School of Business
Investments at the base of the pyramid: Reducing poverty through sustainable asset development
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
This chapter focuses on prior research that examines the expressed needs and interests of the poor, as well as scholarly literature on effective poverty reduction. It suggest that business investments at the base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) to be designed in such a way that they contribute to reducing poverty in a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Corporations must be intentional about building sustainable assets through their BoP investments if they truly want their involvement to result in poverty reduction. At the BoP, there are numerous social conditions that might warrant company investment, though it is more difficult to argue that such investments directly improve profit, as do those in the value chain. BoP researchers have suggested three different sets of guidelines for companies to use in determining whether their BoP efforts are good for the poor. Efforts to promote these BoP business principles are modelled through some companies participating in the fair-trade movement.
Publication Title
Sustainability Challenges and Solutions at the Base of the Pyramid: Business, Technology and the Poor
Publication Date
2017
First Page
261
Last Page
281
ISBN
9781351279871,9781906093112
DOI
10.4324/9781351279888-16
Keywords
poverty, BoP (base-of-the-pyramid), business investment
Repository Citation
Boguslaw, Janet and Boyle, Mary Ellen, "Investments at the base of the pyramid: Reducing poverty through sustainable asset development" (2017). School of Business. 141.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_school_of_management/141
