Growing Green at the Base of the Pyramid

The Great Recession hit the global economy hard, and shows no real signs of letting up in the United States and Europe. But in the developing world -- the so-called BRIC economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, growth is far outpacing even the United States' boom years.

At the second panel discussion of the GreenBiz Innovation Forum, Marc Gunther laid out just how much those economies are growing: China at 10 percent per year, Brazil at 8.8 percent per year, India at 7.4 percent per year, compared to just 2 percent in the United States.

Asked for examples of what kinds of businesses are thriving by focusing on the "Base of the Pyramid" (BOP) market, Gunther's panelists -- Pawan Mehra, Aron Cramer and Hunter Lovins -- cited the mobile industry, the mobile industry and the mobile industry.

"In India, the mobile industry has 500 million users, adding the equivalent of a Sprint every six months," said Pawan Mehra, the managing director of cKinetics, a "venture accelerator" focused on sustainable growth. But because the average mobile phone customer in India spends just $3 a year, it has developed a whole host of innovation throughout the ecosystem.

Mehra cited as one of the greener examples the reuse of handsets -- he said that the average handset is reused on average seven times, and that companies have sprung up to meet the demand for cheaper, reused handsets.

Aron Cramer, the CEO of BSR, cited China's mobile phone industry as another example of sustainable innovation. The state-owned telecom China Mobile, he said, is accomplishing good things for its customers as well as accomplishing nation-building in the rural parts of the country.

While China Mobile is building cell towers out in rural China, it is equipping some of its towers with solar panels, and helping to bring new businesses to the region in the process. Cramer compared the initiative to the United States in the 1950s ("When the U.S. used to build things and invest in the future," he opined), and the development of the interstate highway system.

For interesting research on

Research on Sustainability @ Base of the Pyramid (not verified), October 22, 2010 - 02:32

For interesting research on sustainability at the BoP see (amongst others) the following:

Kandachar, P; Halme, M. (eds.): Sustainability challenges and solutions at the base of the pyramid: Business, technology and the poor, Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield 2008 (esp. pp. 446-461: "Sustainable development at the BOP - On integrated approaches beyond trade-off-thinking") (http://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/productdetail.kmod?productid=2759)

Hahn, R.: "The Ethical Rational of Business for the Poor - Integrating the Concepts Bottom of the Pyramid, Sustainable Development, and Corporate Citizenship". In: Journal of Business Ethics 2009, Vol. 84, No. 3, pp. 313-324 (http://www.springerlink.com/content/73325380134x1361/)

John Warner: Building Innovation Through Green Chemistry Leading up to the GreenBiz Innovation Forum, John Warner, founder of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry and one of the fathers of green chemistry, talks about how green chemistry syncs up with innovation within companies.	Dell, HP Swap Top Scores in Newsweek's Latest Green Rankings Technology firms are once again heavily represented in the second annual list of the nation's greenest companies, with even fewer non-tech companies making the top 10 lists.
Does Big Oil Have Too Much Influence Over Academic Research? Research contracts between universities and the oil sector often fail to provide sufficient academic control and independence, a new report suggests.	Life in the Real World after EDF Climate Corps People often remark on the incredible amount of financial savings uncovered by green MBAs participating in the EDF Climate Corps program. Just as remarkable is how these fellows parlayed their summer experiences into long-term careers at the nexus of business and the environment.
Walmart, Target Pull Lead-Tainted Toddler Chairs, Jewelry Beads Walmart and Target have pulled chairs, kid's boxing gloves and foam beads from their store shelves after tests showed they violate federal lead limits.	Do Green Businesses Have Happier Workers? A study that looks at sustainability from an employee productivity level rather than a financial level, finds that productivity goes up as much as 40 percent if workers perceive that their job is for the greater good.
What Will Become of Corporate Sustainability Ratings? A report published last week called "Rate the Raters" found many areas for improvement in the quality and transparency of sustainability ratings. As the co-director of one such rating, here's why I believe the scrutiny can only help.	AEP, Fujifilm Take Enterprise Approach to Tracking Environmental Data Using decentralized, silo-type software programs to track environmental data can lead to a raft of headaches for companies operating multiple facilities, such as issues with security, accuracy and difficulty comparing performance on a site-by-site basis.

In This Section

Featured Blogs

A Life of Ideas

In This Section

VERGE Events 2013

GreenBiz Forums 2013

Resource Center

State of Green Business

Career Resources

Blogs

Growing Green at the Base of the Pyramid

Archived Comments (1)

For interesting research on

Convergence Paris 2013