Thursday, May 17, 2012

A non-robot post!

Something you all should keep in mind throughout this class is that our perceptions are extremely limited (through no fault of our own).  Why should we focus on, or even consider, problems or ideas that are outside our realm of experience?  It doesn't make sense from a cognitive perspective -- our brains would much rather spend that energy thinking about the Kardashians, right?



But the idea of the "bottom of the pyramid" is gaining strength in the marketing world right now. 


http://www.amazon.com/The-Fortune-Bottom-Pyramid-Eradicating/dp/0131467506

The idea is that there are literally billions of potential consumers who are currently underserved by traditional marketing sectors.  What if we could make products that help them live better lives?  What if we could sell billions of products to these people every year?  The margins are slim, but the aggregate sales figures would be huge.

This isn't dissimilar from the way the robber barons of the 19th century made their fortunes. 

The pyramid model is conspicuously ethical, as opposed to how the industrialists operated (hence the term "robber barons").  However, whenever there's money being made, there will be people trying to exploit the weaknesses in the system.  Microlending is a great example of a bottom-of-the-pyramid industry that's now experiencing growing pains.

Image source: http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/the-fortune-at-the-bottom-of-the-pyramid.jpg


3 comments:

KatelynRobbins said...

I think that there is a vast number of people that are almost untouched. Yes, there would be alot of sales revenue to be expected and an increase in the quality of life to those new potential customers. My question is, how do we reach them?

Colin McKennan-Radler said...

To carry up with Katelyn's comment, there should be a global system implemented that would allow an established firm, or a young firm to identify where their products, service, etc. is needed. By having this system, everyone would benefit from it, because they would be able to have a specific service or product to focus on.
A problem with this, I think is lack of competition. By having competition, firms are forced to always change their marketing strategies, product output and how they deal with customer service. By implementing a global database, would allow firms to become lackadaisical.

Graham said...

So Colin, is this database your billion-dollar (if not trillion-dollar) idea?

Do you think it would be better established and managed by a private firm, or by a cooperative government effort?

It's a fascinating idea...