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The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits (Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition) » (Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edit)

Book cover image of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits (Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edition) by C. K. Prahalad

Authors: C. K. Prahalad
ISBN-13: 9780137009275, ISBN-10: 0137009275
Format: Other Format
Publisher: Pearson Prentice Hall
Date Published: October 2009
Edition: Revised and Updated 5th Anniversary Edit

Author Biography: C. K. Prahalad

C.K. Prahalad is Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Strategy at the Ross School of Business, The University of Michigan. He is a globally recognized management thinker. Times of London and Suntop Media elected him as the most influential management thinker alive today in 2007. He is coauthor of bestsellers in management such as Competing for the Future, The Future of Competition, and The New Age of Innovation. He has won the McKinsey Prize for the best article four times. He has received several honorary doctorates, including one from the University of London and the Stevens School of Technology. He has worked with CEOs and senior management at many of the world’s top companies. He is also a member of the Board of NCR Corporation, Pearson PLC., Hindustan Unilever Ltd., The World Resources Institute, and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).

Book Synopsis

“C.K. Prahalad argues that companies must revolutionize how they do business in developing countries if both sides of that economic equation are to prosper. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, his compelling new book offers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability.”

—Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft (2004)

An idea can change the world...

How to serve the world’s poorest people and make a profit
New strategies and tactics for building winning businesses in today’s emerging markets
New bottom of the pyramid trends in technology, healthcare, consumer goods, finance, and beyond
Insights from top CEOs succeeding in emerging markets
New and updated case studies—from Jaipur Rugs’ revolutionary supply chain to Reuters’ data services for farmers

Five years ago, C.K. Prahalad’s The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid showed companies how they could reignite profits and growth by serving the world’s five billion poorest people. Hundreds of firms have successfully taken that path—building large, profitable businesses that are reducing poverty and eliminating human misery at the same time.

Now, Prahalad has updated his extraordinary book to reflect the lessons of the past five years: business-building strategies, techniques, and innovations proven to work in emerging markets. The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: doing well by doing good or doing good by doing well!

Inspired by C.K. Prahalad’s breakthrough insights in the original edition of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, a wide variety of firms are identifying, building, and profiting from new markets among the world’s poorest people—while at the same time helping eliminate poverty and human misery. Five years after this book’s first publication, Prahalad’s ideas are no longer isolated instances of innovations. They are proven, widely practiced “reality.”

In this 5th Anniversary Edition, Prahalad updates his book to give readers a picture of how this idea is being implemented in poor regions around the world.

Prahalad also offers an up-to-the-minute assessment of key questions such as: Is there truly a market? Is there scale? Is there profit? Is there innovation? Is this a global opportunity? Five years ago, executives could be hopeful that the answers to these questions would be positive. Now, as Prahalad demonstrates, they can be certain of it.

Solving the unique problems faced by bottom of pyramid customers
How to make a profit by helping people escape poverty and misery
Breakthrough forms of innovation for emerging markets
From rugs to cellphones, finance to energy, supply chains to state-of-the-art technology
Building new ecosystems for wealth creation
You can’t do it alone—but you can do it together
Scaling up to impact the enterprise—and society
Beyond “micro-businesses” and prototypes: large presence, large wins

The CD included with the book includes video case studies and three bonus PDF case studies. Bonus videos and case studies, in addition to those on the CD, can be found on the book's website, www.whartonsp.com/prahalad.

Preface xiii

Guide to Readers xx

Part I Private Sector and Poverty: Progress During 2004-2009 1

New Introduction: Private Sector and Poverty: Progress During 2004-2009 3

Part II The Original Text of the Book 25

Chapter 1 The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid 27

Chapter 2 Products and Services for the BOP 47

Chapter 3 BOP: A Global Opportunity 73

Chapter 4 The Ecosystem for Wealth Creation 89

Chapter 5 Reducing Corruption: Transaction Governance Capacity 103

Chapter 6 Development as Social Transformation 125

Part III CEO Reactions to the Concept and the Book 141