NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Retailing in Poland

Europe’s Hypermarkets Under FireThis economist.com story (Retailing in Poland) makes an interesting point - how do consumers react when large multinational companies enter low-income markets? In this case, so-called hypermarkets (similar to American Wal-Mart stores) have been gaining market...

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UL and IIT Design for the BOP Project

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), Chicago, and the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology announced that UL will provide a $25,000 grant to support the institute?s efforts to design cost-effective ways to transport and distribute drinking water in the slums of Mumbai,...

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Does Low Cost Mean Low Quality?

That?s often the initial response when people hear of the $30 cell phone that Motorola is building for emerging markets. Or the $185 internet access device (a PC, except that you can?t load new software on it) that AMD is shipping to India and the Caribbean. Or a nifty little home water...

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Report on the 2nd Int’l Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development

Many regions in the world lack the water and energy services they need to function and progress. The Second International Forum on Partnerships for Sustainable Development, held in Marrakech on 21-23 March discussed partnerships as a vehicle to deliver these services. The WBCSD was invited by...

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Motorola at the BOP

Emerging DemandMotorola wins contract to provide ?ultra-low-cost? phones in emerging markets where millions of would-be wireless customers awaitI found this Red Herring article really interesting. It is clearly a BOP strategy for them to be selling sub-$40 handsets in emerging markets. ...

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