A Conference on Global Poverty: Business Solutions and Approaches
December 1-3, 2005
An index and full text version of conference abstracts, by panel, is available at Panel Abstracts Home.
Overview
The problem of global poverty is ubiquitous and enduring. According to the latest World Bank statistics, nearly half the world's population (2.8 billion people) are forced to survive on less than $2/day, with nearly 20% of the world's population living on less than $1/day. On December 1-3, 2005, 120 academics and business, non-profit and government leaders from around the world converged on the HBS campus to explore how serving the poor can be both a profitable business proposition and help improve the lives of the world's impoverished men and women. Recent attention has been drawn to this question through perspectives offered by Prahalad and Hammond (Serving the World's Poor Profitably, HBR, Sept. 2002), and several others. The conference built on that early momentum by focusing on successful business models, the role of civil society and government, and the ethical and operational challenges faced by businesses who seek out poor customers.
Until recently, the business sector has neither sought a significant role in poverty reduction, nor has it been awarded one. In the past, its contributions have predominantly come under the umbrella of "Corporate Social Responsibility," an extension of its role as a good corporate citizen. Accordingly, the involvement of the business sector in poverty alleviation has been overwhelmingly driven by a philanthropic rather than a business motive. Nonetheless, there are cases where businesses, while not setting out to address poverty issues, do reach out to the poor as customers and potentially contribute substantially poverty alleviation.
In recent years, a growing number of businesses have redefined their interaction with the poor from a secondary activity to one integral to the market potential assessment of a product line, a geographic market, a corporate division or the company itself. With more and more businesses entering this challenging marketplace, the conference sought to identify the characteristics of enterprises and leaders that have proven successful, and the managerial, operational and cultural obstacles they have overcome. Finally, the conference looked at what impact this approach has on poverty itself and debated whether business engagement alone is sufficient to help the poor climb the economic ladder.
Panel Sessions
Panel 1: Understanding BOP Markets
Panel 2: Innovative Solutions
Panel 3: Managing Business at the BOP
Panel 4: Measuring Success at the Base of the Pyramid
Panel 5: Civil Society & Social Entrepreneurship
Panel 6: Government Regulation & Public-Private Partnerships
Panel 7: Pre-conditions, Limitations & New Models
Closing Plenary
Panel Abstracts Home
Panel 1 - Understanding BOP Markets
Marketing Programs to Reach India's Underserved - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Kunal Sinha, Executive Director, Discovery, Ogilvy & Mather India
John Goodman, CEO, Ogilvy & Mather India
Ajay Mookerjee, Executive Director, HBS India Research Center
John Quelch, Professor, Harvard Business School
Microcredit and Poverty Alleviation Strategies for Women: Who are the Customers?
Fauzia Ahmed, Resident Scholar, Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
Nestlé's Milk District Model: Economic Development for a Value-Added Food Chain and Improved Nutrition - Abstract
Ray Goldberg, Professor, Harvard Business School
Kerry Herman, Senior Researcher, Harvard Business School
Patrimonio Hoy: A Groundbreaking Corporate Program to Alleviate Mexico's Housing Crisis - Abstract
Arthur Segel, Professor, Harvard Business School
Nadeem Meghji, MBA Student, Harvard Business School
Understanding Consumers and Retailers at the Base of the Pyramid in Latin America - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Guillermo D'Andrea, Professor, IAE School of Business, Universidad Austral
Gustavo Herrero, Executive Director, Latin America Research Center, Harvard Business School
Panel 2 - Innovative Solutions
Energizing the Bottom of the Pyramid: Scaling-Up Successful Business Models to Achieve Universal Electrification - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
David Jhirad, Vice President for Science and Research, World Resources Institute
Annie Woollam, Business Research Analyst, World Resources Institute
Incubating Enterprise Solutions for the BOP - PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Allen Hammond, VP for Innovation and Special Projects, World Resources Institute
Into the Local: Technology in Support of Local Economic Productivity - Abstract
Tony Salvador, Design Ethnographer, Intel Corporation
John W. Sherry, Joydeep Bose, Herman D'Hooge, Louis W. Agatstein, Lawrence Carr, Intel Corporation
ITC's E-Choupal: A Platform Strategy for Rural Transformation - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Ravi Anupindi, Professor, University of Michigan, Ross School of Business
S. Sivakumar, CEO, International Business Division, ITC Limited
Photography and the Low-Income Classes in Brazil: A Case Study of Kodak - Abstract
Paulo Cesar Motta, Professor, IAG Business School, PUC-Rio
Melchior Dikkers, Researcher, IAG Business School, PUC-Rio
Panel 3 - Managing Business at the BOP
Building New Business Value Chains with Low Income Sectors in Latin America - Abstract
James Austin, Gabriel Berger, Cristina Fedato, Rosa Maria Fischer, Francisco Leguizamón, Gerardo Lozano, Patricia Márquez, Andrea Prado, Ezequiel Reficco, Social Enterprise Knowledge Network (SEKN)
The Complex Business of Serving the Poor: Insights from Unilever's Project Shakti in India - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Kash Rangan, Professor, Harvard Business School
Rohithari Rajan, Market Development Manager, Hindustan Lever Ltd
Dalip Sehgal, Director of New Ventures, Hindustan Lever Ltd
Corporate Citizenship, Entrepreneurship and Poverty Reduction in South Africa - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Frederick Ahwrieng-Obeng, Professor, Wits Business School
Mthuli Ncube, Professor of Finance, University of Witwatersrand
Developing Viable Business Models to Serve Low-Income Consumers: Lessons from the Philippines - Abstract
Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, President & CEO, Ayala Corporation
Chris Beshouri, President, McKinsey Philippines
Gerardo Ablaza, Jr., President, Globe Telecom
Antonino Aquino, President, Manila Water Company
MULTIAHORRO: Successful Business Model Innovations to Better Serve BOP Customer Needs for Goods and Services, Profitably - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Wilson Jácome, Director of the Advanced Management Program, IDE Business School
Luis E. Loría, Director of the Research Center on Economic Environment & Enterprise, IDE Business School
Luis Reyes, General Director, TIA - Ecuador
When Giants Discover the Disadvantaged: Managerial Challenges and Success Factors in Building Capacity to Serve Underserved Markets - Abstract
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Professor, Harvard Business School
Panel 4 - Measuring Success at the Base of the Pyramid
Alleviating Global Poverty through Microfinance: Factors and Measures of Financial, Economic and Social Performance - Abstract
Christopher Crane, CEO, Opportunity International
Marc Epstein, Professor, Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University
Economic Returns & Social Value: The Case of Microfinance - Abstract /
PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Michael Chu, Professor, Harvard Business School
Private Development Banking: Managing the Tensions - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
David Porteous, Principal, Bankable Frontier Associates
Utilities and the Poor: A Story from Colombia - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Carlos Rufín, Assistant Professor of Management, Babson College
Luis Fernando Arboleda, Independent
Panel 5 - Civil Society & Social Entrepreneurship
The Expansion of Public Services into Poor Areas: The Case of Piped Gas in Cuartel V – Moreno - Abstract
Marcelo Paladino, Deputy Dean, IAE Business School, Universidad Austral
Lisandro Blas, IAE Business School, Universidad Austral
A Gentler Capitalism: Black Business Leadership in New South Africa - Abstract
Linda Hill, Professor, Harvard Business School
Maria Farkas, Sociology Doctoral Student, University of Michigan
How Social Entrepreneurs Enable Human, Social and Economic Development - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Christian Seelos, Management Zentrum St. Gallen (MZSG)/IESE Business School
Johanna Mair, Professor, IESE Business School
Hybrid Value Chains: Social Innovations and the Development of the Small Farmer Irrigation Market in Mexico -Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Valeria Budinich, Vice President, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Kimberly Manno Reott, Mexico Country Director, Full Economic Citizenship Initiative, Ashoka
Stephanie Schmidt, Senior Program Manager, Ashoka
Understanding Low-Income Market Business Models: Process Development and Main Components - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Joan Enric Ricart, Professor, IESE Business School
Miguel Angel Rodríguez, Lecturer, IESE Business School
Pablo Sánchez, Research Assistant, IESE Business School
Panel 6 - Government Regulation & Public-Private Partnerships
Banking Regulation, Public-Private Collaboration, and Local Leadership: How a Community Development Bank Promotes Local Economic Development in Low-Income Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Carolyn Welch, Community Affairs Team Leader, Federal Reserve Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Ann Scoffier, Vice President for Resource Development, City First Bank of DC
Fighting AIDS, Fighting Poverty - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Rohit Deshpandé, Professor, Harvard Business School
Zoe Chance, Doctoral Student, Sloan School of Management, MIT
Health Services for the Poor in Developing Countries: Private vs. Public vs. Private and Public - Abstract
David Bloom, Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
Tarun Khanna, Professor, Harvard Business School
Houses for the Poor and New Business for Banks: The Creation of a Market for Affordable Housing - Abstract
Doug Guthrie, Professor, Harvard Business School
Michael McQuarrie, New York University
The South African Financial Services Sector Charter - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Bruce Scott, Professor, Harvard Business School
Bob Tucker, Director, Standard Bank of South Africa
Tom Mondschean, Professor, DePaul University
Panel 7 - Pre-conditions, Limitations & New Models
BENEX: Business Effectiveness - the Next Level: Being Served by the Poor, as Partners - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Kapil Marwaha, Adjunct Faculty, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
Anil Kulkarni, Professor, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
J. Mukophadyay, Professor, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research
S. Sivakumar, CEO, International Business Division, ITC Limited
Brcko and the Arizona Market - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Bruce Scott, Professor, Harvard Business School
William Nash, General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention, Council on Foreign Relations
H&R Block's Refund Anticipation Loan: A Paradox of Profitability? - Abstract / PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
David Rose, AVP, Competitive Strategy, H&R Block
Daniel Schneider, Research Associate, Harvard Business School
Peter Tufano, Professor, Harvard Business School
Toward a Base of the Pyramid Protocol - PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Stuart Hart, Professor, Cornell University
When is Doing Business with the Poor Good – for the Poor? A Household and National Income Accounting Approach - Abstract
Herman "Dutch" Leonard, Professor, Harvard Business School
Closing Plenary - PowerPoint Slides (PDF)
Jim Austin, Professor, Harvard Business School
Allen Grossman, Professor, Harvard Business School
Dutch Leonard, Professor, Harvard Business School
