2008 Headlines
Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise Unveils Second Edition of the Base of the Pyramid Protocol
April 7, 2008 | Ithaca, NY | A four-year research initiative led by the Johnson School's Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise has developed a unique business innovation process that enables corporations to profitably and sustainably serve the four billion poorest people across the globe. The three-phase process, detailed in the new publication The Base of the Pyramid Protocol: Toward Next Generation BoP Strategy, brings corporations together in close business partnership with low-income communities to cooperatively design and launch new business ventures. Authored by the Johnson School's Erik Simanis and Stuart Hart and their colleagues, the publication weaves examples, photos, and analysis drawn from the authors' close involvement with BoP Protocol projects based in Kenya with SC Johnson and in India with the Solae Company, a DuPont subsidiary.
According to Erik Simanis, Co-Director of the Base of the Pyramid Protocol, "At the heart of the BoP Protocol is a co-creation approach that fosters a deep interdependence and sense of mutual commitment between a corporation and a community. This deep relationship is both a powerful source of creativity and an enduring base of competitive advantage for the company."
In Kibera, Nairobi, the largest slum in East Africa, SC Johnson partnered with local youth groups to co-create Community Cleaning Services, a business that offers a range of services including latrine cleaning, insect control, and garbage collection. Today, the business operates in neighboring slums across Nairobi and has opened a window for SC Johnson on new product development using clean technology and local sourcing.
"By creatively marrying the resources, capabilities, and imagination possessed by both corporations and communities, the BoP Protocol results in what we call 'locally embedded' business models that exceed what either partner can imagine or accomplish on their own," says Stuart Hart, Professor of Management and the Samuel C. Johnson Chair in Sustainable Global Enterprise.
In India, DuPont/Solae works with some 45 women business partners from a slum in the city of Hyderabad and a rural village in Warangal District. The developing businesses address issues of nutrition and health, the need for local green spaces in the slum, and opportunities for women to socialize. The business models integrate home-based meal demonstration and the sale of fresh, prepared foods along with local production and sourcing of organic produce.
"The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise treats sustainability issues as entrepreneurial business opportunities rooted in innovation and enterprise development," said Joseph Thomas, Dean of the Johnson School. "This new edition of the Protocol provides a roadmap to building enterprises that offer lasting value to the local communities."
"The Center's work is a shining example of how academic research and teaching can make universities agents of global change," says Cornell University President David Skorton. "It is this kind of university-led outreach that stimulates the development of human capacity in the areas of the world that need it most."
New Base of the Pyramid Protocol projects are targeted to begin in Mexico and India by The Water Initiative, in the United States by Ascension Health, and in the Philippines by SC Johnson.
To download a copy of the Base of the Pyramid Protocol, please visit the BoP Protocol Initiative page on the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise.
