Book Chapter
A critical examination of the assumptions, beliefs and ethical considerations that underlie business models of global poverty reduction
Fecha
2011Autor
Roberts, P.
Lassaga, G.
Rimanoczy, I.
Institución
Resumen
As part of the process of globalization, business models and approaches are being developed that aim to both create profits for the participating companies and reduce poverty. These models include BoP (Base of the Pyramid), Inclusive Business and Business with the Base of the Pyramid. This chapter will focus on the base of the pyramid approach as it is the most widely known and is being adopted by important agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank as its focus. This chapter will aim to identify and look critically at the underlying assumptions and beliefs behind this model. In so doing, it will further examine the ethical considerations that are at the root of this approach. Having identified key ethical considerations, a number of interviews will be conducted with people involved in these initiatives in three different Latin American countries focusing on how they have dealt with these ethical issues in practice. The data collected from these real cases will provide input for analysis. Using the ethical framework constructed in the chapter, three case studies will be offered by conducting interviews with people working in this field in different Latin American countries. © 2012, IGI Global.