Social Marketing for Safe Water

the quality of life of the poor, companies need to serve them with essential highquality products and services at an affordable price. Serving the needs of low-incomeconsumers and empowering their entry into the global marketplace is considered asessential for sustainable growth and poverty reduction.2.1.2 Questioning the Fortune at the Bottom of the PyramidDuring the past years, when interest in the BoP concept since Prahalad’s andHart’s promising proposition that the global poor are a potential profitable marketsegment rose, several companies launched business initiatives that targeted theBoP. Unfortunately, most BoP enterprises remain small, are inefficient andunprofitable. They are in the so-called “survival trap”, which keeps businessesstruggling and individuals poor (Kacou, 2010). Businesses often fail to adjust to therealities of BoP markets. In addition, they meet problems to reduce costs and pricesfor the products they serve to people living on a few dollars a day (Karamchandani,Kubzansky, & Lalwani, 2011). It needs substantial resources to design and produceaffordable products for the global poor that often surpass the budgets. If everpossible, profitability will be reached only in the long-term. Until now, there are just afew businesses that are sizeable (Karamchandani, Kubzansky, & Lalwani, 2011).One of the earliest and most sizeable business models that engage with the poor ismicrocredit pioneered by Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank. But for mostcompanies, it still remains unclear how to catch on the opportunities in the BoPmarket.Based on this evidence and experiences, opinions about the effective businessopportunities diverge. There is much debate among academic scholars andpractitioners whether the claim that significant profits are hidden at the base of thepyramid is realistic. There are several limitations inherent to the BoP concept and theassumptions of the proponents. Critics argue that simply offering small packages topoor people, which has been originally proposed by Prahalad, is not a solution tosuccessfully tap the BoP market and enhance the well-being of the poor (Jaiswal,2007). There are also ethical concerns that arise when doing business withimpoverished people (Davidson, 2009). Selling inappropriate goods like cheap skinwhitening cream or tobacco products is from a moral point of view questionable.There are many products sold to BoP consumers that are not likely to increase their7