The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid – C.K. Prahalad

Book Review Chapter 3:

BOP: A Global Opportunity?

Library Reference: N/A

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Fortune-Bottom-Pyramid-Eradicating-Publishing/dp/0131877291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234441981&sr=1-1

Quote:  “The BOP markets can be a source of innovations for not only products and processes, but business models as well.”

    I think I agree with these quote because as we have discussed in the previous chapter the twelve principles of innovation for the bottom of the pyramid, it would be great if all companies would implement it as a standard in making their products and process. If you come to think of it, asides from making the products and process better, the BOP markets can be a source of innovation as it has many to it than just making the world better. I think it could make the world great.

Learning Expectation:

    I want to learn how BOP can be Global opportunity. It is stated in the quote “The BOP markets can be a source of innovations for not only products and processes, but business models as well”. I want to find out how this would happen and how effective would this be. As far as I know, I think it would be great but I want to know how great this would be for all of us.

Review:

    This is a short chapter as compares to the first two chapters. In this third chapter of the Bottom of the Pyramid, it tells us that the Bottom of the Pyramid is actually also a source that it can lead t innovation, specifically for business models. Companies therefore not only can they improve their products and process with Bottom of the Pyramid, but they could as well improve and do innovation in their business models, which I think they should do. I think that companies would be successful doing this. Companies that are successful could even be more successful and reach great heights. So I think that the Bottom of the Pyramid is really a great innovation by Prahalad as it helps us in many ways.

An interesting topic in this chapter would be Engaging the Bottom of the Pyramid. I think this is actually the phase where you engage the Bottom of the Pyramid innovation process. As discussed, companies must first start developing a unique approach to BOP markets and learn from experience. After that, fine-tuning the traditional approach is conducted.

Another interesting topic in this chapter is BOP Solutions for Developed Markets. In rural areas such as Peru, providing 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. Although these locations are not well connected in terms of communications. Computers are rare and phone lines are luxury. So, the question for such situations is what system/solution is best for the situation. It has been said that a system was developed and was used in the US was deployed to Peru and was a success.

Basically, this chapter talks all about innovation and coming up with solutions that would make the world better and rise from suffering.

What I’ve learned:

    I have learned that the BOP covers widely. Not only can it improve products and services but also it can improve or has innovations for business models. Moreover, it has more to it as you can come up with solutions to problems.

Questions:

1.    Is there an area where BOP wasn’t effective?

2.    What are the other possibilities using BOP?

3.    Is there a company today that uses BOP in improving their business models?

4.    How effective has it been?

5.    How long will BOP be present?

Citation: (C.K. Prahalad, 2006)