Role of innovation in social value creation at bottom of the pyramid

Abstract

Many multi-national corporations (MNCs) are turning to emerging markets (EMs), due to stagnation and slow growth in the developed markets. In EMs, there is an untapped market called bottom of the pyramid, which is the largest and the fastest growing segment in the entire world. There is a big scope for MNCs to achieve success in EMs by focusing on innovation at BOP. The main objective of this paper is to identify and understand innovation dimensions that lead to social value creation in a BOP market. To achieve the above mentioned objective, the case studies from published literature were selected. We also draw on emerging research on BOP from the innovation and social entrepreneurship fields as well as from social value creation. The literature on marketing to the bottom of the pyramid was extensively reviewed and dimensions of innovation and social value creation at BOP were identified. Authors established relationships between these identified dimensions of innovation and social value creation in the form of research propositions. Finally, a model depicting relationships between above mentioned variables has been proposed. At the end, we have discussed some important implications for both theory and practice.