Bottom of the Pyramid

The bottom of the pyramid (BoP) as a term and concept has seen a recent renaissance through the work of two business professors, C. K. Prahalad of the University of Michigan, and Stuart L. Hall of Cornell University. Of the roughly 6.5 billion people in the world [Page 43]today, according to Prahalad and Hall, more than 4 billion live at the bottom, or, by some of their varying definitions, at below $2 a day or below a purchasing power parity of $1,500 a year. Due to their inherent lack of money, businesses around the world have largely ignored this vast collection of poor people. Such neglect, according to Prahalad and Hall, constitutes a missed opportunity of vast proportions, for the multitudes at the bottom represent ...