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Option For The Bottom of The Pyramid.1
Option For The Bottom of The Pyramid.1
“Let us not belittle our fellow countrymen depicted by poverty, for these are not problems but opportunities to empower, alleviate
Elcid Aleman
What is Poverty?
While the world is globalizing and the mainstream media in many developed
nations are pointing out that economies are booming, half the world or
nearly three billion human beings live on less than two dollars a day.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of the poorest 48 nations (that is, a quarter of
the world’s countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people
combined.
Zimbabwe
Liberia
Comoros
Solomon Islands
Niger
Ethiopia
Warren Buffett
Net Worth: $47 billion
Source:Investments
Central African Republic Residence: U.S.
In the area of education, adult literacy improved to 79% from 48% over a 25-year
period, and yet nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read
Option for the bottom of the pyramid does not mean a dole-out approach
to poverty reduction. It is the promotion of pro-poor economic growth with
the private business sector as leader.
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15 2003
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Families Individuals
Millennium Development Goals, a universal and urgent call to action has been
made to achieve a 50% reduction in poverty by the year 2015
Least
Advantages
The Last
The Lost
1. Reputational capital.
The first reason has got to do with the quality of a company’s environmental and community
management that provides a good indicator of the overall quality of its business.
2. Sustainability premium.
It seems that the social and environmental sustainability forms part of a firm’s competitive
advantage, which is actually linked to profitability. The company’s share in citizenship,
particularly in the role of business in reducing poverty, creates a sustainability premium on
earnings due to higher stakeholder satisfaction, reduced cost of transaction, and guaranteed
quality human capital coupled with reduced social risks.
3. Social investment.
The allocation of business resources will not be driven only by shareholder value but also by
stakeholder value. It is now imperative for business to see its role in poverty eradication as a
“social investment” rather than a simple act of philanthropy.
2. Favorable trade means that developed nations are able to get inexpensive
natural resources from poorer countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America, including oil for power, ores and minerals for manufacturing
durable goods, and manufactured goods made by low-wage workers in
factories operated by multinational corporations.
Dependency theory says that poor (and the poor nations), who are beggars, depend
on the rich (and the rich nations), who are donors, in an endless cycle of begging
and donating.
If the poorer nations are not given the sufficient means to produce their own food, if
they are not allowed to use the tools of production for themselves, it is a possibility
that poverty will continue.
1. More than dole-outs. The principle goes beyond doling out company donations as an
act of philanthropy. Leading and cutting-edge corporations and enterprises have graduated
from that.
2. Transcends public relations. Option for the dirt-poor surpasses the key result areas of
the public relations office. It is more than corporate-image building that ends up neatly in an
increase in sales. CSR champions do not do what is good and ethical primarily to project
angelic images. It is “beyond form” and publicity gimmick.
3. Genuine commitment to grassroots development. The only motivation why we opt for
the poor is to prevent the widening gap between the haves and have-nots, to arrest the
growing gap between the elite and the masses (Narayan et al., 2000). The only underlying
motive is to serve, “serviam,” as written in the coat of arms of Jaime Cardinal Sin, former
archbishop of Manila.
5. Corporate decision. Preferential option for the poor is a personal choice of an individual.
Besides being a personal disposition, however, it can also be a corporate decision of any
business community concerning the issue of ownership, use, and sharing of goods and
resources. Not only the boss but the whole company may opt for the poor, hence corporate
social responsibility and corporate citizenship.
7. But not exclusive. This preferential option is neither an exclusive nor an excluding
interest, in such a way there’s no more room for those who are not poor. The corporate
decision to opt for the poor excludes no one and, far from being a sign of particularism or
sectarianism, it can manifest the universality of the company’s vision-mission.
8. Witness to human dignity. Finally, preferential option for the poor is a kind of
witnessing. When the company opts for the poor it gladly affirms that the homo sapiens is
worth for what he/she has, and that “being” is more important that “having”. This principle
can finally demonstrate the truth that human dignity cannot be destroyed in whatever
situation of poverty, rejection, or powerlessness to which the poor has been reduced
(Narayan et al, 2000).
The emergence of the four billion people, the bottom of the pyramid, whom
Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods
(FMCG) company.