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The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenges of reaching low‐income customers in developing markets.

Semi‐structured Interview.

The paper suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and innovate by taking into account the unique institutional context of developing markets.

Single interview.

The experience of Hutchison Essar in India provides some important lessons for mobile network operators (MNOs) and other firms in other developing markets who are hoping to serve the rural poor: Hutchison has recognized the value of corporate and non‐corporate partners. The company has proactively established relationships with individual entrepreneurs, and has provided has provided development support to other partners such as distributors. The company has recognized the value of leveraging existing local institutions, and has seen gaps in local infrastructure or missing services as potential opportunities rather than barriers to growth. The company has seen the rural market as an opportunity – not just an obligation to be served because of universal service obligations.

In most cases, MNOs have served the poorest consumers through shared‐use models such as GrameenPhone's Village phone concept in Bangladesh, due to the commonly held belief that reaching these consumers is difficult due to two key challenges – affordability and availability. This paper demonstrates that MNOs can deliver availability and affordability to achieve increased individual or household penetration through business model innovation.

In this paper it is argued that value chain structure, that is the way that skills and activities are divided between different firms within an industry, often evolves in a locally specific way and this has serious implications for the global expansion of firms. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.

Data was collected and case studies developed on firms that have faced challenges related to value chain structure when undertaking foreign market entry. The study followed directives for case‐based research, and was based upon multiple sources of evidence: archival data, industry publications, interviews and direct observation. The study conformed with Yin's recommendations for developing construct validity and reliability. Multiple sources of evidence were used to achieve data triangulation, thereby reinforcing construct validity. As analysis of the companies under analysis evolved, progress was communicated to key executives and managers in the firms under analysis, thereby encouraging the early identification of possible rival explanations and ensuring internal validity. From the academic literature, field visits and the development of case studies, the research was refined during 2007‐2008 in a reiterative process of application, testing and adaptation. Common issues were identified and used to build theory and make the concepts generic enough so they could be utilized by other managers.

Decades of wisdom about foreign market entry tells managers to assess whether their unique skills and capabilities might offer comparative competitive advantage in markets where aspects such as socio‐cultural attributes, regulatory and legal structure, level of economic development and the availability of supporting administrative and physical infrastructure can differ from the home market. They are encouraged to analyze these potential hurdles carefully, and to decide if their company‐specific skills and capabilities outweigh country‐specific challenges in operating abroad. But beyond the firm and country specific elements that are traditionally considered as part of foreign market entry decisions, the structure of the foreign industry's value chain, and the capabilities of the firms operating within that chain, can also play a very significant role in the potential of global expansion. Industry value chains, and the activities and skills of the firms within those chains, can evolve in distinctly different ways, even within industries that produce similar products or services.

The paper takes a cross‐industry view to draw practical recommendations for managers considering foreign market entry from both the manufacturing and service sectors. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.

Even the smartest managers can put a great deal of effort into the “traditional” tools of foreign market entry analysis while at the same time remaining blissfully ignorant of the value‐chain‐related problems that they might encounter. This is not because they are negligent, but because they have come to take for granted the manner in which the value chain functions in their home market, and almost no one from the consulting or academic world has challenged them to question these deeply held assumptions as part of typical approaches to market entry analysis. The paper takes a cross‐industry view to draw practical recommendations for managers considering foreign market entry from both the manufacturing and service sectors. It is argued that for managers to be successful with global expansion they must consciously consider both the division of activities in the value chain of the new market, and the degree to which their own skills and capabilities can readily compliment or interface with those of local partners and suppliers.

Mobile banking (M‐banking) involves the use of a mobile phone or another mobile device to undertake financial transactions linked to a client's account. M‐banking is one of the newest approaches to the provision of financial services through information communication technology (ICT), made possible by the widespread adoption of mobile phones even in low income countries. Emerging mobile banking (m‐banking platforms) in developing markets enable two sided markets, bringing together mobile handset users with other mobile users and commercial partners. It is the argument of this paper that the emergence of m‐banking platforms has the potential for spill‐over effects, and that these spill‐over effects will require regulatory authorities to develop appropriate policy responses.

This article derives from research on the m‐banking strategies of mobile network operators (MNOs) in developing markets, and the regulatory responses to these strategies. Field visits were made to the Philippines and Kenya where m‐banking platforms are well established, and in depth interviews took place with companies that had succeeded in launching m‐banking platforms, or were considering strategic responses in markets where competitors had launched platforms. Companies were identified from the existing body of literature, observation and personal contact. Additionally, data were collected from developing case studies.

M‐banking has the potential to bring basic banking and electronic transactions services to unbanked consumers in developing markets. But in enabling two‐sided markets, m‐banking solutions also provide specific questions for telecommunications industry regulators. Regulators need to question if the elements are in place for m‐banking networks to tip towards a single platform, especially in markets with dominant operators that hold significant market share.

Because of the multi‐homing costs inherent in most existing m‐banking platforms, these platforms introduce both economic and psychological switching costs for consumers. In turn, these switching costs can have the impact of reinforcing existing network effects in markets where the incumbent already holds significant market share for voice traffic. There are a number of options available to telecommunications regulators in responding to the emergence of m‐banking platforms, and authorities should take a measured approach to achieve optimal societal and industry outcomes.

This paper fulfils an important void in the current literature related to the growth of m‐banking platforms in emerging markets. While there has been an increasing body of literature examining the potential socio‐economic impact of m‐banking in developing markets, the purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of m‐banking for competitive dynamics between competing firms, and the related issues for regulatory authorities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the opportunities and challenges of serving low‐income consumers in developing markets with mobile telecommunications.

Field visits were made to Africa, India, Mexico and the Philippines, and in‐depth interviews took place with companies that had succeeded in serving low‐income consumers.

The paper provides insights about the importance of various elements of a mobile operator business model. The paper suggests that serving the poor is just as much about motivation as about issues such as affordability and availability.

Since this research is field‐based and examines only a small sample of firms, only tentative propositions can be offered on what the answers to the research questions are believed to be.

The paper suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional approaches to serving the poor, and take into account the unique institutional context of many developing markets.

This has value for management practitioners, regulators and researchers. The paper fulfils an identified need to study different business models of mobile operators in bringing telecommunications services to the poor, and identifies common themes and success factors.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of migration on the livelihoods of Ethiopians. It is widely acclaimed that migration has positive effects on livelihoods. This paper investigates whether this claim is a fallacy or a reality. Can migration be conceptualized as a strategy for livelihood enhancement? Although Ethiopia has a large number of migrants both internally and externally, this paper focuses on the impact of external migration on the livelihoods of Ethiopian migrants and their families.

Using primary data, the paper attempts to establish whether migration enhances livelihoods. Qualitative data are used. Primary data were collected and analyzed using SurveyMonkey. SurveyMonkey is an internet-based software that has a facility for interview questions and it analyses data automatically on submission of responses. The survey achieved a response rate of 52 percent (218 out of 420). A follow-up survey, done between March 20 and April 16, 2018 to validate the online responses, involved 12 respondents.

Results show that migration is important in the sustenance of livelihoods. Both pecuniary and non-pecuniary benefits have been realised. In addition, migration also benefits development at home.

The Ethiopian Government should develop policy options that promote the inflow of remittances for livelihood enhancement.

The paper uses SurveyMonkey to gather data from a number of respondents (crowdsourcing data collection). The SurveyMonkey made possible a crowd data gathering process.

The purpose of this paper is to test the hypothesis that there are common challenges and approaches in serving low‐income customers in developing markets, and that these can be articulated and refined to get better business results.

This article derives from research on serving customers at the bottom of the economic pyramid in industries such as fast‐moving consumer goods (fmcg), financial services, telecommunications, construction, health care and home appliances. A two‐year research project was undertaken to test the hypothesis that there were common challenges and approaches in serving bottom of the economic pyramid customers, and that these could be articulated and refined to get better business results. Field visits were made to China, Egypt, India, Mexico and the Philippines, and in‐depth interviews took place with companies that had succeeded in serving customers living in poverty. Companies were identified from the existing body of literature, observation and personal contact. Additionally, data were collected from developing case studies on multinational corporations and local firms that have been successful in serving low‐income customers in developing markets.

The research resulted in the development of a structured framework for developing strategies to serve low‐income customers in emerging markets,

The paper is of direct practical relevance for management practitioners. In particular, the paper suggests that managers need to go beyond traditional marketing approaches to adopt strategies that are customer‐ rather than firm‐centric, and take into account the unique institutional context of many developing markets.

The paper is original in its recommendation that managers might also need to go beyond traditional business partners in developing markets, and explore the role of non‐traditional participants.

This paper seeks to support and extend other scholars’ examinations of the evolution of technological modularity, vertical specialization and the concepts of the drivers of change in the basis of competition through an analysis of the evolution of the mobile phone industry.

A two‐year research project was undertaken and in‐depth interviews took place with managers at companies that were responsible for developing the value chain approaches of their firms. Companies were identified from the existing body of literature, observation and personal contact. Additionally, data were collected from developing case studies.

The paper finds that the mobile phone industry value chain is in the process of deconstructing towards more horizontally stratified structures for some device segments. But, unlike the PC industry, an industry which many analysts suggest provides a precedent for likely evolution of the mobile phone value chain, this trend will not be uniform or consistent across different product types. This will require mobile phone manufacturers to adapt their organizational structures and value chain approaches accordingly, and to rethink the basis for future competitive advantage.

As the research is based on interviews with a limited number of firms within the extended mobile handset industry value chain, it cannot be suggested that the impact of trends identified has equal impact for all firms.

Mobile handset vendors should learn from the PC industry and make sure that their future strategies are not made simply on the basis of cost optimization or speed to market.

The paper fulfils an identified need to understand how industry structures are evolving in one of the most dynamic sectors in the world.

This paper seeks to elaborate on the drivers underpinning the rise of the Platform Model in customized executive learning and to explain the guiding philosophy underpinning this model.

The study followed directives for case‐based research, and was based on multiple sources of evidence: extant literature, archival data, industry publications, interviews and direct observation. Common issues were identified and used to build theory and make the concepts generic enough to be communicated to executive education professionals. Findings were shared and validated with professionals, and with managers within the human resource and organizational development departments of corporate firms.

The emergence of the Platform Model for executive education has been driven by four key developments –an explosion in the number of intellectual free agents who work outside or beyond the permeable organizational boundaries of academic institutions; the increasing recognition of open collaboration as an engine of customization and innovation; the pervasive spread of information and communication technologies that are enabling virtual teams to deliver integrated educational offerings; and the demand of clients that educational offerings should deliver outcomes by matching intellectual resources with their needs, and not vice versa.

The paper describes a recent trend in the ongoing evolution of approaches towards the design and delivery of executive learning. The Platform Model for executive learning is based on the existence of what has become a two‐sided network, entailing a triangular set of market relationships. On one side of this network are the individuals and firms that possess specialist skills and expertise, and on the other side are organizational clients seeking learning solutions. The need for these two groups – the network's “sides” – to interact with each other efficiently has created the opportunity for the emergence of Platform Intermediaries.

To show how information and communication technologies (ICTs) could help a company implement radical new strategies.

Generalizations are made based on 20 case studies of companies that strategically innovated in their industries by introducing radical new business models. Several of these cases are used in the paper to highlight the points made.

The paper shows that ICT enables firms to: reach consumers that most competitors cannot serve profitably; offer radically new value propositions to consumers that other firms cannot deliver in a cost‐efficient way; and put in place value chains that no other firm could do efficiently. ICT also allows strategic innovators to scale up their business models quickly and so protect themselves from competitive attacks.

This paper shows that coming up with a radical business model that breaks the rules of the game in an industry is easy! The difficult part is to implement such radical strategies in the marketplace so as to deliver real value to customers in a cost‐efficient and profitable way. The paper demonstrates that ICT is a key enabler in the successful implementation of radical new strategies.

Developments in the social neurosciences over the past two decades have rendered problematic the main knowledge elicitation techniques currently in use by strategy researchers, as a basis for revealing actors’ mental representations of strategic knowledge. Extant elicitation techniques were advanced during an era when cognitive scientists and organizational researchers alike were preoccupied with the basic information of processing limitations of decision makers and means of addressing them, predicated on an outmoded conception of strategists as affect-free, cognitive misers. The need to adapt these techniques to enable the investigation of the emotional content and structure of actors’ mental representations is now a pressing priority for the advancement of theory, research, and practice pertaining to several interrelated areas of strategic management, from dynamic capabilities development, to upper echelons theory, to strategic consensus formation. Accordingly, in this chapter, we report the findings of two studies that investigated the feasibility of adapting the repertory grid, a robust method, widely known and well used in strategic management, for this purpose. Study 1 elicited a series of commonly mentioned strategic issues (the elements) from a sample of senior managers similar in composition to the sample recruited to the second study. Study 2 participants evaluated the elements elicited in Study 1 in relation to a series of researcher-supplied bipolar attributes (the constructs), based on the well-known affective circumplex model of human emotions. In line with expectations, a series of vector-based multivariate analyses revealed a number of interesting similarities and variations among participants in terms of the basic structure and emotional salience of the issues under consideration.