 Strategic motivations and choice in subsistence marketsRaed Elaydi and Charles Harrison Journal of Business Research, 2010, vol. 63, issue 6, 651-655 Abstract: This paper examines the different motivations behind strategic choice in base of the pyramid or subsistence markets. Two strategies are examined through comparative analysis: market extension and strategic intent. Using two commercial bank's micro-lending business strategies in Sri Lanka, a comparative case study suggests that strategic intent is motivated by building capabilities over time that results in successful poverty alleviation, whereas market expansion is motivated by an immediate desire to expand overall sales revenue. This conclusion may help reframe subsistence market or BoP arguments away from such false choices as appropriate size (e.g., multinational corporations versus small and medium size enterprises) toward more useful discussion on understanding why firms participate in subsistence markets and what is the motivation behind their strategic choice. By considering more than just size and scope and studying the motivations behind long-term solutions to poverty alleviation, firm success can be better understood and achieved. Keywords: Subsistence; marketplaces; Base; of; the; pyramid; Poverty; alleviation; Micro-lending; Microfinance; Sri; Lanka (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:63:y:2010:i:6:p:651-655 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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