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1. Introduction
The general lack of global bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) research has been well documented (Anderson et al., 2006; Kolk et al., 2013). This lack of research has resulted in the BoP being represented as a relatively homogenous segment with no typology to assess country differences. This article shows that by taking account of both generic and country-specific characteristics of BoP markets, a more accurate consumer profile can be generated for individual markets. The adoption of a model that accounts for BoP market heterogeneity will help to prevent inaccurate consumer profiling and the inappropriate transfer of insights between inter-regional BoP studies.
In recent years, the BoP has attracted much attention owing to sheer size (four to five billion people) and its estimated between US$1.3 and US$3.9tn buying power depending on whether business markets are included (Pitta et al., 2008; Simanis and Duke, 2014; McKinsey and Company, 2016). In addition, the search for global market growth has also drawn the attention of multinational companies towards the BoP in emerging economies (Veloso and Campomar, 2012; Azmat and Samaratunge, 2013; Kolk et al., 2013). Prahalad and Hart (2004) emphasized that owing to some common misconceptions of the characteristics of the BoP consumer market, a significant business opportunity has been missed in the past. A series on multination entry failures, however, has emphasized that a one-size-fits-all strategy is inappropriate for emerging markets, especially in Africa (Prahalad and Hart, 2004; BrandFailures, 2016).
A survey of literature reveals multiple misconceptions placed upon the BoP, who are often recipients of one-dimensional labels such as “the poor” or “blue-collar” working class (Hammond et al., 2008; Prahalad and Hart, 2004; Prahalad and Hammond, 2002). Differentiating the BoP regionally has been attempted as seen in a study by Cui and Liu (2000) who proposed several multi-dimensional aspects describing regional differentiation in China. While valuable, inter-regional differences are not as significant as inter-country differences (Urbina-Ferretjans and Surender, 2017). In addition, findings from China are only marginally applicable in Africa (Siu and McGovern, 2017). A neighbouring cluster of countries, like those in sub-Saharan Africa, have contrasting socio-political, cultural and economic histories. These country differences have yet to be incorporated into a clear framework of understanding the true heterogeneity of BoP segments. The lack...