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Retailers' new product acceptance in base of pyramid (BoP) markets is crucial to marketers in this segment. This paper seeks to develop propositions for research on factors that affect retailers in new product introduction. The propositions also aim to make a distinction between urban and rural BoP markets.

The paper provides a broad description of India's BoP market (one of the world's largest BoP markets) to better understand context. It uses literature from developed country context to BoP markets to arrive at research propositions for further research.

The key research propositions derived relate to exogenous and endogenous factors. Exogenous factors relate to store trading area, competitive environment, shopper characteristics and product diversity. The endogenous factors include store atmosphere, assortment and shelf space allocation, price and promotion. The differences across rural and urban BoP markets are highlighted for each proposition.

Understanding differences between rural and urban BoP retailers can help make crucial new product introduction decisions. Considering endogenous and exogenous factors that influence retailer acceptance decisions will make product introduction decisions successful.

BoP literature has been replete with research on marketers and products but less on retailing. This paper addresses that gap. In addition, very few papers make the distinction between urban and rural BoP markets and mostly across countries but not within a country. This paper places the distinction within the country. Finally, explaining how various factors influencing retailing differ in urban and rural contexts and developing propositions is a major original contribution of this paper.

The ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ or BoP represents the population living at the lowest level of the economic or income pyramid across the world (Prahalad, 2002). The BoP approach undoubtedly provides a market-based solution for poverty reduction and facilitates inclusive economic growth. This segment can be classified into two parts, namely, rural BoP and urban BoP. The urban BoP is a more sustainable and viable option for companies to operate in, since it strategically avoids the numerous challenges faced by the rural BoP. Rural BoP is relatively more distant, dispersed, desperately poor, largely illiterate and heterogeneous market (Ireland, 2008). This chapter aims at understanding and characterising the urban BoP market. Further it shares some interesting results of an empirical study conducted to understand the urban BoP consumers of Mumbai city. The study assumes importance as it focusses on the urban BoP as a realistic option to operate in the BoP by removing the dynamic barriers of the rural BoP. Additionally, it provides insight into the urban BoP market and its consumer behaviour.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how leading firms can profitably serve poor consumers by targeting the urban bottom of the pyramid (BOP) with appropriate marketing practices.

The approach taken is an integrative analysis of existing literature and new cases.

The urban BOP market is more profitable for large firms than the rural BOP due to its density of wealth, proximity, homogeneity and modernity. While recommended tactics for BOP marketing like rock bottom pricing, innovative products and sachets never produced market leaders, multilevel channels and inclusive pricing led to dramatic BOP sales growth for respected middle‐class products.

Theoretically, this research demonstrates that the urban‐rural divide is a good starting point for the development of context‐contingent strategies because successful urban BOP marketing practices were very different to those recommended for the rural BOP. It also makes a useful contribution to the question, “Do the poor pay more?” by demonstrating that the answer varies both with the category and the shopping occasion. Moreover, transaction cost theory prevailed: the key success factor for firms with leading products and brands was to find or develop appropriate intermediaries.

Firms with successful middle‐class products and brands should target the urban BOP. Others need not apply. Inclusive pricing and appropriate channels, especially multilevel marketing, can multiply sales and margins.

Recent criticism of the BOP proposition leads managers to believe that they must either serve the rural BOP at a loss or abandon the BOP altogether. This research demonstrates that firms can serve the very poor very profitably by targeting the urban BOP.

The market-based approach to catering for the poor mainly focusses on companies making profits while helping the poor enhance their lives. This concept presented the possibility of there being a ‘fortune’ to make at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) market that was an opportunity for both businesses and consumers. The notion of the BoP market has been widely studied using urban and rural contexts as distinct classifications; yet many argue that the opportunity does not in fact exist in the rural BoP markets. In this chapter the authors examine the prospects in the rural BoP in Sri Lanka through a qualitative study using insights provided by industry practitioners who operate at the BoP level. Findings show that a large percentage of the income of multinational companies is derived from rural BoP markets. Compared to the urban sector, the rural BoP market indicates relatively higher disposable income and is viewed as an attractive market segment by industry practitioners. The findings also show that rural BoP people have more resources and skills than their urban counterparts, although the former commonly have lower levels of education. Moreover, the youth segment in both the urban and rural BoP markets was found to heavily consume social media. The authors conclude their discussion by providing several key proposals for organisations looking to seize opportunities in this market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine qualitative issues involved in conducting research at the base of the pyramid (BOP). The paper reports on the differences between anticipated issues and the actual issues encountered in the conduct of research at the BOP in Zimbabwe.

Qualitative data collection methods comprising in‐depth one to one consumer interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations and case studies were used to conduct the research.

Findings from the analysis are based on multiple experiences from multiple sites and these suggest that the main themes established from previous studies on cross‐cultural research are also prevalent at the BOP. However, the findings reveal a number of challenges specific to the BOP and suggest that the BOP is not one homogenous market.

The sample used for consumer interviews is small, and confining the focus to the food and personal hygiene sector may limit generalization of findings to a broader population.

The study provides insight on potential procedures and strategies to deal with the challenges of undertaking research at the BOP.

The study provides insight on how social networks can be used as a mechanism for facilitating research and overcoming a number of challenges faced by researchers at the BOP.

Research into the BOP is a relatively new area of study in the field of international business. This expands knowledge in the area of challenges faced by researchers conducting research at the BOP by providing both new insights and advancement of previous research by employing empirical qualitative mixed research methods to study consumers and firms since the two have a dyadic relationship.

The access to high quality, a reliable and affordable basic healthcare service is one of the key challenges facing the rural and semi‐urban population lying at base of the pyramid (BoP) in India. Realizing this as a social challenge and an economic opportunity (shared value), there has been an emergence of healthcare service providers who have bundled entrepreneurial attitude and passion with available scarce resources to design and implement cost‐effective, reliable and scalable market solutions for the BoP. The purpose of this research paper is to understand the underlying operating principles of these self‐sustainable business models aimed at providing healthcare services to the BoP segment in India.

The empirical context involves the use of case study research methodology, where the source of data is published case studies and the company websites of four healthcare organizations who have made a socio‐economic difference in the lives of the rural and semi‐urban population lying at the BoP in India.

The analysis and findings reflect the key operating principles for sustainable healthcare business ventures at the BoP. These include focus on 4A's (accessible, affordable, acceptable and awareness), local engagement, local skills building, learning by experiment, flexible organizational structure, dynamic leadership, technology integration and scalability.

This research study has focused mainly on the published case studies as source of data.

The intent is to understand and bring forth the learning and guiding principles, which act as a catalyst for the future researchers and business ventures engaged in BoP context.

The purpose of this paper is to compile a set of articles tackling supply chain issues in BOP contexts that address both demand and supply. Solutions are needed for global sustainability problems from medical aid and food availability to the ability to participate in supply chains for the global poor.

The accepted articles in the special issue used a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies to answer research questions in a variety of base of the pyramid (BOP) contexts. These approaches and results distinguish between demand (BOP market) and supply, or base of the chain (BOC), perspectives.

The findings in the eight accepted marticles are interesting and applicable across different BOP contexts. Compilation of the articles into the special issue and the accompanying editorial led to a comprehensive future research agenda that addresses demand-side issues by investigating the customers in BOP markets, and supply-side issues focusing on the suppliers and intermediaries (BOC) who supply BOP markets. Future research ideas include a focus on supply chain design issues situated at the intersection of the demand (BOP) and the supply (BOC) concerns that address the needs of the world’s poorest populations.

All of the selected articleshave societal implications related to addressing the needs of BOP populations. Many of these articles also have economic and environmental implications, the other two pillars of the triple bottom line. The detailed future research agenda developed in this editorial presents implications for researchers working in emerging and BOP communities to push research forward and further develop the foundational literature in the BOP context.

From a practical standpoint, each of the eight articles presents ideas for businesses that help address the needs of the global poor while enhancing global sustainability performance. The editorial summarizes these implications and provides new directions and examples of success in the BOP context. Managers are provided with techniques to address the supply and demand side of these growing markets.

The overall conceptual framework and positioning of the final papers into the BOP market, BOC suppliers and a combination of the two is novel and helps provide guidance to both scholars and managers.

This paper seeks to argue that family purchase decision making at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is dynamic, heterogeneous and an evolving process that can be influenced by contextual macro‐environmental constraints. Because established perceptions of family purchase decision making are primarily drawn from western markets, this Zimbabwean study aims to provide a contrasting perspective.

Qualitative data collection methods comprising in‐depth, one‐to‐one consumer interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations and cases studies were used to conduct the research.

Key findings include the identification of changing and multiple family buying models, which are influenced by the constraints consumers face at the BOP, as well as the distinct roles of children, which differ from those common in developed western countries.

The sample used for consumer interviews is small and confining the focus to the food and personal hygiene sector may limit generalization of findings to a broader population.

The study provides managers with insights on the importance of understanding family purchase decision making at the BOP and the importance of adapting the marketing mix elements such as promotion strategies to suit the challenges faced by these consumers.

The study provides insights into how firms can improve livelihoods at the BOP by provision of employment and business opportunities through their partnerships with social networks.

Research into the BOP is a relatively new area of study in international business. The majority of studies have focused on Latin America and Asia, ignoring the 800 million BOP consumers in Africa. Hence this research expands knowledge in the area by employing empirical mixed research methods to study consumers in their real world setting thereby providing new insights on marketing to the BOP.