I recently participated in a spirited panel discussion with Bruce Brown, Procter & Gamble's Chief Technology Officer, and Erich Joachimsthaler, Vivaldi Partners' managing director and CEO. The topic — part of a series on innovation sponsored by Singapore's Economic Development Board and coordinated by Harvard Business Review — was "What's the Right Entry Point for Emerging Markets: Target Customers at the Bottom or the Middle of the Pyramid?"

I kicked off the discussion by arguing that many companies ought to start in the middle. After all, the World Bank estimates that the number of middle class consumers in emerging markets will jump from 420 million today to more than 1.2 billion by 2030. In Asia alone, spending in that market tier will surge during that time period from $5 trillion to $30 trillion.

Reaching this vast middle won't be easy, I said. First, it will take more than introducing compelling products and services to mastering intricate business models. Success can require experimenting with new ways to market, distribute, offer post-sales support, and more. You also need to re-think how you organize. Global giants have to increasingly ask emerging markets branches to go from acting as local distributors to serving as local developers. This shift is easier said than done. It requires rethinking reporting relationships, talent management, rotational assignments, compensation, and more.

Joachimsthaler's perspective was that while the numbers sounded enticing, the middle class is no monolith. Companies need to understand those markets at a granular level, and recognize that winning in those markets will be harder than they think. He described Tata's seeminglystalled efforts to create a low-cost "people's car" in India. Joachimsthaler's opinion is that the aspirational nature of an automobile means people don't want to buy something known as being "the cheapest."

Brown said P&G's size and stated strategy to expand its market to encompass 5 billion consumers worldwide means it has to look at all tiers of the market. He described how P&G's strategy is to win through branded products that offer consistent "delight" to consumers. He noted that consumers in emerging markets can sometimes be more demanding than consumers in more established markets, and that P&G carefully considers whether it should "go it alone" or partner with or buy local companies to build necessary capabilities. He described P&G's Gillette Guard product as a success story — a low-cost razor that is driving growth in India and related markets.

The full Webinar is available here. You'll see we did our best to answer questions from the audience, but we couldn't get to every question. So, what follows is my attempt to answer a few of the most interesting unanswered audience questions.

With short turnaround cycles to changing consumer habits, do companies sometimes compromise on market research in order to gain competitive advantage against its competitors?

It depends on what "compromise on market research" means. Sometimes the best form of market research is getting out in the market and starting the process of fast-cycle iteration. In many markets, gone are the days where you would carefully optimize a product launch following stage rounds of carefully crafted market research. The world simply moves too fast these days. That doesn't mean launching without learning — it just might mean balancing more towards qualitative research, or using in-market analogies to help support launch strategies.

Does the quality of a product or service changes depending on culture? Or is there an absolute measure we all should follow?

I always start with the assumption that quality is a relative concept. You certainly do see obvious differences in perception in certain categories. For example, the standard of female beauty in many Western markets is tan skin, so people buy bronzers and related products. In some Asian markets the standard is almost translucent skin, so supermarkets are packed with skin whiteners. One theme that carried through the panel discussion is the importance of having true on-the-ground local knowledge, which is a necessary to understand these differences.

How should companies hedge against the practice of copying your products as you go into those markets?

A version of this question came up, and my answer was to always be one step ahead of fast-followers by having a robust pipeline that kept people on their toes. The other part of the equation (which I didn't mention) was to use an integrated business model as a hedge. IKEA is a great example of this. Copying the furniture IKEA makes isn't that hard; copying the entire end-to-end experience IKEA offers is tremendously difficult. It's yet another reason why business model innovation is so incredibly important.

How do you deal with local competitors who may have more insights into consumer needs as well as insights into culturally more attractive solutions such as Chinese herbal actives?

The ability to understand the nuances of a local market is certainly an important asset. Some companies actively seek to partner with or acquire companies to get this skill. For example, in 2008 Johnson & Johnson's consumer arm purchased Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co., Ltd, who has a number of strong local personal and skincare brands. Many food and beverage companies have recognized that it makes far more sense to acquire locally loved brands than to try to displace them. Acquisitions and partnerships are an important tool for companies seeking to crack into emerging markets.

Does an investor investing at the bottom of the pyramid have to sacrifice returns, as opposed to investing in the middle or the top of the pyramid?

While people have long pointed companies to the so-called fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, the reality is it's just awfully hard for at least some companies to build profitable businesses given market realities. That doesn't mean that people haven't succeeded or won't continue to succeed; it just means that people have to go beyond saying "If we can just figure out a way to get $1 from each Chinese [Indian, Indonesian, Brazilian, Nigerian] consumer ..."? Getting that $1 is brutally hard. There are a lot of social reasons to serve these markets of course, so ignoring them isn't the answer either. It is just going in with eyes wide open.

Considering an emerging market such as Brazil, when participating in a B2B category with commodity products, should a new player in this market put focus on offering the lowest price or try to establish a new momentum with focus on added value products?

I would very much view this as an "and" proposition. If you have sustainable cost advantages because of superior production processes, global scale, unique ability to manage the supply chain, and so on, then push the pricing angle as much as possible. At the same time seek to really understand the target customer and how your product fits into their business model. Typically there are lots of opportunities to help them with inventory management, distribution risk, demand generation, and all the other challenges facing companies in emerging markets. As the old baseball legend Yogi Berra once said, "When you see a fork in the road, take it."

Thanks to my co-panelists, Harvard Business Review, and the Singapore Economic Development Board for an engaging session. I hope to participate in another discussion before too long!

It was Franklin D. Roosevelt who referred to “the forgotten man at the bottom of the economic pyramid” in a radio address in 1932, but the late CK Prahlahad who brought it into the business arena with his book the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. The idea was compelling. The Bottom of the Pyramid, or just BoP; is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group globally, who live on less than $2.50 per day. Prahlahad’s book triggered a huge debate on developing new models of doing business targeting this demographic group – selling low margin products in high volumes to consumers at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. 

 Several others joined the debate. Hart’s Capitalism at the Crossroads (2005) opened up the debate highlighting the interplay of three economies: the money economy, the familiar globalised world of industry and commerce; the traditional economy, the village and subsistence-based way of life made up of over four billion (or two thirds of humanity) and a third; nature’s economy, which consists of the natural systems and resources that support the money and traditional economies. Hart argues that the three are on a collision course which is setting a pressing agenda.

Then, Karnani (2007) questioned the numbers with a critique of the BoP trillion dollar market and the central proposition that large companies can make a fortune by selling to poor people and simultaneously help eradicate poverty. While a few market opportunities do exist, the market at the BOP is generally too small monetarily to be very profitable for most multinationals. At the same time, the private sector can play a key role in poverty alleviation by viewing the poor as producers, and emphasize buying from them, rather than selling to them.

The ongoing economic crisis and, in particular, stagnation in mature markets has brought this debate back to the boil and shareholders are increasingly active in demanding that businesses across the developed world – branded consumer goods in particular – should have a clear understanding and commitment to expansion in fast growth and frontier markets. This is not the place for a literature review but, it is important to explore the challenges that the BOP agenda faces.

1. Triple bottom line. This Blog has highlighted the need to champion an ethical dimension to economics with reference to Adam Smith’s earlier work  Theory of Moral Sentiments and Amartya Sen’s position on the benefits to society of such a stance. Fast forward and the triple bottom line urges business to balance their drive for financial results with the social and environmental impacts generated. This is a BoP perspective.

2. Producers not consumers.CKP’s BoP ideas helped me to form the ideas around T L and yet, with more exposure to the realities on the ground I am more in tune with the point made by Karnani () who argues against the BOP as a consumer market and urges an alternative approach to focus the poor as producers. The only way to alleviate poverty is to raise the real incomes of the poor. We must be careful not to confuse the need to build livelihoods and local stakeholders with a drive to feed lifestyles and shareholder short-termism.This point has been fundamental to the switch in thinking of many early adopters of CKP’s BOP ideas. Godrej, an innovative Indian business with wide interests, involved rural folk in the design of a refridgerator, ChottuKool, that would meet the needs of the poor – small enough for rural homes; 20 instead of 200 parts and a price point to match the pocket. Results did not meet expectations and they realised that affordability was key and a clearer understanding of the lifestyle that a poor livelihood can afford. For example, the food don’t store food – they eat it. Godrej decided to re-position these BOP products around helping customers generate income. Hence, the shift to producing a version for small kirana stores to store water and drinks they sell and, neighbourhood pharmacies to store vaccines.No everyone is re-positioning their efforts into the EM territory. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), India’s largest marketer of home & personal care goods, claims success at the BOP. Project Shakti develops self-help groups selling low-priced opacks of detergents in sachets for 1 rupee and, altering their advertising campaigns for media dark villages in remote rural areas.There are other examples. As Fortune reported on November 15, 2006, since 2005 SC Johnson has been partnering with youth groups in the KIbera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Together SC Johnson and the groups have created a community-based waste management and cleaning company, providing home-cleaning, insect treatment, and waste disposal services for residents of the slum.

3. The demographic diamond.This emphasis on the pyramid distorts reality and the diamond makes more sense. Here, we highlight the growing middle class.

This market segment in emerging markets opens up a new target market – which PricewaterhouseCoopers call the “emerging middle” (EM). This is a lucrative market with incomes within the range of many consumer products. In India, at 470 million, this is the largest chunk of the population; projected to become 570 million or 47 per cent by 2021. By then the EM base is expected to account for $1 trillion of consumption – up from $450 billion currently. This not to abandon the BoP position; it is to acknowledge that there is a need for more specific segmentation to sharpen the focus on real needs – livelihoods not lifestyles; ways to earn and not just to consume.

4. Design.Paul Polak has highlighted the irony that 90 per cent of designers focus the needs of the 10 per cent with the wealth and, BOP has been a catalyst to challenge this.The BOP poster child often cited has been Chennai based Cavinkare’s single use shampoo sachet which reduces upfront costs. Though Hindustan Lever’s version that works best with cold still water followed it is a salutary reminder that not all innovation will come from the MNCs with all their technological and marketing prowess.”A single-serve revolution” swept through poor countries, as companies learned to sell small packets of various products such as shampoo, ketchup, tea, coffee, biscuits, and skin cream. The poor might not have the money to buy a bottle of shampoo, but could buy shampoo sachets for occasional use.And yet, Karnani (2007) cautions that these moves have exacerbated the environmental issue in poor villages and slums where trash collection facilities are grossly inadequate. it has been over twenty years since the first introduction of shampoo in sachets, and companies have not yet solved the environmental problem caused by plastic packaging.

5. Sustainability as the catalyst.Sustainability is no longer a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) agenda. Irrespective of the view on climate change the fact is that population is rising; we are moving to over three-quarters living in increasingly crowded urban spaces and, with more mouths to feed food production has to double.The way we use and dispose of waste is increasingly relevant and, much of this is about behaviour change. However, the argument does not tackle the real scope of the question and, the wider implications of a solution. For example, the fact that over 40 per cent of the harvest in India wastes on the way to market is cited as an illustration of the need to improve supply chains performance. Rarely do we hear the wider context – that waste in the developed world is worse. Consumers throw away perfectly good food that they buy but don’t eat. It is worse to throw away something that has been through several stages of value addition than something that has just been harvested.

6. The nature of business.Again, we have noted the tendency for MNCs to dominate their category with the top ten companies in products from cars to fertilizer controlling anything from 55 to 85 per cent of global market share – hardly a recipe to bolster competition.Cooperatives – with dairies world-wide offering excellent illustrations of the point – can play a much bigger role in this drive for inclusivity. Businesses have to add value but they don’t have to do this for profit. Several businesses are shifting parts of their structure into charity status – for example, P&G have done this with bottle water; Philips allow local stakeholders to use intellectual property and design for free as part of the company’s contribution to sustainable development. The returns are not measured in terms of profit but in building brand equity and trust.

7. Technology. Einstein made plain that a sign of madness was to do the same thing and expect a different result. Technology can be a game changer in the BoP agenda. As a means to aggregate demand and supply capacity, mobile technologies are playing a significant role and this can be accelerated as smart phone price points fall. The same technology is challenging the banking paradigm and could play a significant role in transforming a legal system that clogs up legal title to property and consigns more than needed to the margins of society. The same opportunities open up with skills training and, a range of improvements open to traditional industries from artisan fisheries to local produce so enjoyed by tourists. World Music is one example that is rarely explored where technology can provide market access and the cost of production falls.

Overall, the BoP proposition has opened our eyes to the realities that the world’s poor face; highlighting a focus on livelihood and not just lifestyles. Specifically, that business needs to help the poor produce rather than entice them to consume. Karnani argues that one way to do this is to make markets more efficient such that the poor capture more of the value of their outputs – this opens up the debate on inclusive value streams broached by Malcolm Harpers work in Orissa. The T L perspective is to argue that logistics and inclusive value streams can play a  decisive role in this quest – less as consumers but more as producers. This is a huge agenda that can transform livelihoods and bolster efforts towards inclusive and sustainable growth.

transformationallogistics.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/transforming-the-bop-agenda/

Faut-il être riche pour pouvoir être pauvre en France ?

Cette question absurde reflète pourtant la situation à laquelle les populations pauvres sont confrontées dans notre pays : dans les faits, elles payent souvent plus cher par unité de consommation les mêmes biens et services que les ménages non pauvres.

Ce phénomène, appelé "pénalités de pauvreté", est bien connu dans les pays émergents dans lesquels les mécanismes de marché sont souvent inefficients.

Ainsi, le litre d'eau potable coûte en Inde plus de dix fois plus cher dans les bidonvilles que dans les quartiers aisés. Pour des raisons différentes, ces pénalités de pauvreté frappent aussi les populations pauvres dans les pays développés.

Une étude du Boston Consulting Group réalisée sur la base des statistiques de l'Insee à la demande de la chaire "Social Business" d'HEC et de l'action tankEntreprises et Pauvreté permet de quantifier une partie des pénalités de pauvreté en France. Cette analyse s'est focalisée sur sept postes importants parmi les dépenses "contraintes et nécessaires" : logement, alimentation, transport, assurances, crédit, communication et santé.

2,5% DU BUDGET DES MÉNAGES PAUVRES

A partir de l'analyse fine des dépenses, le prix d'achat unitaire de chaque catégorie pour les ménages appartenant au dernier décile des revenus a été calculé et comparé au prix pour le consommateur médian. Si cette analyse ne permet pas deconclure à l'existence d'une "double peine" sur les postes de dépense alimentation et transport, elle la chiffre sur les cinq autres postes, de 3 % (assurances) à 20 % (prêt à la consommation et santé).

Au total, la double peine est loin d'être anecdotique, puisque son impact sur ces cinq postes représente 2,5 % du budget total des ménages pauvres, soit 500 euros, ou l'équivalent de plus d'un mois de dépenses "arbitrables" (non contraintes).

D'une façon agrégée, le coût annuel de la double peine pour les 3,5 millions de ménages pauvres français représente une somme de près de 2 milliards d'euros. Encore ces chiffres représentent-ils des moyennes statistiques : des scénarios tout à fait plausibles mènent à un chiffrage pouvant s'élever à 5 % à 8 % du budget total de certains ménages.

Les causes de telles différences sont multiples. Certaines ne peuvent clairement pas être imputées aux entreprises, telle la loi de l'offre et de la demande qui fait s'envoler le prix au mètre carré des petites surfaces et défavorise ainsi les ménages pauvres.

Quand la responsabilité des entreprises est impliquée, dans l'immense majorité des cas il ne s'agit pas de malveillance, mais plutôt de négligence. Les pauvres sont ainsi des "victimes collatérales" des stratégies de marché des entreprises, qui consistent à la fois à aligner au plus près la stratégie prix sur la structure de coûts et à attirer les clients les plus rentables.

"DISCRIMINATION"

Les cas du crédit à la consommation ou de la téléphonie mobile sont exemplaires sur ces deux aspects : les clients "non pauvres" présentent à la fois un profil de risque plus faible (moindre taux de non-recouvrement), des coûts de commercialisation plus faibles (vente par Internet par exemple) et un enjeu commercial plus important (plus gros marché à meilleure rentabilité). Il est grand temps de mettre fin à ce qu'il convient d'appeler une "discrimination économique".

S'il est difficile d'envisager que les entreprises puissent ourdir un complot contre les populations pauvres, il nous appartient cependant de faire un constat lucide : laissés à eux-mêmes, les mécanismes de marché pénalisent les populations pauvres.

Dès lors, l'objectif devrait être de susciter le développement d'actions volontaristes de la part des entreprises. Des expérimentations allant dans ce sens sont par exemple en cours dans le groupe agroalimentaire Danone, le leader mondial des verres ophtalmiques Essilor ou l'opérateur de télécommunications SFR.

Les pouvoirs publics pourraient aussi s'emparer de ce sujet pour proposer une loi de type "discrimination positive" qui renverserait la charge de la preuve : aux entreprises de montrer qu'elles ne génèrent pas de pénalités de pauvreté, ou deproposer, le cas échéant, des initiatives compensatoires. Rendre du pouvoird'achat aux personnes pauvres n'a jamais été aussi urgent.

http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/03/05/en-france-une-double-peine_1651800_3232.html

Les auteurs

Frédéric Dalsace est professeur associé à HEC Paris, titulaire de la chaire "Social Business/Entreprise et pauvreté" ;

Charles-Edouard Vincent est  professeur affilié à HEC Paris, directeur d'Emmaüs Défi;

Jacques Berger est directeur de l'action tank Entreprise et Pauvreté;

et François Dalens est senior partner et managing director du Boston Consulting Group.

Loin de la rentabilité à tout prix, des chefs d'entreprise inventent une façon éthique et sociale de faire des profits. Rencontre avec des pionniers qui militent pour une économie au service de l'intérêt général.

Christophe Chevalier, PDG d'Archer, a relancé la chaussure de luxe à Romans.

© Jérôme Chatin

Et si la crise permettait de rebattre les cartes ? De réformer ce capitalisme dérégulé qui ébranle les fondements de notre modèle social et jette des millions de laissés-pour-compte sur le bord de la route ? Sur le terrain, de nombreux acteurs inventent une "nouvelle économie" aux principes très éloignés de l'orthodoxie libérale et de la course aux rentabilités à deux chiffres. Certains revisitent la notion de propriété ou de partage des profits, tandis que d'autres (re)découvrent les vertus de l'échange de temps plutôt que d'argent. L'Expansion a rencontré quelques-uns de ces pionniers d'un capitalisme social où la recherche du résultat ne se fait pas sur le dos des salariés.

Zilok.comIls consomment "collaboratif"

Quand la crise a éclaté, fin 2008, Marion Carrette s'est dit : "C'est ma chance." Un an plus tôt, cette trentenaire avait lancé Zilok.com, un site où les particuliers peuvent mettre en location les objets dont ils n'ont pas l'usage au quotidien - perceuse, combinaison de ski, voiture, etc. "Les propriétaires en tirent un revenu d'appoint, et les locataires évitent d'acheter un bien pour un usage ponctuel", résume-t-elle. Une idée séduisante en période de vaches maigres, mais pas évidente à mettre en pratique : Zilok est à l'équilibre depuis 2011 seulement. Avant cela, Marion Carrette a dû convaincre des assureurs de la suivre pour vaincre les craintes de vol ou de dégradation. Puis beaucoup communiquer pour obtenir une "masse critique" de produits en ligne : "Nous avons 200 000 objets en location, mais il en faudrait 100 000 de plus pour que les utilisateurs potentiels soient sûrs de trouver leur bonheur près de chez eux." Elle en reste néanmoins persuadée : entre impératifs économiques et pression écologique, la notion de propriété va évoluer, et son site fera le plein.

À savoir

Ce concept de "consommation collaborative" (ou "économie de la fonctionnalité") a déjà ses théoriciens : l'Américaine Rachel Botsman, avec son best-seller What's Mine is Yours (Ce qui est à moi est à toi), Dominique Bourg, à l'université de Lausanne, ou Christian du Tertre, en France.

© Jérôme Chatin

Sur Zilok.com, Dino loue son appareil photo, sa perceuse, son appareil à raclette et du matériel audio. Cela lui rapporte environ 2 000 euros par an.

Groupe ArcherIls pratiquent l'entrepreneuriat social

Christophe Chevalier est de ceux qui ne se résignent pas. Ni à la montée du chômage, ni au délitement de l'économie locale. Sans doute parce que sa commune, Romans, capitale sinistrée de la chaussure, figure parmi les premières victimes de la mondialisation. A la tête de différentes structures d'insertion depuis 1987, il décide en 2000 d'aller plus loin et d'agir pour créer des emplois pérennes : "Je me suis intéressé à la reprise d'entreprises menacées de liquidation ou de délocalisation." Rachetant quelques machines des anciennes usines Jourdan, il se lance dans la fabrication artisanale de chaussures de luxe. Sa marque, Made in Romans, décolle, et dix emplois ont été créés. Moins glamour, les pièces d'ascenseur. "Un chargé de mission du conseil général a joué les entremetteurs avec une entreprise qui voulait produire en Chine. Je les ai convaincus de travailler avec nous, dans la Drôme", se rappelle-t-il. Là encore, une dizaine d'emplois devraient être créés. Des microprojets, certes. Mais, en les multipliant, Christophe Chevalier a bâti un groupe de 500 salariés doté de principes originaux : dividendes limités au taux du livret A et réinvestissement des profits dans l'entreprise. Lauréat 2012 du prix de l'Entrepreneur social, Christophe Chevalier voudrait voir son modèle essaimer. Avec d'autres acteurs de l'économie sociale, il a déjà inventé un nom : pôle territorial de coopération économique.

À savoir

300 sociétés adhèrent au Mouvement des entrepreneurs sociaux (Mouves), autour du mot d'ordre "l'efficacité économique au service de l'intérêt général".

Crédit coopératifIls appliquent déjà la taxe Tobin

L'idée n'est pas nouvelle. Le Prix Nobel d'économie James Tobin l'a inventée en 1972 : une taxe de 0,1 à 1 % sur les transactions monétaires internationales pour limiter la spéculation. Sa mise en oeuvre, en revanche, est une première mondiale. Et c'est une banque française, le Crédit coopératif, qui a sauté le pas. Certes, sa "contribution volontaire sur les transactions de change" est plus modeste (0,01 %), et elle ne porte que sur les échanges entre devises. Certes, l'objectif est différent : prouver que l'on peut trouver des modes de financement innovants pour contribuer au développement des pays pauvres. Mais il s'agit bien du même concept. Pour la première année, la banque en attend un rendement de l'ordre de 82 000 euros, reversé à l'association Geres qui intervient dans l'Himalaya pour équiper des logements en panneaux solaires.

Voir les autres pages sur

http://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/entreprise/les-defricheurs-d-idees-nouvelles_284628.html

Les fondamentaux du BOP selon Stuart Hart

http://www.bop-protocol.org/docs/

Pour servir des projets à fort impact social, des salariés construisent des parcours professionnels inédits, entre grandes entreprises et secteur associatif. Des pionniers à suivre.
Sur fond de crise du modèle capitaliste, la quête de sens au travail se révèle être une vague de fond sociétale. "J'aurais pu faire carrière dans un groupe pharmaceutique, mais j'estime essentiel que mon travail participe à la lutte contre l'extrême pauvreté", confie Loïc Boulenger, 30 ans. Responsable des partenariats au sein de l'ONG Care France, il "travaille sur des dossiers de partenariats stratégiques avec Lafarge, par exemple, sur des programmes liés à la santé de leurs employés autour du VIH sida ou encore l'accès à des matériaux de construction abordables pour les populations défavorisées ou, plus récemment, sur la mesure de l'empreinte sociétale de leurs sites et le dialogue avec les communautés environnantes", poursuit-il.
Ingénieur chimiste à l'ECPM Strasbourg, titulaire d'un master 2 en pharmaco-chimie du médicament ainsi que d'un master spécialisé en management de développement durable d'HEC, le trentenaire a fait le saut chez Care France il y a six mois, après avoir travaillé pour différentes multinationales, notamment chez Schneider Electric. A l'époque, il a participé au lancement de BipBop (Business, Innovation & People at the Base of the Pyramid). Ce programme cible les 1,3 milliard de personnes qui n'ont pas accès à l'énergie. Avec l'appui d'ONG locales, le groupe a mis en oeuvre la fabrication et la distribution de lampes solaires adaptées aux besoins des populations, et vendues à prix coûtant, à quelque 15 dollars l'unité.
Quelques pionniers
Avec cette carrière "hybride" à la lisière entre CAC 40 et ONG, Loïc Boulenger est-il atypique? Pionnier, plutôt. Et bien décidé à utiliser le meilleur des deux mondes pour servir ses projets. "Ce type de profil va être de plus en plus recherché par les recruteurs", estime Arnaud Mourot, 38 ans, directeur d'Ashoka France-Belgique-Suisse, et diplômé de l'ESCP Europe. Car une nouvelle forme d'économie combinant profit et impact social maximal est en gestation. A l'instar de Schneider Electric, d'autres grands groupes comme Danone, Essilor, Veolia, Lafarge, Total ou encore Adecco commencent à entrevoir que, pour espérer vendre aux 4 milliards de pauvres de la planète, qui vivent avec moins de quelques dollars par jour, ils doivent amorcer le business en s'appuyant sur les ONG.
Cependant, pas d'illusions. Les postes sont encore rares. "Et, lorsqu'ils existent, ils sont octroyés à des cadres expérimentés ou à des spécialistes du développement venant d'ONG", constate Olivier Kayser, président du cabinet Hystra, spécialisé en stratégies hybrides pour les grandes entreprises. Le conseil aux jeunes diplômés de cet ancien associé de McKinsey et fondateur d'Ashoka en France: "Partir travailler deux ou trois ans dans une ONG investie dans le social business, y acquérir une expérience de la réalité de la mise en oeuvre qui fera la différence une fois de retour en France, quand le marché de l'emploi aura évolué."
Un métier dénué d'utilité pour la société? Non, merci!

Judith Jakubowicz, coordinatrice générale de Convergences 2015
© S.Roudeix pour l'Express
Il faut multiplier les passerelles entre les grandes entreprises, les associations et les institutions publiques pour promouvoir un développement économique et social durable des pays du Nord et du Sud", explique Judith Jakubowicz, 28 ans, diplômée de l'Essec et de sa chaire Entrepreneuriat social. Après avoir travaillé comme consultante en évaluation de l'impact social à la d.o.b Foundation puis pour l'entreprise Social E-valuator aux Pays-Bas, la jeune femme a décroché, en 2010, le poste de coordinatrice générale de Convergences 2015. Unique en France, cette plateforme qui réunit acteurs publics, privés et solidaires engagés dans la lutte pour la réduction de la pauvreté, rassemble 3500 personnes à Paris lors de son forum annuel.
Alterner les postes dans ces différents univers
Tant pour Anne-Claire Pache que pour Bénédicte Faivre-Tavignot, respectivement cofondatrice de la chaire Entrepreneuriat social de l'Essec et cofondatrice de la chaire Entreprise et pauvreté d'HEC, les étudiants passés par leur formation ont "trois types de possibilités de postes à ce jour".
Une première partie d'entre eux décrochent des postes dans le secteur de l'économie sociale et solidaire (Ashoka, Groupe SOS, Fondation Abbé Pierre, Emmaüs, et dans des mutuelles telle la Macif). Une deuxième partie obtiennent des emplois dans de grandes entreprises du CAC 40, en lien avec les problématiques sociétales, en tant que responsable diversité, RSE, handicap.
La dernière partie est "classique": finance, audit, marketing, achats, mais a développé une conscience aiguë des enjeux sociétaux susceptible d'imprégner son quotidien. "Prévoir des allers et retours entre ces univers tout au long de la carrière est essentiel pour cultiver son employabilité", insiste Arnaud Mourot. De fait, les passerelles se développent au fil des années. Enfin, sans surprise, les rémunérations dans les ONG humanitaires ou dans des entreprises sociales sont de 20 à 40% moins élevées que celles dans des carrières plus traditionnelles.

En savoir plus

• L'Express prépare un hors-série consacré au "social business" (sortie en octobre).
• L'Expansion consacre sa Une à "Refaire le monde" (sortie le 29 février).
• L'Etudiant publie une enquête sur le développement durable dans les grandes écoles et les universités (sortie le 10 avril).
• L'Entreprise et Entrepreneurs d'avenir publient "La Une RSE", newsletter mensuelle gratuite.
• Le Cercle de l'humain de L'Express et de L'Expansion, lors de la 23e édition du Congrès HR', coorganise une journée de conférences sur les grandes entreprises et le social business à Paris le 4 avril.

http://www.lexpress.fr/emploi-carriere/emploi/cac-40-et-ong-la-naissance-des-carrieres-hybrides_1085701.html

As capitalism continues to evolve, what strikes me is that the changes we see have less to do with the fundamental building blocks of capitalism, and more to do with the culture of capitalism. Capitalism isn't going away. Indeed, it is the most powerful mechanism on the planet for moving people, money and resources and for creating wealth. Our entire developed world civilization of a billion and a half people owe their privileged lifestyle in large part due to the institution of capitalism. Capitalism is here to stay. But the culture of capitalism is changing in dramatic and disruptive ways.

A large part of the shift in the culture of capitalism is we are seeing the end, or at least the minimization, of short-term thinking. Yes, quarterly profits still rule the Street, but those forces are being tempered by the very real realization -- in board rooms across the United States -- that short term thinking is leading the United States, and the planet, down an unsustainable path with climate change, newly emerging billions who want to live an American middle class lifestyle, and terrorism as a response to what seems to be the unfair distribution of wealth that globalization has created.

Jim Stengel studied companies in order to determine what resulted in their success, and he found that companies with high ideals far outperform the broader market. In short, board rooms and the executive level suite are coming to terms with the fact that embracing sustainability, and longer-term strategies that allow for sustainability programs to thrive, actually improve economic performance and lead to longer-term financial wellbeing.

Companies still have a fiduciary responsibility to their investors to maximize wealth creation. But up until now, the culture of capitalism has said that in order to fulfill this fiduciary responsibility, corporations must maximize short term profits. That idea is slowly coming to its necessary end.

Instead, companies are recognizing that by embracing higher minded ideals, including the maximization of human potential, and commitments to sustainability that have teeth, they are in fact able to outperform the market. In other words, companies are able to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility by embracing the ideals of sustainability.

Sustainability is a buzzword these days, and so it's important to define it with constraints so as to give it a cogent meaning. Stuart Hart's definition of sustainability in his path-breaking book Capitalism at the Crossroads provides us with a detailed, simple, and yet all-encompassing roadmap for embracing sustainability, all while continuing to focus on earning a profit for shareholders.

Hart breaks down the understanding of sustainability into two parts -- managing today's business and building tomorrow's opportunity. First is the understanding that the tradeoff between waste and profit is illusory. Indeed, Hart's business colleagues including 3M and DuPont have found that by reducing waste, they are actually freeing up dollars in the supply chain, creating more value through increased efficiencies and reduced risk. So the first part of sustainability is in cutting out waste, which leads to more value created for the firm -- and ultimately, for shareholders.

Second and equally important in managing today's business is embracing key relevant stakeholders. When the firm interacts with external parties such as suppliers, customers, regulators, communities, NGOs and the media, the firm can enhance its legitimacy and reputation. Hart calls this "product stewardship," and he has found that companies that engage in product stewardship by reaching out to relevant stakeholders experience improved community relations, legitimacy and brand reputation. This is the second pillar of managing today's business within the context of sustainability.

A great example of a failure of product stewardship was Monsanto's intention to introduce genetically modified seeds to the European market. Had Monsanto developed the product with input from and in dialogue with relevant stakeholders, including European farmers and regulators, their product might well have been accepted. But their failure to do so resulted in enormous backlash that forced the company away from what would have been a profitable European market. Here, we can explicitly see that a shift in culture towards embracing stakeholders has direct impact on increasing shareholder value.

Next in understanding sustainability is examining business practices that build tomorrow's business. Namely, what's called for is R&D in disruptive clean technologies that leapfrog traditional business technologies and indeed render them obsolete through creative destruction. By accelerating innovation and repositioning around clean technology, firms can begin to tackle social and environmental problems that plague us while simultaneously positioning their firm for increased profit opportunities in the future -- therefore maximizing long-term shareholder value. Notice that each of these pillars embraces sustainability as a business strategy that also maximizes shareholder value in the long run.

Finally, firms can enter into Bottom of the Pyramid markets where four billion people live in a traditional economy that relies more on barter than money. Firms can enter into these markets by reaching out to fringe stakeholders that might not seem relevant until firms "get indigenous" by living with the poor for a period of weeks or months, understanding the problems and needs to be addressed in first-person form. A thorough understanding of the needs of the poor, compounded with a recognition that the poor are generally capable but lack income-generating opportunities, leads businesses like Cemex in Mexico or Drishtee in India to enter into rural village markets and roll out profitable businesses in conjunction with the local communities that create mutual value, leading to high profitability once the pilot projects have been brought to scale successfully. These increased profits benefit shareholders in the long run, but they simultaneously create much mutual value in the poor communities into which the business enters.

In this case, the cultural shift that is most important in entering into Bottom of the Pyramid markets is the understanding that highly profitable opportunities actually exist in the Bottom of the Pyramid. There is a procedure for engaging the Bottom of the Pyramid effectively, and Stuart Hart has written it -- it is called the BOP Protocol, and it is freely available to all businesses that wish to expand not only to emerging middle class markets but to entirely new markets of poor people that can become consumers, producers, entrepreneurs, and active role-players in an expanding economy that benefits all stakeholders (including, of course, shareholders).

Of course, some structural changes are needed around the regulation of capitalism -- the institution cannot self-regulate entirely, as demonstrated by the 2008 stock market debacle due to lax rules and overly-leveraged investments.

But by embracing a culture of sustainability and moving away from the short term profit motive, businesses can position themselves to prosper in the new economy, maximizing shareholder value while simultaneously addressing environmental and social concerns. Capitalism is here to stay, but there are numerous cultural shifts in the areas of ending the short term profit motive and sustainability that are needed to drive sustainable long term value to shareholders. Fiduciary responsibility is indeed fulfilled, but so too are our human responsibilities to leave behind for our children and grandchildren a world as least as good as we found it.
 
Follow Auren Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/aurensays

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/auren-kaplan/sustainable-capitalism_b_1280360.html

Social innovators seek to balance economic sustainability and impact

Shibangi Das / Mumbai Feb 15, 2012, 16:21 IST

Bridging the digital-divide in India has long been a cherished dream. While much is yet to happen, IT industry body Nasscom has taken initial steps to identify business models that can change the access of technology at the bottom of the pyramid.

This year too, Nasscom presented awards to six businesses that are trying to bring social innovation. The awards showcase the impact and learnings from the ideas of winners that have gained shape, acceptance and success.

Take for instance, Anudip Foundation for Social Welfare. Led by Radha Basu, Anudip Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation involved in the building the skills of rural youth and women in IT and language skills to improve employability. The foundation has created IT project centres across districts in east India on a build, operate and manage basis, which serve international clients on voice and data-based operations. "Unlike the last 20 years where IT development has remained concentrated in the metros, we wish to bring this development from within rural India now," says Basu.
Over the next seven years, the Foundation is aiming at training at least one million people from rural areas, generate employment and replicate the model in other states and countries.

On the other hand, E Healthpoint (EHP) is a for-profit organisation that provides families in villages with clean drinking water, medicines, comprehensive diagnostic tools, and advanced tele-medical services that bring a doctor and modern, evidence-based healthcare to their community. Amit Jain, director EHP said that just like education has moved from classrooms to computers over the last couple of years,  in the next 5-8 years, all health facilities will move to tablet computing devices.

EHP is upbeat about scaling up its operations and has started pilots in countries like Philippines and Mexico, which according to Jain, are facing similar quality and quantum of health problems.

The government is not far behind. To tackle high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio, Anju Sharma, mission director of State Rural Health Mission (SRHM) of government of Gujarat, began a project in January 2010, which in two years has been so successful, that the Indian government wants to replicate it on a pan-India basis. Sharma and her team have developed a mother and child health tracking model which serves to remind the unaware rural population of their  medical needs using mobile-based technologies.

About 9.7 million families were covered in extensive district health surveys to bring together data and create a health card for every individual. Sharma said, "Any social initiative needs faith of the people working for it to have faith in it. The public it seeks to benefit must have faith that there are no vested interests in the project. It needs support and great political will to be sustainable.”

Tyagarajan said he believes that the biggest pool of innovative ideas come from students. Confirming his statement, Harpreet Singh & Amanjot Singh, students of University College of Engineering, Patiala, talked about their software Web Assist. The software seeks to make regular websites accessible to the differently-abled using cloud computing. The websites then appear modified as per every person's need, based on the options they selected and saved while accessing it the first time.

Web Assist's efforts are helpine more people access and use online information, and thereby it is becoming a helpful learning and development tool used by educational institutions and firms.

Similarly, started by a group of five youngsters from Roorkee, Bufferinfinite is a video subtitling service - an idea that germinated from students trying to understand accented English on educational videos on content-sharing platforms. Shivank Agarmal, Shankar Kotuni, Shubham Agarwal, Harish Kumar and Ankit Agarwal are now working towards making online content more useful and across devices and user platforms, scaling up their operations and making their application compatible with Google TV and Apple TV.

Innovation need not be new idea. It could be an old idea executed differently, or the combination of several ideas to address a new need. GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (GVK EMRI) is a partnership programme between Mahindra Satyam, Stanford University, 911 Services of the US among others that handles medical, police and fire emergencies through the "108 emergency service".

The service is free and delivered through state-of-art emergency call response centres with over 2,860 ambulances across Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

According to Subodh Satyavadi, COO GVK EMRI, they started in 2005 with 70 ambulances in Hyderabad, and by the end of 2011 it had an estimated 10,000-plus ambulances covering 400 million people. They have handled 17 million emergencies so far.

The winners were upbeat about their ventures, and spoke of future plans of scaling up and reaching out to a bigger set of clients. Jaithirth Rao, chairman of Value Budget Housing Development Corporate of India and a member of the NSIH jury, however, cautioned the winners that the beginning always looks rosy and their projects need to be sustainable over a long period. He also said that they must take into account the governance of their businesses, which may otherwise blow up as badly as the microfinance institutions model.

Past winners encouraged the winners of this year to continue with their efforts. They stressed that to be socially impactful, a social innovation business model need not follow the not-for-profit philosophy. It is as useful to build a profit-based model that contributes to social welfare, as then the business has some level of sustainability.
                   
  

http://business-standard.com/india/news/social-innovators-seek-to-balance-economic-sustainabilityimpact/158095/on

10 Hot Indian startups you should know about
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By Vallabh Rao
02.10.12 | 4 Comments

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From the world’s cheapest car to the world’s cheapest tablet, India has emerged as a hub of “Jugaad”, a Hindi term which closely translates as “frugal innovation”. Owing to its booming economy, growing middle class and a talent pool of highly skilled engineers, India has a thriving tech startup ecosystem. While there are thousands of startups across the country, we bring you a compilation of tech startups that have risen above the rest to be the talking points in the startup-technology community.
Based on my conversations and interactions with entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders, these startups are shaping the way their respective industries work. In no particular order, let’s look at startups and their offerings:
1. MobStac: “Built for a World Where Mobile is First”
MobStac makes it simple for publishers to reach their audience over mobile browsers across a wide-range of devices. MobStac’s mission is to make it possible for people to consume the internet on any mobile device on the planet by accelerating the availability of mobile Internet content and delivering it to the widest possible audience.
Mobstac has been funded by Accel Partners and Mumbai Angels.
2. Reverie Language Technologies: “Making Language Irrelevant in Digital Communications”
Reverie is a software product company that makes text communication possible in any language on digital platforms. They help device manufacturers (OEMs), application developers and content providers reach a larger base of untapped users through instant localization of contents and user interfaces. Reverie provides users the ability to read and type in any language of choice. They also provide automated contextual text conversion of one language to several other languages.
Reverie was judged the India winner of Qualcomm Q Prize 2011.
3. Simpa Networks: “Unlocking Solar through Mobile”
Simpa sells distributed energy solutions on a “Progressive Purchase” basis to underserved consumers in emerging markets. Using Simpa, customers make a small initial down payment for a solar Photo Voltaic system and then pre-pay for the energy service, topping up their systems in small user-defined increments using a mobile phone.
The pricing model is enabled by the Simpa Regulator, a tamper-proof, system-integrated microcontroller and user interface that regulates the function of the solar home systems based on proof of payments, and the Simpa Revenue Management System, a centralized software solution in the “cloud”, accessible via SMS gateway and over the internet, for payment processing and accounts settlement.
4. Artoo: “Technology for the Bottom of the Pyramid”
Artoo’s software solution is designed for field staff. The solution takes the entire process of data collection and workflows online. It will do away with the back and forth of paper, avoid delays, and reduce expenses. The framework will enable field agents to operate remotely and will help distributed enterprises to centralize their operations.
The Grameen Foundation, Ujjivan Microfinance and Brighter India Foundation are some of the organisations using Artoo’s solutions.
5. Fusioncharts: “Making Data Beautiful”
Fusioncharts is an enterprise-grade charting solution with over 14 products in the data visualization space, more than 19 000 customers and 400 000 users. Leveraging Flash and JavaScript (HTML5) the suite works across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and other mobile devices. It works with both XML and JSON data, and can be integrated with any server-side technology (ASP, ASP.NET, PHP, JSP, ColdFusion, Ruby on Rails etc.) and database.
FusionCharts Suite includes FusionWidgets, FusionCharts, FusionMaps and PowerCharts. FusionCharts Free which is a stripped-down version of FusionCharts offering 22 types of basic charts.
FusionCharts Free was made open source under the GPL and MIT license.
6. Robots Alive: “Robotics to Improve Life and Living Conditions in India”
Robots Alive is a robotics start-up based in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, India. They deliver robotic products and solutions to industries where traditional automation fails. They work on the application of robot technologies on various domains with the primary focus being robots for small and medium industries.
Robots Alive products include Pick and Place Robots, Articulated Arm RA6x and Robot vision systems. Recently they developed the second version of their special purpose robots for plastic industries
7. TringMe: “Calls, Conferencing & Messaging, Anytime, Anywhere”
TringMe provides a unified platform offering that integrates voice and telephony communication devices. TringMe enables users to make calls, send SMS and schedule conferences on any device. The platform has been used by over 6 million users, from over 159 countries.
TringMe’s uniqueness lies in its ability to make and receive calls directly from the web, – no software to download or install and its ability to unify voice across traditional telephony options (landlines, cellular phones) and the internet.
8. Freshdesk: “Your Social Help Desk”
Freshdesk is an on-demand customer support software that combines a back-end helpdesk with a community management platform and knowledge base.
With Freshdesk there is nothing to download or install – you don’t have to babysit your helpdesk or worry about server upgrades and patches. Freshdesk is the winner of India Startup Challenge 2011 organized by Microsoft BizSpark and the Department of Science of Technology, Government of India.
9. Zipdial: “Monetising Missed Calls”
Zipdial is a mobile engagement platform which puts to good use the “missed call” phenomenon in India. The platform can be used for customer verification, feedback, polls, lead generation and customer support. From leading banks to airlines, from events to small real estate agencies and NGOs, Zipdial’s platform has been used in many mobile marketing campaigns.
ZipDial CEO Valerie Rozycki Wagoner won the “Leading Woman in Technology award” at the Women in Leadership Forum.
10. TeliBrahma: “Digital Experience for Offline Interaction”
TeliBrahma’s technologies offer location, augmented reality and visual recognition based services to help consumers receive digital experiences for their offline interactions. Their offerings include Interact and BluFi. Interact is an Augmented Reality platform that provides digital experiences through offline interactions and BluFi is a network of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi installations providing rich media engagements to consumers and providing targeted mobile advertising.
Intel Capital, Inventus Capital Partners and Ojas Venture Partners have invested in TeliBrahma.

http://memeburn.com/2012/02/10-hot-indian-startups-you-should-know-about/comment-page-1/