Base of the Pyramid and Business Process Outsourcing Strategies: In the Age of SDGs

The major objective of this book is to introduce social business models to face the challenge of social issues in emerging countries. Each chapter clarifies business strategies based on diligent field surveys in developing nations, focusing on Bangladesh and the Philippines, where social issues in the age of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are concentrated. The field surveys enable the effective construction of a sophisticated hybrid value chain by connecting a sustainable business ecosystem of local value chains with global value chains. Joint social business entities formed between local NGOs and foreign companies, multinational corporations with global value chains, among others, appear to be the keystones.

In Part I, the case of Grameen Euglena in Bangladesh and that of Sari-Sari stores leveraging micro-financing in the Philippines, along with other interesting cases, are analyzed as effective social business models. Analysis also shows that the IT service industryin emerging countries helps to enlarge formal sectors so as to absorb younger generations into informal sectors. The e-health service business in Bangladesh and the business process outsourcing (BPO) IT service industry in the Philippines are examined in each part of the book. Part II, particularly, shows that IT and the digital technology-based service industry can lead to a new industrial development path in these countries instead of the conventional one based on manufacturing. In other words, digital technology-based service industries, as formal sectors, can absorb working people from informal sectors. As a result, poverty issues which form a key issue in SDGS will be alleviated.

This book is highly recommended not only to academicians but also to businesspeople who seek an in-depth and up-to-date overview of new sustainable and inclusive businesses in the age of SDGs.

Takabumi Hayashi, Professor Emeritus, Rikkyo University