BoP Producer Paper Contest Finalist
Monday, July 27, 2009
A research paper written by Ted London of WDI and two others has been named a finalist for an award to be handed out at the upcoming Academy of Management conference in Chicago.
The paper, about ventures serving base of the pyramid producers, was researched and written by London, who directs the Institute’s BoP initiative, Professor Ravi Anupindi of the Ross School of Business, and former Ross student Sateen Sheth. CARE Enterprise Partners also provided support.
It is being considered for the Carolyn Dexter Best International Paper Award, one of two competitive awards to be given out at the conference Aug. 7-11. The Dexter award is given to the paper that best meets the objective of internationalizing the academy.
The paper develops a holistic and integrated framework of the constraints faced by BoP producer and identifies specific strategies used by ventures to overcome different constraints. The results also indicate that addressing these constraints creates value for both BoP producers and ventures themselves.
Most prior research on BoP ventures has focused on the BoP as a market to sell goods and services and how these ventures must create new capabilities to serve this market, London said. The piece focuses on the constraints BoP produce face and approaches used by BoP ventures to overcome them.
In this study, agricultural ventures serving local farmers were of particular interest. Understanding what strategies these ventures employ and how effective they are in alleviating poverty is crucial in order to better understand the prospects for mutual value creation and the role of market-based enterprises in poverty alleviation and, London said.
To learn more about the Dexter award, click
here.
