Bottom of Pyramid (BoP): The neoliberal drive towards women entrepreneurship in the global south.

DRAFT TITLE

Bottom of Pyramid (BoP): The neoliberal drive towards women entrepreneurship in the global south.

CRITICAL QUESTION

to what extent the bottom of pyramid approaches are able to empower women in the Global South? In your analysis you can bring both merits, positives and disadvantages, criticisms. Criticisms may include how this is a neoliberal strategy.

OUTLINE OF THE ESSAY: 

Introduction:

On the basis of your analysis make sure you have a main argument about BOP which you introduce in introduction and reiterate in the conclusion.

The Main body of the text

First make sure you explain what BOP is as you do in this outline, 

who introduced the idea, 

what are the main purposes? 

what are the main theoretical premises? 

what are the policy tools used with reference to key scholars such as Prahalad etc.

Second you bring criticisms to BOP in the literature: Criticisms may include how this is a neoliberal strategy, this exposes women to market risk…etc. again from the literature 

Third you can examine some case studies and their findings. Dolan’s work on Bangladesh is good, but you need to enrich your data to make a full evaluation, for example there are further case studies below, the case of Avon in South Africa….etc.

Conclusion:

Introduction will be reiterated in the conclusion. The critical question set in earlier need to be answered.

References

Angot, J. and Plé, L., 2015. Serving poor people in rich countries: the bottom-of-the-pyramid business model solution. Journal of Business Strategy.

Dolan, C. and M. Johnstone-Louis (2011).  ‘Re-siting Corporate Responsibility: The Making of South Africa’s Avon Entrepreneurs’ Focaal vol. 60. 

Dolan, C. and Scott, L. (2009).  ‘Lipstick Evangelism: Avon Trading Circles and Gender Empowerment in South Africa’. Gender and Development vol. 17 (2), 203-218. 

Dolan, C., & Roll, K. 2013. Capital’s New Frontier: From ‘Unusable’ Economies to Bottom-of-the-Pyramid Markets in Africa. African Studies Review, 56(3), 123–146.

Dolan, C., 2012. The new face of development: The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ entrepreneurs (Respond to this article at http://www. therai. org. uk/at/debate). Anthropology Today, 28(4), pp.3-7.

Dolan, C., Johnstone-Louis, M. and Scott, L., 2012. Shampoo, saris and SIM cards: seeking entrepreneurial futures at the bottom of the pyramid. Gender & Development, 20(1), pp.33-47.

Dolan, C: and D. Rajak (2016) “Remaking Africa’s Informal Econmies: Youth, Entrepreneurship and the Promise of Inclusion at the Bottom of the Pyramid”, The Journal of Development Studies, 52 84): 514-529.

Hammond, A.L. and Prahalad, C.K., 2004. Selling to the poor. Foreign Policy, pp.30-37.

Karnani, A.G., 2006. Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: A Mirage. California Management Review, Forthcoming.

Karnani, Aneel, 2007. ‘Doing Well By Doing Good. Case Study: ‘Fair & Lovely’ Whitening Cream.’ Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 28 (13), pages 1351-1357, December.

Karnani, Aneel, 2007. ‘Misfortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.’ Greener Management International, June 2007.

Karnani, Aneel, 2007. ‘The Mirage of Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid.’ California Management Review, Vol. 49 (4), pages 90-111, Summer 2007.

Karnani, Aneel, 2009. ‘Romanticising the Poor Harms the Poor.’ Journal of International Development, Vol. 21 (1), pages 76-86, January 2009.

Karnani, Aneel, 2012. 'Markets of the Poor: Opportunities and Limits.' International Journal of Rural Management, Vol. 8 (1&2), pages 7-17.

Rajak, D. and C. Dolan. 2018. ‘Speculative Futures at the Bottom of the Pyramid’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 24 (2).

***(Green coloured are key references) 

Oh dear, looks like this assignment won't be a walk in the park - it's going to be analytical, not descriptive! Wow, looks like social science has quite the buffet of development theories to choose from - colonial, post-colonial, Marxist, Kanianism, neoliberal, post-development, and more! Looks like we're going full-on neoliberal for this assignment! Let's take a closer look at the "bottom of the pyramid" strategy through the lens of neoliberal development theory. Oh, do tell! What juicy case studies do we have to discuss? Let's get quippy and look at the topic/critical question from all sides! Gotta weigh the pros and cons of the "bottom of the pyramid" approach and make sure to wrap up that argument in the conclusion. Fifteen sources? Challenge accepted! But don't worry, I won't stop there.