Marketing principles for the informal economies of the emerging world
This will be the working title of the book I plan to sit down and start writing the latest by January 2013. And I can’t start earlier than November this year because I need to see the results in the market start to come in first before I can pontificate on the topic, but naturally […]
Opportunity spaces vs ideas – business development for the BoP markets
Ideas or concepts are not the same as opportunity spaces or gaps in a particular market. Exploratory user research can identify opportunities for innovation, that is, either unmet needs or gaps in the existing ecosystem which could be filled by a product or service with the intent to create and provide value. On the other […]
Barriers to business with the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ : what can we learn from Mama Boi?
The Monitor Group has made available the complete HBR article “Is the Bottom of the Pyramid Really for you?” (PDF) where the authors frame the debate for multinationals questioning whether to consider entering this challenging though untapped segment of the global marketplace. They list some of the common barriers faced by executives during their attempts […]
Spotting an opportunity in Kinshasa’s informal markets
After writing yesterday’s post on the proliferation of superficial analysis being used to exemplify emerging consumer market opportunities in Sub Saharan Africa, I was pleased to find this Afribiz article demonstrating clearly how on the ground observations can help identify spaces for innovation and new business in the informal markets: At first glance, Kinshasa might […]
Cracking the informal markets in Sub Saharan Africa: the need for strategic improvisation
Ernst & Young’s Consumer Products division released a report for global consumer product companies interested in growing in Africa where they highlight the challenge of cracking the informal markets, described thus: The informal economy is a key feature of life in Africa — estimated to account for around 42% of GDP in 2000 with the […]
Navigating the African market opportunity
We have not been able to ignore the constant stream of media articles this year on the ‘rise of the African lions’ echoing the tigers and dragons of Asia just a few short years ago. The first reports mentioned GDP growth rates and economic potential followed rapidly by statistics on consumption, market opportunities and now, […]
Design ecosystem for new and emerging market opportunities
I recently had cause to discuss the design ecosystem as a holistic approach to entering a new market or addressing the needs of a customer demographic that was unfamiliar or very different. I’d touched upon this earlier this year in a post I wrote summarizing my learnings from the field when considering the markets at […]
