Chapter: BOP: A Global Opportunity

Quote:

In the rural areas of the countries such as Peru, providing high quality health care is difficult. More difficult is the surveillance of outbreaks of infectious diseases. These remote regions must be kept under constant surveillance to avoid the spread of disease, be it cholera or SARS. However, these locations are not well-connected for constant communications. PCs are rare and telephone lines are a luxury. The question for public health professionals in such a situation is simple.

What I expect to learn:

To know more about global opportunity

Review:                    

There is a lot more to BOP than targeting to the majority of the world to earn crazy money. It is becoming one with the market and becoming an entity which they can rely on. There is more opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid than in the top part of the pyramid because of its numbers and of its needs. Once you focus on the bottom of the pyramid, it is like focusing on eradicating those boundaries that people tend to experience between something they want but too expensive to actually attain. I know for a fact that companies should focus more on the bottom of the pyramid because there are more global opportunities once they did. Just the other day I was wondering how I can buy a laptop that looks like Mac (slick exterior right?) but with the price of a netbook which is like half of an average notebook. I know that will involve great research and cost analysis for the companies but is not worth a try to just give the people what they want in a much more cheaper price. Obviously, the majority of the people wants things cheap because if it breaks, then they can just buy another one without becoming concerned with the waste of money. Who wouldn’t want a phone that is cheap enough to be replaced one a month? I know it is something but it so far, the public loves it and that is why they keep on buying to know how great it is to just be guiltless with something that used to be expensive.

What I learned:

·         Engaging the BOP

·         Local growth opportunities

·         Local innovations and global opportunity

·         BOP solutions for developed markets

·         Lessons for MNCs from BOP markets

·         Capital Intensity

·         Sustainable development

·         Innovations

·         The costs of managing

·         Learning to live in a network of relationships

Integrative Questions:                          

1.    What do you mean by sustainable development?

2.    Is it true that BOP markets can represent an emerging problem? Explain

3.    How can BOP become a global opportunity?

4.    What is the process by which large firms can create products and services that are ideally suited for the BOP markets?

5.    What are the two ways in which large firms tend to engage the BOP markets?