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Latin America: Social innovation ? Giving the majority a stake
Latin American companies are getting to grips with ?bottom of the pyramid? business. Illiterate residents across rural Bolivia have never heard of the academic CK Prahalad. And until recently many had never used modern banking services. They still don?t know who Prahalad is, but now they are withdrawing money from a voice-recognition ATM developed by Prodem, a microfinance institution. In addition to understanding verbal instructions, the specially adapted bank ...
- Region
- Latin America
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Grupo Salinas Founder and Chairman Ricardo B. Salinas Addresses FIU Highilighting Opportunities at t
With a presentation entitled Selling to the Poor: a 100-Year Success Story, Mr. Salinas shared some of the entrepreneurial and social development opportunities of businesses that focus on low-income consumers, a market referred to by University of Michigan Business School Professor C.K. Prahalad as the Bottom of the Pyramid. The best solution to the problem of poverty is to create wealth, argued Mr. Salinas. We need to look for new entrepre...
- Region
- Latin America
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Hacer negocio con los pobres
Suena pol?ticamente incorrecto, pero quiz? la manera m?s efectiva de luchar contra la pobreza sea convertir en ?clientes’ a los m?s desfavorecidos. Por su parte, las empresas que lo consigan descubrir?n un mercado de 4.000 millones de personas. En tiempos de globalizaci?n, no hay pieza m?s codiciada por una multinacional que descubrir un nuevo mercado. Para muchos, es posible que no haya que rebuscar tanto para encontrarlo y, de paso, ayudar en la lucha contra la pobreza y el s...
- Region
- Latin America
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En el Punto de Mira: Somos Pobres, Pero Somos Muchos
Spanish language magazine Compromiso Empresarial (Oct. 2007) has two pieces specifically focused on the importance and growth of BOP markets worldwide: En el Punto de Mira: Somos Pobres, Pero Somos Muchos (Spanish only) Entrevista con Rob Katz (Spanish only) See the attached files, or sign up to ...
- Region
- Latin America
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Business-friendly Reforms Best Way to Advance Latin America Economies
What irony! When it comes to cutting government red tape and creating a pro-business atmosphere, communist-ruled China, Vietnam and former Soviet-bloc countries in Eastern Europe are moving much faster than most of Latin America. A new World Bank report - Doing Business 2008 - which looks at the ease of doing business in 178 countries around the world, says countries such as Croatia, Georgia, Estonia, China, India and Egypt were the most aggressive last year in adopting pro-business ref...
- Region
- Latin America
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?No es fascinante?
LA pobreza es, para algunos agudos analistas socioecon?micos, la riqueza del futuro y empieza a transformarse de problema en oportunidad. Ha empezado a surgir un creciente inter?s alrededor de un tema trascendente para la humanidad: la posibilidad de crear masivamente modelos de negocios rentables que permiten a la vez, generar utilidades y lograr la superaci?n de las comunidades m?s pobres. Lo que es m?s, crear oportunidades de negocio con y para la poblaci?n m?s pobre no ...
- Region
- Latin America
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P&G’s Global Target: Shelves of Tiny Stores
Every day, Martina P?rez D?az spends about five hours sewing 70 pairs of black loafers by hand for a wage of 120 pesos, or about $11. When she wants to wash her hair, she walks to her local tiendita, or small store, to buy a 0.34 ounce, single-use packet of Procter & Gamble Co.’s Head & Shoulders shampoo. The price: two pesos, or about 19 cents. That I usually can afford, she says. [Martina Perez Diaz] Shoppers like Ms. D?az factor heavily i...
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- Latin America
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How Magazine Luiza Courts the Poor
Inspiration for a new case can strike at any time. For Harvard Business School professor Frances X. Frei, the time and place was one morning at home while reading The New York Times. An article on the front page of the Business section about an innovative Brazilian retailer prompted an immediate e-mail to Gustavo Herrero (HBS MBA ’76), executive director of the School’s Latin America Research Center (LARC). Herrero responded promptly, and with the assistance of LARC senior researcher Ric...
- Region
- Latin America