Can business afford to ignore 80 per cent of humanity? One of the world's most widely respected business consultants reveals today's fastest-growing new market - five billion poor people - and demonstrates how to serve that market, profitably.

"For once a new book really does deserve the label 'visionary'." Management Today;The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market is where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the billions of poor people in the world have immense untapped buying power. For companies who learn how to serve them they represent an enormous opportunity. Not only can it be done, it is being done profitably, and in the process is moving very poor people out of their poverty.;Now, one of the world's leading business gurus C K Prahalad shows why you can't afford to ignore "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) markets, how to drive the radical innovations needed to profit from them, and how those innovations will make you more competitive everywhere. Prahalad presents eleven in-depth case stories from India, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, and Venezuela. They range from salt to soap, banking to mobile phones, healthcare to housing. Prahalad shows how multinational firms can play an extraordinarily constructive role in building "bottom of the pyramid" markets, reducing poverty, and creating an inclusive capitalism that works for everyone.;"C. K. Prahalad argues that companies must revolutionize how they do business in developing countries if both sides of that economic equation are to prosper. Drawing on a wealth of case studies, his compelling new book offers an intriguing blueprint for how to fight poverty with profitability." Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft.;"The Bottom of the Pyramid belongs at the top of the reading list for business people, academics, and experts pursuing the elusive goal of sustainable growth in the developing world. C. K. Prahalad writes with uncommon insight about consumer needs in poor societies and opportunities for the private sector to serve important public purposes while enhancing its own bottom line. If you are looking for fresh thinking about emerging markets, your search is ended. This is the book for you." Madeleine K. Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State.;"Prahalad challenges readers to re-evaluate their pre-conceived notions about the commercial opportunities in serving the relatively poor nations of the world. The Bottom of the Pyramid highlights the way to commercial success and societal improvement - but only if the developed world reconceives the way it delivers products and services to the developing world." Christopher Rodrigues, CEO, Visa International.;"An important and insightful work showing persuasively how the private sector can be put at the centre of development, not just as a rhetorical flourish but as a real engine of jobs and services for the poor." Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme.

• Preface
• I
• The Market at the Bottom of the Pyramid
• Products and Services for the BOP
• BOP
• A Global Opportunity?
• The Private Sector Eco System
• Transaction Governance Capacity andThe Evolution of Bottom of the Pyramid Markets
• Development as Social Transformation
• II
• SUCCESS STORIES FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID
• Section I
• The Market at the BOP
• Casas Bahia
• Fulfilling a Dream
• CEMEX
• Innovation in Housing for the Poor
• Section II
• Known Problems and Known Solutions
• What is the Missing Link? The Annapurna Salt Story
• Public Health and Private Enterprise
• Selling Health
• Hindustan Lever Limited and the Soap Market
• Section III
• Known Problems and Unique Solutions
• Jaipur Foot
• Challenging Convention
• The Aravind Eye Care System
• Giving Them The Most Precious Gift
• Section IV
• Known Problems and System wide Reform
• ICICI Bank
• Innovations in Finance
• The ITC e
• Choupal Story
• Profitable Rural Transformation
• The EID Parry Story
• Section V
• Scaling Innovations
• The Voxiva Story
• Innovations in Energy
• E+Co's Investment in Tecnosol
• Section VI
• Creating Enabling Conditions for the Development of Private Sector
• Citizen Centricity
• E Governance in Andhra Pradesh
• Biographies
• Index