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Tuesday, October 28, 2008 — No Region Specified

Muhammad Yunus Comments on the Financial Crisis

Source: Business Week

A Nobel Prize-winning academic turned micro-finance banker for the poor has important advice for Washington. Muhammad Yunus believes that the government bailout of the banking system is but the first step in redesigning the global credit system. In the end, Yunus believes that a new self-correcting market system will have to be created. In 1983, Muhammad Yunus set up the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and ushered in the era of micro-finance and ...

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Monday, October 27, 2008 — No Region Specified

Investments at the Bottom of the Social Pyramid Produce Results

Source: Market Watch

Turns out that the best return on investment lies with the poor, not the rich. A Moody's analysis earlier this year shows the government gets the biggest bang for its buck by spending increases. A whopping $1.73 increase in gross domestic product is returned for every dollar the Treasury spends by increasing food stamps, for example. This compares with a $1.02 return by a nonrefundable lump-sum tax rebate and a $1.26 return on a refundable lump-sum tax rebate, according to Moody&#...

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Monday, October 27, 2008 — No Region Specified

Soapbox: The Importance of Sustainability

Source: Financial Times

In recent years, business schools have embraced the idea of ?corporate social responsibility? and ?sustainability?. Centres, institutes, programmes and initiatives have sprung up, websites and brochures trumpet business schools? dedication to serving society, ethics, managing the environment and social entrepreneurship. A new breed of MBA student is focused on ?doing well by doing good?, demanding that more attention be given to the world?s social and environmental challenges.

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Monday, October 27, 2008 — No Region Specified

There's Business Across the Pyramid

Source: Economic Times

If India Inc has to enhance its presence in the world market, it must start to learn some lessons of marketing quickly. The basics: Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning. The basics (4Ps): Product, price, place and promotion. Gain in market share does not make a great marketing company. India over the past 5-7 years has seen tremendous growth. This growth has brought purchasing power to millions across the pyramid. Companies have targeted these new consumers. Mr Jack Trout was i...

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Monday, October 20, 2008 — No Region Specified

Emerging Lessons

Source: The Wall Street Journal

By Madhubalan Viswanathan, Jose A. Rosa and Julie A. Ruth Businesses, take note: An underserved and poorly understood consumer group is poised to become a driving force in economic and business development, by virtue of sheer numbers and rising globalization. They are subsistence consumers -- people in developing nations like India who earn just a few dollars a day and lack access to basics such as education, health care and sanitation.

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 — No Region Specified

Lenders to the Poor Adopt Guidelines

Source: New York Times

By Elizabeth Malkin For months, the fellowship of institutions providing microfinancing has been angrily divided over the actions of one of its own. Compartamos, a fast-growing Mexican bank, went public in April 2007 and sold $468 million in shares on the Mexican stock market and gave the cash to its investors. Critics said the bank, based here, was putting profit ahead of clients, contrary to the altruistic ideals of microlending, which specializes in giving tiny loans ...

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