Can businesses play a key role in ending poverty? Proponents of the "base of the pyramid" – a business concept made famous by CK Prahalad's book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, a decade ago – think the answer is yes.
The theory is simple enough: by selling products and services to the world's poorest people, companies can improve conditions for those people while also growing new markets. The potential market is low-spending but vast, with half the world's population living on $2.50 per day or less.
Ten years later, the reality has proven far more complex than originally anticipated, and tapping the base of the pyramid far more difficult.
"Things are working very differently than expected," said Mark Milstein, director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University, after a Guardian panel at the Social Innovation Summit in New York last week: "There's a difference between the aspiration of the initial ideas and … empirical proof that something works as theorized."
Numerous initiatives have failed to yield profit, much less a fortune, and many in the business community are walking away from the whole idea, he said.
But some still believe. Big companies such as SC Johnson and SABMiller, as well as startups such as CleanStar Ventures and d.light, are working hard to find workable business models to improve conditions in developing countries beyond philanthropy.
The difference between success and failure, it seems, comes down to hundreds of details that vary for each specific company, target market, and economic and cultural landscape. "It's all in the details", Milstein said. "It's not just about 'what works', but what will work for your company."
In other words, pat rules no longer apply. "Initially we had all sorts of rules – like "go native" – which make great [Harvard Business Review] articles, but are not helpful to managers trying to champion an initiative," Milstein said.
That means it's time to move the conversation from broad strokes to specifics, from the big picture to the gritty details. What is working, where are initiatives getting stuck and what has failed?
In this live chat, we'll dive into the nuts and bolts tactics and innovations aimed at moving business at the base of the pyramid to the next level.
Get involved
Please join us here from noon until 1pm ET on 10 June to participate in a conversation with experts on base of the pyramid. If you can't make it, feel free to leave questions for the panel in advance - either in the comments below or at @GuardianSustBiz via #GSB on Twitter - and check back later for answers.
Moderator
Marc Gunther, editor-at-large of Guardian Sustainable Business US
Panel
Mark Martin, vice president of international markets marketing at SC Johnson
Rahul Barua, partner at CleanStar Ventures
Lindsay Clinton, a senior manager at SustainAbility
Subathirai Sivakumaran, team lead for impact measurement, knowledge and capacity building at the Business Call to Action
Mark Milstein, director of the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise at Cornell University
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