples, bicycles are less scale intensive than motorcycles; fans are less scale intensive
than air-conditioners; unprocessed food is less scale intensive than processed food.
Products sold to the poor are also usually less marketing and brand intensive, further
reducing scale economies. It is interesting, and not accidental, that in spite of the BOP
emphasis on MNCs, virtually all the examples cited in Prahalad’s (2004) book are fairly
small or local organizations, but not MNCs.
Through their decades of on-the-ground experience in poor countries, MNCs have
probably already realized that there is no fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, or that
they have no competitive advantage here, and thus have avoided major investments in
this illusory market. This may be a good thing, since MNCs might otherwise inhibit the
emergence of local private entrepreneurs who provide economic as well as non-economic
benefits to society (e.g. as community leaders).
16
Harmless Illusion or Dangerous Delusion
I have argued that the BOP market is fairly small (at market exchange rates) and not very
profitable for most big companies. This is not to suggest that there are no success stories
of selling to the poor. But these are isolated instances; for example, see the case of
Nirma detergents, discussed later in this article. Opportunities for profit by selling to the
poor are not nearly as pervasive as the BOP proposition argues. It is interesting to note
that the BOP proposition emphasizes opportunities for significant profits, and yet cites
many ‘supporting’ examples of not-for-profit organizations (see Table 1). If a private
company is motivated not by economic profits, but by social responsibility, then of
course there are many opportunities for marketing to the poor. Yet, Prahalad (2004, p.6)
explicitly rejects corporate social responsibility as the basis for BOP initiatives.
The BOP proposition is based on a mirage. There is no fortune to be made by selling to
the poor. Even if the BOP proposition is an illusion, we should perhaps try the solution
given the high stakes involved. Or, is it true that the BOP proposition can hurt the very
people it is trying to help? In that case the BOP proposition is actually a dangerous
delusion. Which is it: a harmless illusion or a dangerous delusion?
17
Exploitation of the Poor
The BOP proposition suggests that the consumption choices available to the poor can be
increased by targeting various products and services, such as shampoo, iodized salt and
televisions, at the BOP. Holding the poor consumer’s nominal income constant, the
only way he can purchase the newly available product is to divert expenditure from some
other product. Still, this increased choice will increase his welfare, assuming he is a
rational and well-informed consumer. However, as a practical matter, this increase in
choice is unlikely to result in a significant change in his poverty situation. A poor person
is far more constrained by lack of income than by lack of variety of goods and services
offered in the market.
Additionally, if for some reason, the poor consumer is deceived by marketing or is poorly
informed, the BOP initiative might even reduce his welfare. The BOP initiative could
result in the poor spending money on products such as televisions and shampoo that
would have been better spent on higher priority needs such as nutrition and education and
health. Prahalad dismisses such arguments as patronizing and arrogant; how can
anybody else decide what is best for the poor? He argues that the poor have the right to
determine how they spend their limited income and are in fact value-conscious
consumers; the poor themselves are the best judge of how to maximize their utility. This
is free market ideology taken to an extreme, and is a potentially dangerous aspect of the
BOP proposition.
18
The poor are vulnerable by virtue of lack of education (often they are illiterate), lack of
information, and economic, cultural and social deprivations. A person’s preferences are
malleable and shaped by his background and experience. We need to look beyond the
expressed preferences and focus on people’s capabilities to choose the lives they have
reason to value. Amartya Sen (2000, page 63), the Nobel Prize economist, eloquently
states:
“The deprived people tend to come to terms with their deprivation because of the
sheer necessity of survival, and they may, as a result, lack the courage to demand
any radical change, and may even adjust their desires and expectations to what
they unambitiously see as feasible. The mental metric of pleasure or desire is just
too malleable to be a firm guide to deprivation and disadvantage. … Social and
economic factors such as basic education, elementary health care, and secure
employment are important not only in their own right, but also for the role they
can play in giving people opportunity to approach the world with courage and
freedom.”
There are very few micro-level studies on the purchasing behavior of the poor. In an
excellent survey on the choices the poor make, Banerjee and Duflo (2006) show that the
poor “could easily save more without getting less nutrition by spending less on alcohol,
tobacco, and food items such as sugar, spice and tea.” The data suggest that the poor lack
self-control, yield to temptation, and spend to keep up with their neighbors. In this they
are no different than people with more money, but the consequences of bad choices are
19
more severe for the poor. Efroymson and Ahmed (2001) tell a moving, but not
uncommon, story of Hasan, a rickshaw puller, who spends $0.20/day on tobacco. When
asked if his three children ever eat eggs, he exclaimed, “Eggs? Where will the money
come from to buy them?” Yet, if Hasan didn’t buy tobacco, each of his children could
eat an egg a day, or other nutritious foods, and be healthier as a result. For more affluent
people the consequences of smoking are not as bleak as children’s malnutrition.
We should not romanticize the poor as ‘value conscious consumers’ (Prahalad, 2004,
p.1). The problem is that the poor often make choices that are not in their own self
interest. We examine below the consumption choices of the poor in the context of two
products: alcohol and whitening cream.
Poverty and Alcohol
Alcohol consumption is a financial drain for the poor. The poor in India spend about 3%
of their household income on alcohol and tobacco (Gangopadhyay and Wadhwa, 2004).
Baklien and Samarasinghe (2004) in their in-depth field study find that “over 10 % of
male respondents report spending as much as (or more than!) their regular income on
alcohol.” Sadly, the poorer people spend a greater fraction of their income on alcohol
than the less poor. Aside from the direct financial cost, alcohol abuse imposes other
economic and social costs such as diminished work performance, health, accidents,
domestic violence and child neglect. There is much evidence showing that alcohol abuse
exacerbates poverty.
20
Should the poor have the right to consume, and even abuse, alcohol? Yes. Is it in their
self interest to do so? Undoubtedly, no – at least at the levels many drink. Should
companies have the right to profit from sale of alcohol to the poor? Yes, but even in rich,
capitalist economies the governments put some constraints on this right, such as ‘sin
taxes,’ restrictions on advertising, and sale to minors. Yet, legal and social mechanisms
for consumer protection are often very weak in developing countries, and even more so
with regard to poor people.
Whitening Cream10
Hammond and Prahalad (2004) cite the example of a poor sweeper woman who
expressed pride in being able to use a fashion product, Fair & Lovely, a skin cream
marketed by Unilever. “She has a choice and feels empowered.”
One TV advertisement for Fair & Lovely aired in India “showed a young, dark-skinned
girl’s father lamenting he had no son to provide for him, as his daughter’s salary was not
high enough – the suggestion being that she could not get a better job or get married
because of her dark skin. The girl then uses the cream, becomes fairer, and gets a betterpaid
job as an air hostess – and makes her father happy” (BBC News, 2003). The All
India Democratic Women’s Association campaigned against this and another
advertisement as being racist, discriminatory, and an affront to women’s dignity. This
campaign culminated in the Indian government banning two Fair & Lovely
advertisements. Ravi Shankar Prasad, India’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting,
10 For a longer discussion of this topic, see Karnani (2007).
21
said “Fair & Lovely cannot be supported because the advertising is demeaning to women
and women’s movement” (The Economic Times, 2003).
Indian society, like many others, unfortunately suffers from racist and sexist prejudices.
This leads many women to use skin lightening products, sometimes with negative health
side-effects (Browne, 2004). Hammond and Prahalad (2004) argue that the poor woman
“has a choice and feels empowered because of an affordable consumer product
formulated for her needs.” This is no empowerment! At best, it is an illusion; at worst, it
serves to entrench her disempowerment. Women’s movements in countries from India to
Malaysia to Egypt obviously do not agree with Hammond and Prahalad, and have
campaigned against these products. The way to truly empower a woman is to make her
less poor, financially independent, and better educated; we need social and cultural
changes that eliminate the prejudices that are the cause of her deprivations.
Should women have the right to buy Fair & Lovely? Yes. Should Unilever have the
right to make profits by selling these products? Yes; Unilever after all did not create the
prejudices that feed the demand for this product. Yet, it is likely that the company helps
to sustain these prejudices, however unwittingly. In any case, we should impose some
constraints on this right in terms of truth in advertising, full disclosure of ingredients in
the product and its potential side effects. Even in rich capitalist countries, governments
impose restriction on free markets to protect consumers in various ways, such as
regulations related to labeling disclosure, truth in advertising, and marketing to minors.
Consumer movements are active in areas where there are no legal restrictions, such as the
22
recent pressure on McDonald’s to introduce healthful meals. Such consumer protection,
both legal and social, is inadequate in the developing countries. This is even truer in the
context of selling to the poor, who often lack the information and education needed to
make well informed choices.
The BOP proposition is not satisfied with just giving the company the right to sell skin
lightening cream. It goes further and commends the company for empowering women
and helping eradicate poverty. This position is morally problematic.
Raise Income
Not only is there no fortune, there is not even glory at the bottom of the pyramid. It is a
fallacy to claim that there is much ‘untapped’ purchasing power at the BOP. The poor, in
fact, obviously consume most of what they earn, and as a consequence have a low
savings rate. Contrary to the BOP argument, getting the poor to consume more will not
solve their problem. Their problem is that they cannot afford to consume more.
The only way to help the poor and alleviate poverty is to raise the real income of the
poor. There are only two ways to do this: 1) lower prices of the goods that the poor buy,
which will in effect raise their income, and 2) raise the income that the poor earn.
23
Lower Prices
One way to alleviate poverty is to reduce the prices of the goods and services the poor
buy (or would buy), thus increasing their effective income. To have a significant impact
on the purchasing behavior of the poor, the BOP proposition calls for price reductions of
over 90%. This is too ambitious a target and rarely achieved; let us consider instead price
reductions of at least, say, 50%
There are only three ways to reduce prices: 1) reduce profits, 2) reduce costs without
reducing quality, and 3) reduce costs by reducing quality. If it is true that the average
profit margin in a market is well over 50%, we should certainly endeavor to make the
market more efficient and reduce monopoly profits -- resulting in significant price
reduction. Even allowing for the fact that the poor are often subject to local monopolies,
this is a rare situation. Therefore, the only realistic way to reduce price to the consumer
is to reduce cost of the producer. The BOP proposition is adamant that we should not
reduce quality in this process.
Unless all current producers are grossly inefficient, business process redesign will not
reduce cost by over 50% without reducing quality. A significant improvement in
technology could reduce costs dramatically. Good examples of this are found in the areas
of computers, telecommunications and various electronic products. It is difficult to find
examples of such dramatic cost reduction in other product categories. Thus it is not
surprising that the BOP proposition repeatedly uses the same examples. Note that the
24
ultimate impact on the real income of the poor due to these major price reductions is quite
low because the poor spend only a small part of their income on electronic products.
Rather they spend over 80% of their income on food, clothing and fuel – products that
have not benefited from such dramatic technological changes in a long time.11
At times the BOP proposition exaggerates the price reduction achieved, by making
inappropriate comparisons. A frequently cited example in the BOP literature is the
Aravind Eye Care System, a not-for-profit organization in India. It has been claimed
(Prahalad, 2004, page 29) that Aravind has reduced the cost of a cataract operation to $25
to $300 compared to $2,500 to $3,000 in the USA. Aravind is an excellent organization
that has reduced costs through scale economies, specialization and process design. But,
the above comparison exaggerates its achievement. First, to be consistent, Aravind’s
costs should be converted into dollars at PPP rates, not at financial exchange rates
(Prahalad, 2004, page 269). Second, several factors lead to high health care costs in the
USA such as high labor costs for doctors, nurses and paramedics, high administrative
costs due to the third party payment system, and malpractice insurance. Most estimates
suggest medical treatment costs in India are about one-tenth of those in the USA
(Marcelo, 2003). Comparing Aravind’s costs to costs in the USA is irrelevant. For
example, the cost of a haircut in a small Indian town is similarly dramatically lower than
in the USA. This does not imply any breakthrough achievement by the Indian hair salon.
The appropriate comparison is between Aravind and a hospital in India. Private hospitals
in India charge about $350 for cataract surgery (Puri, 2003), which is about what Aravind
11 The ‘Green Revolution’ in the 1940s to 1960s did significantly reduce agricultural costs.
25
charges its patients who are not indigent. It is true that Aravind subsidizes the poor
patients – about 70% of the total patients -- asking them to pay only $30 (and more if
they can afford it). The surgeons and staff work grueling hours for pay comparable to
government hospitals because they are highly dedicated to the cause. Still, retention is a
problem and a quarter of the staff defect annually to better paying jobs in the private
sector (Miller, 2006). Overall, Aravind is clearly more efficient than a typical hospital in
India. All this is not to detract from recognizing Aravind as an innovative organization,
but the BOP proponents exaggerate the price reduction achieved by it.
Cost-quality trade-offs
Contrary to the BOP proposition, it is often necessary to reduce quality in order to reduce
costs; the challenge is to do this in such a way that the cost-quality trade-off is acceptable
to poor consumers. A good example of this logic is the low-price detergent introduced by
Nirma in India. In 1969 Karsanbhai Patel started a small business to sell a cheap
detergent powder he had formulated in his kitchen. The quality of Nirma was clearly
inferior to that of Surf, the product marketed by Hindustan Lever. “Nirma contained no
‘active detergent’, whitener, perfume, or softener. Indeed tests performed on Nirma
confirmed that it was hard on the skin and could cause blisters” (Ahmad and Mead,
2004). Largely because of this Nirma sold at a price about one-third the price of Surf.
Nirma rapidly became a success. In 1977, Surf had a market share of 31 % compared to
12% for Nirma. Ten years later in 1987, the market share of Surf had come down to 7%
while that of Nirma had gone up to 62%. Contrary to the BOP proposition, the poor do
like inexpensive, low-quality products! This is not because they cannot appreciate or do
26
not want good quality. They simply cannot afford the same quality products as the rich;
so, they have a different price-quality trade-off. They are even willing to put up with a
detergent that sometimes causes blisters!
Most often, reducing costs while reducing quality does not require a major technological
advance. Prahalad and Hart (2002) admire the R&D prowess of Unilever to harness
state-of-the-art technology to serve the poor. Yet in this famous example of Nirma, it
was a lone chemist who formulated the product in his kitchen.
Nirma is a perfect example of a win-win situation. The company has created a large
market and made significant profits. The poor are better off now that they can buy an
affordable detergent. In a real sense they are economically better off. We need more
products like Nirma. Unfortunately, examples like Nirma are not common.
Selling inexpensive, low-quality products does not hurt the poor (as long as they
understand any tradeoffs related to safety). Insisting on not lowering the quality actually
hurts the poor by depriving them of a product they could afford and would like to buy.
The BOP proposition argues that selling low quality products to the poor is disrespectful.
Quite the contrary, imposing our price-quality trade-off on the poor is disrespectful of
their preferences. The myth is that low-quality implies terrible, shoddy, or dangerous
products. It is better to think of quality as a relative concept.
27
Quality broadly defined
Garvin (1987) develops a framework for analyzing quality by considering eight
dimensions of quality: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability,
serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality. To further expand on this concept, other
dimensions might be added such as availability, timeliness, convenience, and
customization. The customer takes into account all these dimensions and arrives at a
subjective judgment of the overall quality of the product (or service), and is, by
definition, willing to pay a higher price for a product with higher quality – this is the
price-quality trade-off. Holding technology and firm capabilities constant, it costs more
to produce higher quality products – this is the cost-quality trade-off. To profitably serve
the poor, the firm needs to make the cost-quality trade-off in a manner consistent with the
price-quality trade-off made by the target customer.
The BOP proposition correctly celebrates the ‘shared access’ model as a way to make
products more affordable to the poor. In fact, this successful model follows the costquality
trade-off discussed above, not the avoidance of a trade-off advocated by Prahalad.
A successful business model is for the poor to share or rent products such as cell phones.
The poor, like the rich, would prefer to exclusively own a cell phone; but the poor make a
price-quality trade-off and opt to share a phone.12
12 The rich too make similar trade-offs, witness the growing business of fractional ownership of vacation
homes and private jets.
28
The Poor as Producers
I argue for the need to view the poor primarily as producers, not as consumers. By far the
best way to alleviate poverty is to raise the income of the poor, and to emphasize buying
from the poor rather than selling to the poor. The BOP proposition focuses on the poor
primarily as consumers; it does however sometimes cite examples of organizations that
treat the poor as producers. In discussing solutions to poverty, it is useful to conceptually
separate the role of the poor as consumers and producers.
Free market advocates argue that the best antidote to poverty is economic growth
(Virmani, 2006). There is much evidence linking poverty reduction to economic growth
– the so called ‘trickle down’ effect. But, the trickle down effect may be too little and too
slow. We need to target programs specifically at poverty reduction rather than just wait
for the general growth effect to kick in. The recent political changes – disillusionment
with market liberalization and a drift to the populist left -- in several South American
countries (such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua) support such a direct emphasis on
poverty reduction.
Microcredit
The Nobel Peace Price for 2006 was awarded to the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and its
founder Muhammad Yunus, a pioneer of the microcredit movement. The Nobel
Committee affirmed that microcredit must play 'a major part' in eliminating poverty.
Microfinance has been around for a long time, and there has been much proliferation.
29
The pioneers in the field of microfinance were charitable social organizations that by
intent have been barely profitable, but did seek to be sustainable. More recently, large
banks and insurers have been attracted to this field by the potentially lucrative market;
ICICI Bank, cited by Prahalad (2004) is a good example. The United Nations, having
designated 2005 as the International year of Microcredit, declares on its website,
“currently microentrepreneurs use loans as small as $100 to grow thriving business and,
in turn, provide [for] their families, leading to strong and flourishing local economies”
(United Nations, 2005)
Given this intensity of interest in microcredit and the resources devoted to it, it is
reasonable to ask how profitable it is and whether it is really an effective tool for
eradicating poverty. While some institutions are clearly profitable, industry-wide data is
much less positive. Of 7,000 microfinance institutions, fewer than 100 claim financial
self-sufficiency (Prahalad, 2004, p. 293) – presumably an even smaller fraction is
economically profitable.
Microcredit often yields non-economic benefits for its clients, such as increasing selfesteem
and social cohesion, and empowering women. It also helps the poor smooth
consumption over periods of cyclical or unexpected crisis. But, that is not enough; the
key issue is whether microcredit helps eradicate poverty. The Economist magazine
(2006) concluded that while “heart-warming case studies abound, rigorous empirical
analyses are rare.” In a literature survey, Khawari (2004) concluded that, while the
empirical evidence is mixed, microcredit probably does reduce poverty. Based on a
30
survey of households in Bangladesh, Morduch (1998) concluded that microcredit does
not alleviate (income) poverty, but rather reduces vulnerability by smoothing
consumption. A few studies have even found that micro-credit has worsened poverty;
poor households simply become poorer through the additional burden of debt (Hulme and
Mosley, 1996). However, most studies suggest that microcredit is beneficial but only to a
limited extent (The Economist, 2006). The reality is less attractive than the promise.
Why is microcredit not more effective? The problem lies not with microcredit but rather
with microenterprises. The United Nations’ declaration that microentrepreneurs use
loans to grow thriving businesses leading to flourishing economies is hype. A client of
microcredit is an entrepreneur in the literal sense: she raises the capital, manages the
business and is the residual claimant of the earnings. But, the current usage of the word
‘entrepreneur’ requires more than the literal definition. Entrepreneurship is the engine of
Joseph Schumpeter’s dynamism of ‘creative destruction.’ An entrepreneur is a person of
vision and creativity who converts a new idea into a successful innovation, into a new
business model. Some clients of microcredit are certainly true entrepreneurs, and have
created thriving businesses – these are the heart-warming anecdotes. But the vast
majority of microcredit clients are caught in subsistence activities with no prospect of
competitive advantage. The self-employed poor usually have no specialized skills and
often practice multiple occupations (Banerjee and Duflo, 2006). Many of these
businesses operate at too small a scale. The median business operated by the poor has no
paid staff; most of these businesses have very few assets as well. With low skills, little
capital and no scale economies, these businesses operate in arenas with low entry barriers
31
and too much competition; they have low productivity and lead to meager earnings that
cannot lift their owners out of poverty. There is little evidence to support Prahalad’s
(2004, p.1) assertion that the poor are ‘resilient and creative entrepreneurs.’
This should not be too surprising. Most people do not have the skills, vision, creativity,
and persistence to be true entrepreneurs. Even in developed countries with higher levels
of education and infrastructure, about 90% of the labor force are employees rather than
entrepreneurs.13 Even with greater availability of financial services in developed
countries, only a small fraction has used credit for entrepreneurial purposes. Most clients
of microcredit are not microentrepreneurs by choice and would gladly take a factory job
at reasonable wages if possible. We should not romanticize the poor as ‘creative and
resilient entrepreneurs’. The International Labor Organization (ILO) uses a more
appropriate term: ‘own account workers.’
Employment
Creating opportunities for steady employment at reasonable wages is the best way to
eradicate poverty. There is much empirical evidence showing that “creating decent
employment opportunities is the best way to take people out of poverty. In addition, there
is a strong link between productivity and decent work” (ILO, 2005). In development
economics there is much theoretical and empirical support for the increasing
preponderance of wage labor in a developing economy. It is instructive to look at the
pattern of poverty and employment over time in China, India and Africa (which together
13 LABORSTA Internet database, Available at http://laborsta.ilo.org/, International Labor Organization.
32
account for about three-quarters of the poor in the world) – see Tables 2 and 3, based on
World Bank and ILO data (Majid, 2005)
Table 2. Incidence of poverty
People below $2/day
Late 1980s
People below $2/day
Late 1990s
China 67.4% 50.1%
India 83.2% 78.8%
Africa 76.1% 76.1%
Table 3. Employment pattern
Employment/Population
Late 1980s
Employment/Population
Late 1990s
China 51.0% 58.7%
India 29.5% 35.8%
Africa 33.4% 30.1%
In China, where the incidence of poverty has declined significantly, a large and growing
fraction of the population is employed for wages (as opposed to self-employed or peasant
farmer). In Africa, where the incidence of poverty has remained unchanged, a small and
shrinking fraction of the population is employed. India’s performance lies somewhere in
between China and Africa.14
14 Population control might partially explain China’s better performance relative to Africa and India.
33
India’s efforts at poverty reduction have been hampered by its poor performance in job
creation, even though it has achieved reasonable economic growth. India’s ‘jobless
growth’ is the result of a distorted emphasis on capital intensive and skill intensive
development path (Kochhar, 2006). Capital intensive sectors, such as heavy
manufacturing, and skill intensive sectors, such as information technology, will not solve
India’s poverty problem. As discussed, the trickle down effects of general economic
growth are too little and too slow. India needs to emphasize growth in labor intensive,
low-skill sectors such as light manufacturing, garments and tourism. Seven world-class
Indian Institutes of Technology do not compensate for a 40% illiteracy rate!
Productivity
Many people who have jobs are still stuck below the poverty line – the working poor.
Whether an employee is ‘poor’ or not depends on her wages, size of the household, and
the income of other household members. It is not enough to create jobs; we also have to
increase productivity such that the wages are high enough to enable the employees to rise
above poverty.
Table 4. Working Poor
Working poor/Employment
Late 1980s
Working poor/Employment
Late 1990s
China 79.6% 35.2%
India 75.0% 62.0%
Africa 63.4% 65.4%
34
On this dimension too, India’s performance is mediocre and the situation in Africa is
dismal, as Table 4 indicates (Majid, 2005).15 One cause of this poor growth in
productivity in India is inadequate scale economies in its enterprises. The average firm
size in India is less then one-tenth the comparable size in other emerging economies
(Kochhar, 2006). The emphasis on microcredit will only make this problem worse.
Rather than lending $200 to 500 women so that each can buy a sewing machine and set
up a microenterprise manufacturing garments, it might be much better to lend $100,000
to an entrepreneur with managerial capabilities and business acumen and help her to set
up a garment manufacturing business employing 500 people. Now the business can
exploit economies of scale, deploy specialized assets, and use modern business processes
to generate value for both its owners and employees. Banerjee and Duflo (2006) point
out that microentrepreneurs “do very little to create jobs for others. This of course makes
it harder for anyone to find a job and hence reinforces the proliferation of petty
entrepreneurs.”
There is no magic solution for increasing employment and productivity. Both the private
sector and the government have a role to play here. Small and medium sized enterprises
provide most of the jobs and generate most of the new employment in the development
process. However, in various sectors of the economy, large enterprises are needed to
exploit economies of scale. Companies can focus on growth in labor intensive industries,
and increase labor productivity by achieving scale economies and upgrading the skills of
employees. The profit motive alone is enough to drive companies in this direction.
15 Table 4 defines the poor using the $2/day criterion.
35
Role of Government
Governments need to facilitate the creation and growth of private (small, medium and
large) enterprises in labor intensive sectors of the economy, through appropriate policies
(such as de-regulation), infrastructure (such as transportation), and institutions (such as
capital markets). Lack of good infrastructure results in geographically fragmented
markets and firms that are too small to exploit scale economies. Small and medium sized
enterprises need financing options – both debt and equity -- in the range of $10,000 to $1
million that are almost non-existent in developing countries (Shell Foundation, 2005).
Reforms to improve the efficiency of capital markets will enable many more local
entrepreneurs to create jobs that employ the poor.
Poverty cannot be defined only in economic terms; it is about a much broader set of
needs that permit well being. Development can be seen as a “process of expanding the
real freedoms that people enjoy” (Sen, 2000, p. 3). 'The point is not the irrelevance of
economic variables such as personal incomes, but their severe inadequacy in measuring
many of the causal influences on the quality of life and survival chances of people'. The
BOP proposition focuses on companies, marketing and prosperity; it sees the social,
cultural and political benefits at best as by-products of economic gains. In contrast, I
think that social, cultural and political freedoms are desirable in and of themselves, and
also enablers of individual income growth. We should emphasize the role of the
government and public policy in cultivating and safeguarding these other (non-economic)
freedoms.
36
Virmani (2006) concedes that the improvement in social indicators in India has not kept
pace with economic growth and poverty decline. This is the result of government failure
to “fulfill the traditional, accepted functions of the government like public safety and
security, universal literacy and primary education, public health education, provision of
drinkable water, sanitation drains and sewage facilities, public health (infectious and
epidemic diseases), building road, and creating and disseminating agricultural
technology.” These functions have a direct and significant impact on productivity.
While there has been a distinct shift in political ideology of the world towards an
increasing role of the market (as opposed to the government), providing the above
functions still needs to be in the public domain, especially in the context of helping the
poor. There is much controversy around the issue of privatizing these functions,
especially in countries with ‘failed’ governments (Oxfam, 2006). Even with privatization
it is difficult to eliminate the role of the government. For example, if the water supply is
privatized, the government probably needs to regulate the rates or ensure that the poor
have enough purchasing power to buy water.
Create Efficient Markets
The poor often sell their products and services into inefficient markets and do not capture
the full value of their output. Any attempt to improve the efficiency of these markets will
raise the income of the poor. Amul, a large dairy cooperative in India, is a great example
of this approach.16 Amul collects milk from over 2 million farmers twice a day from
100,000 villages. It started by selling milk, but has since forward integrated into more
37
value added products such as butter, milk powder, cheese, ice cream, and pizza. It has
even entered direct retailing through franchising parlors. Amul is owned by the poor (it
is a cooperative), and buys from the poor (the farmers, who are its members); however,
its customers are mostly from the middle and upper income groups, and export markets.
Another example along similar lines is e-Choupal, an initiative of ITC in India (Prahalad,
2004). Based on an innovative business model, e-Choupal has brought efficiency to the
system for moving soybeans from the individual farmer to oil processing plants. It has
reduced the role of, and the rents captured by middlemen in this process. ITC views the
poor farmers as producers. “Our e-Choupal is fostering inclusive growth and enhancing
the wealth creation capability of marginal farmers” (emphasis added) says Y.C.
Deveshwar, Chairman of ITC (The Hindu, 2006).17
Downside of the BOP Proposition
Even if not intentional, a by-product of the BOP proposition is its de-emphasis of the role
of the state in providing basic services and infrastructure. Actually, the BOP proposition
goes even further. Prahalad is quoted as saying “if people have no sewage and drinking
water, should we also deny them televisions and cell phones? … It is absolutely possible
to do well while doing good” (Time, 2005). The poor surely have a right to buy
televisions; the issue is whether it is in their self interest to buy televisions. Prahalad and
Hammond (2002) argue that the poor accept that access to running water is not a
16 See Amul’s website http://www.amul.com/ . Also see Chandra (2005).
17 E-Choupal is being extended to include supermarkets, which views the farmers also as consumers.
38
“realistic option” and therefore spend their income on things that they can get now that
improve the quality of their lives.
Why do the poor accept that access to running water is not a realistic option? Even if
they do, why should we all accept this bleak view? Instead, we should emphasize the
failure of government and attempt to correct it. Giving a ‘voice’ to the poor is a central
aspect of the development process. That is what the civil society is attempting to do (for
example, Oxfam, 2006). Private companies at a minimum should not drown out the
voice of the poor. For example, it is plausible that sustaining a social movement to
empower women is more difficult in the pervasive presence of sexist advertisements,
such as those for Fair & Lovely. Self-regulation by the private sector might be the
solution.
Prahalad and Hammond (2002) describe the impressive extent of business activity in the
slums of Dharavi (in Mumbai). “The seeds of vibrant commercial sector have been
sown.” But, we should be cautious about celebrating this entrepreneurship too much.
Sharma (2000) in her emotive book about Dharavi states that while enterprise in the
midst of deprivation is to be admired, there is absolutely “nothing to celebrate about
living in a cramped 150 sq. ft. house with no natural light or ventilation, without running
water or sanitation.” The UN-Habitat estimates that in Dharavi there is one public toilet
for every 800 people. This poses a bigger problem for women because of anatomy,
modesty and susceptibility to attack. Televisions are not an adequate substitute for lack
39
of sanitation. Even if we concede that televisions help the poor to escape the burden of
their bleak lives and thus provide some value, how do they help eradicate poverty?
To solve the problem of poverty, we need to go beyond increasing the income of the
poor; we need to improve their capabilities and freedoms along social, cultural, and
political dimensions as well. The role of the government is critical in some of these
dimensions. By emphatically focusing on the private sector, the BOP proposition
detracts from the imperative to correct the failure of government to fulfill its traditional
and accepted functions such as public safety, basic education, public health, and
infrastructure, all of which increase the productivity and employability of the poor, and
thus their income and well-being.
Beyond the Hype
The BOP proposition is characterized by much hyperbole. The fortune and glory at the
bottom of the pyramid is a mirage. The fallacies of the BOP proposition are exacerbated
by its hubris. Prahalad (2004, page 45) states that all the examples used in his book
challenge the current paradigm. Selling appliances on credit – as does Casas Bahia – is
not even a novel idea, let alone a new paradigm. Microcredit was pioneered by
Muhammad Yunus forty years ago in 1976, long before ICICI bank came along.
The Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations member states target
the halving of extreme poverty in 25 years. Finding this pace too slow, Prahalad (2004,
40
page 112) states “I have no doubt that the elimination of poverty and deprivation is
possible by 2020.” Further, Prahalad and Hammond (2002) assert that the BOP initiative
will not only eradicate poverty, but also cure economic stagnation, deflation,
governmental collapse, civil wars, and terrorism. And all this in 15 years!
Solving the crisis of poverty requires recommendations supported by logical analysis
rooted in data, not exhortations based on unsupported assertions and hyperbole. The poor
deserve no less.
Conclusion
Private companies should try to market to the poor. However, the profit opportunities are
modest at best and I suggest a cautious approach. Large companies that require scale
economies should be even more hesitant. The best opportunities exist when the firm
reduces price significantly by innovatively changing the price-quality trade-off in a
manner acceptable to the poor.
The private sector can help alleviate poverty by focusing on the poor as producers. One
way to do this is to make markets more efficient such that the poor capture more of the
value of their outputs. Certainly the best way for private firms to help eradicate poverty
is to invest in upgrading the skills and productivity of the poor, and to help create more
employment opportunities for them. This is the win-win solution; this is the real fortune
at the bottom of the pyramid.
41
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