Managing Base of the Pyramid as a Business Opportunity : A Longitudinal Field Study

Abstract

In the last decade a growing articulation of the business strategy of the firms with somespecific global societal challenge in line with its core activities has been observed. Thischange provides both a need and an opportunity for Base of the Pyramid (BoP) activities tomigrate from their preserved status within the Corporate Social responsibility (CSR)department to business operations. We explore the successive steps associated with thischange at Schneider Electric through a longitudinal case study. The newly adopted businessstrategy of the firm clearly facilitates the change in the mindsets all through the company.Still the need for adapting the management systems remains pending. A key finding thatemerges from our analysis is to instill interactive processes through an organizational changeand a strong commitment on the commercial purpose of the BoP activities. We also highlightthat BoP activities cannot be directly transferred to operational entities withoutsimultaneously identifying which of the functional department will be in charge of providingthe corresponding management systems and support such longer-term investments