Overview

Chu's teaching focuses on businesses providing goods and services to the emerging middle class and low-income sectors that constitute the market below the well-served top of the socio-economic pyramid. In developed countries such as the USA, this may be 40-50% of the population; in emerging markets, it is 70-80% of the people. In his teaching. Chu examines the key factors behind the success or failure of these business models, the extent to which the financial success of such enterprises may disrupt traditional industries or create new ones and their role in addressing the underserved needs of this majority of humanity, including in areas critical to defining life chances. In the process, Chu explores the ways in which the social impact of such businesses at the base of the pyramid can be assessed, especially from the practical perspective of managers making business decisions.