Title: Winning poor consumers in Africa: best-practices from mobile network operators

Authors: Wolfgang Albeck; Steffen Huth; Marco Braun

Addresses: Chair for Strategic and International Management, University of Mannheim, Schloss, 68131 Mannheim, Germany ' Chair for Strategic and International Management, University of Mannheim, Schloss, 68131 Mannheim, Germany ' Sky Deutschland Fernsehen GmbH and Co. KG, Medienallee 26, 85774 Unterföhring, Germany

Abstract: Within the last decades the understanding of poverty has been changing dramatically, resulting in a whole new perception of market opportunity by identifying four billion people living at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) as the auspicious future pool of valuable consumers. Being considered as one of the key technologies for developing a commercial infrastructure in BOP markets, this study conducts several best-practices within the mobile communications sector in Africa. In order to win poor consumers alliances hereby play a crucial part. We build on the work of Anderson and Markides (2007) and Prahalad (2010, 2012) and develop an analytical framework of five essential factors for doing business at the BOP: availability, affordability, awareness, acceptability and alliance.

Keywords: Africa; bottom of the pyramid; BOP; case study; mobile phone operators; poor consumers; emerging markets; poverty; mobile phones; cell phones; best practice; mobile communications; availability; affordability; awareness; acceptability; alliances.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2014.065561

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2014 Vol.6 No.4, pp.340 - 355

Received: 30 Mar 2013
Accepted: 16 Oct 2013
Published online: 08 Nov 2014 *

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