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

India still most attractive destination for global retailers

Organised retail market in India is expected to reach $50 billion mark by 2011. Number of shopping malls is expected to increase at a CAGR of more than 18.9% from 2007 to 2015. Rural market is projected to dominate the retail industry landscape in India by 2012 with total market share of above 50%. Organised retailing of mobile handset and accessories is expected to reach close to Rs 5000 crore by 2010. Driven by the expanding retail market, third party logistic market is f...

Source

Food and Beverage News (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

A shrinking fortune at the bottom of the pyramid?

Small may be beautiful, but not always. Fast moving consumer goods companies (FMCG), which depend heavily on the bottom of the pyramid market are in trouble as far as their small pack sales are concerned. And this is despite the fact that no price increases took place in this segment, even though FMCG companies raised prices roughly 17 per cent for soaps and 24 per cent for detergents. Sample this: According to the latest Nielsen data for the 11-month period from March 2008 to Febr...

Source

Business Standard (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

Products for the other 3 billion

Jim Patell is perhaps the only member of the faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business to come to class sporting police-issue cargo pants with a black Benchmade knife clipped to the right front pocket. Patell differs from his B-school peers in another way too: Instead of teaching in a lecture hall filled with diligent students typing away on laptops, he operates out of Stanford’s design school, where he teaches a class called Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordabili...

Source

Fortune Magazine (link opens in a new window)

Rural India Promises Growth for Retail

There may be a slowdown in urban retail, but `Bharat’ is still shining for retailers. The next phase of growth is expected to come from rural markets with rural India accounting for almost half of the domestic retail market, which is valued over $300 billion. Rural India is set to witness an economic boom, with per capita income having grown by 50% over the last 10 years, mainly on account of rising commodity prices andimproved productivity. Development of basic infrastructure,...

Source

Times of India (link opens in a new window)

Region

South Asia

5 Tips for Trickle-Up Innovation from C.K. Prahalad

Multinationals and start-ups alike can learn valuable innovation lessons by observing inventions and services that originate in emerging-markets — and then adapting them for the developed world. Some of the world’s leading thinkers and business school professors are now coming up with playbooks for corporations that are seeking such a “trickle-up” innovation strategy. For my recent BusinessWeek stories on the topic, I spoke with C. K. Prahalad, author of The Fortune at...

Source

BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Making a Profit and a Difference

As the economy reels, enterprising individuals who apply business practices to solving societal problems are gaining support from public and private sectors By Stacy Perman Social entrepreneurs-enterprising individuals who apply business practices to solving societal problems, such as pollution, poor nutrition, and poverty-are now 30,000 strong and growing, according to ...

Source

BusinessWeek (link opens in a new window)

Nokia Bets on Mobile Payment

A $70 million investment by Nokia in a mobile-phone-payment system called Obopay suggests that, even in a plunging global economy, mobile financial services are guaranteed to grow in many of the world’s poorest nations. In these parts of the world, many people lack access to traditional bank accounts and other financial services, but own mobile phones. Leveraging those phones as a way for people to access bank accounts, pay bills, borrow money, and pay loans is "a market that i...

Source

Technology Review (link opens in a new window)

MicroPlace Offers 6 Percent Return on Microfinance Investment

MicroPlace (www.microplace.com), a website that enables everyday people to invest in the world’s working poor, announced today the launch of the first microfinance investment opportunity that offers a 6 percent annual return for everyday investors. This investment offering comes at a time when Americans are examining the best ways to use their tax refunds in a tough economy. According to a recent poll by Taxsoftware.com, 58 percent of Americans planned to either save or invest ...

Source

Press Release (link opens in a new window)

Region

Latin America