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Going Wireless: Dialing for Development
Author: David Lehr Going Wireless: Dialing for Development How Mobile Devices are Transforming Economic Development at the Base of the Pyramid A draft white paper by former Acumen Fellow David Lehr has just been posted on the Acumen Fund blog that describ...
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Poverty reduction for profit? A critical examination of business opportunities at the bottom of the
Authors: J. L. Warnholz Publisher: Queen Elizabeth House Library, University of Oxford, 2007. The author examines the idea that selling consumer goods to poor people at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BoP) generates profits for large businesses and eliminates poverty at the same time. He admits that big businesses have a central role in shaping future markets and generating employment. The entry of multinationals in the BoP sector would also reduce prices, raise ...
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The Nano Inspiration
The lessons of design innovation, scale efficiency, vendor networking can help in hundreds of challenges By Ramesh Ramanathan I am inspired by the story of the Tata Nano. Beyond its cute look or frugal engineering-driven price tag, I find it remarkable how team Tata pulled it off in just four years. I?ve watched and read the rumblings ?on congestion, traffic, the environment. Confession: I own a car. This makes it hard for me to criticiz...
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A Nano Leap Into the Future
He’s been hailed as the world’s foremost thinker. He revolutionized the way corporate chiefs looked at markets through his bestseller, ’The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid’. And now, management mahaguru C. K. Prahalad writes exclusively for Sunday Times on the Nano launch. By C.K. Prahalad He’s been hailed as the world’s foremost thinker. He revolutionized the way corporate chiefs looked at markets through his bestseller, ’The Fortune at the B...
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Chip and Car Makers Fire Cheap Shots in Low Spending Battle
Intel’s move into affordable computers, and Tata’s launch of the $2,500 car, signal growing recognition that redesigning for currently excluded low-income customers may be the only way to avoid a profit-scrapping scramble for the affluent minority. With disposable incomes threatening to stagnate in industrial countries, and still comparatively low in those newly industrialising, affordability might even displace the currently fashionable drive for sustainability.? By Alan Ship...
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Indians Hit the Road Amid Elephants
By Somini Sengupta A few weeks ago, the traditional Indian joint family household of Vineet Sharma, a fertilizer industry consultant, achieved a long deferred dream. Having ferried themselves on scooters all these years, the Sharmas bought a brand-new, silver-gray hatchback known as the Tata Indica. Never mind that none of the six adult members of the household knew how to drive. No sooner had the car arrived than Mr. Sharma, 34, took it for a spin and knocked over...
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In the Shadows of India’s Loan Boom
Incidents like the one that left Mr. Kumar with 12 stitches in his scalp and a 10-day hospital stay reflect a dark side of India’s economic boom. As consumer lending soars to record levels, India’s banks face mounting criticism and government sanctions for their aggressive loan recovery tactics, which sometimes include using hired thugs. With the economy growing at more than 8.5% a year for the past four years, Indians are taking on home, car and credit-card debt as never before -- with ...
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The challengers
When Ford Motor Company bought Jaguar in 1989 and Land Rover 11 years later, it marked a low point for Britain’s ailing industrial heritage. Last year Ford concluded that it could not make money from the illustrious British marques?equally a sign of its waning fortunes. The two firms shortlisted to take the prize come from India. Their ambition and confidence is a sign of something new in global business: the arrival in force of emerging-market multinationals. Tata Motors, the ...
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