Journal
BUSINESS & SOCIETY
Volume 53, Issue 3, Pages 338-377Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0007650312474928
Keywords
base of the pyramid; bottom of the pyramid; poverty; development; multinational enterprises
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
In 1998-1999, Prahalad and colleagues introduced the base/bottom of the pyramid (BOP) concept in an article and a working paper. This article's goal is to answer the following question: What has become of the concept over the decade following its first systematic exposition in 1999? To answer this question, the authors conducted a systematic review of articles on the BOP, identifying 104 articles published in journals or proceedings over a 10-year period (2000-2009). This count excludes books, chapters, and teaching cases. The review shows that the BOP concept evolved dramatically following Prahalad's original call to multinational enterprises (MNEs). Deemphasizing the role of MNEs over time, published BOP articles portray a more complex picture, with wide variations in terms of BOP contexts, of BOP initiatives, and of impacts of the BOP approach. A simple framework for organizing the reviewed articles helps discuss findings, identify the gaps that still exist in the literature, and suggest directions for future research.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available