Key factors for ICT MNC success in BoP markets

This paper was submitted as work in progress to the “oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development
Academy 2010: Inclusive Partnerships for Sustainable Market Innovations” Its content does not re-
flect the positions of the oikos Foundation or the United Nations Development Programme.
oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy 2010
Inclusive Partnerships for Sustainable Market Innovations
Anand Sheombar:
Discovery of key factors that may influence the
success of multinational ICT companies in Base of
the Pyramid markets
This is a work in progress. Please do not cite without permission of the author:
Anand Sheombar
PhD student, Manchester Metropolitan University & Utrecht University of Applied Sciences
Research Centre Innovation and Business, Padualaan 101,3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands
anand.sheombar@gmail.com
Abstract
This overview paper presents results of an investigation into the nature of key factors that
may influence the success of multinational information and communication technology
(ICT) companies in their efforts to engage with the Base of the Pyramid (BOP).
The research was conducted in 10 BOP projects involving multinational ICT companies in
Africa. ICT is relevant here because of frequently high expectations that it contributes
positively to development goals. A study of the BOP literature reveals that several ele-
ments need consideration when trying to create value in developing areas. In addition it
emerges that these elements are somehow interdependent. Qualitative data was collected
using the case study method and the data was analyzed for emerging patterns.
The analysis revealed three high level factors that may need to be aligned in order to en-
sure optimized value creation of BOP ventures. These three factors are BOP strategy, part-
nerships, and products & services development.

Discovery of key factors that may influence the success of ICT MNCs in BoP markets Sheombar,15
July 2010
oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy 2010:
Inclusive Partnerships for Sustainable Market Innovations 2 of 19
Furthermore this paper argues that successful contributions in developing countries that
are made with, and through, ICT are partly dependent on the health of the relationship
between partners. It would therefore be necessary to study the factors that may influence
the health of the relationship between partners in ICT related projects in developing coun-
tries.
Keywords
Base of the Pyramid, case study, partnership, partnership cooperation, partnership health,
partnerships for development cooperation problems, information and communication tech-
nology, multinational companies.

Work in Progress – please do not cite without permission of the author
oikos UNDP Young Scholars Development Academy 2010: Growing Inclusive Markets 3 of 19
1 Introduction
Sustainability is not just about balanced use of natural resources, but also about a bal-
anced distribution of the material prosperity of the world's population. That is, unfortu-
nately, not yet the case and this seems not to be a priority in rich countries. Four billion
people in the world have a purchasing power of less than three thousand dollars per year
(WRI, 2007). For this 'Base of the Pyramid "(BOP), as this poorest part of the world's popu-
lation has been labeled(Erik Simanis, Hart, & Duke, 2008), until recently played no signifi-
cant role in the global economy. This is a serious mistake according to leading manage-
ment gurus and researchers (S. L. Hart, 2007; C. K. Prahalad, 2005). They see great oppor-
tunities for sustainable development of both multinational companies as well as the poor-
est people in the world, if the BOP as a market of micro consumers is included. BOP-
communities, also known as “Bottom of the Pyramid”, “Pro Sustainable market” or “poor
markets”, are apparent in many countries in different parts of the world. These communi-
ties are not uniform, but have some characteristics in common:
- Most people live in rural areas or in slums in urban areas.
- The education level is low, especially among women.
- There is a lack of many services.
- Informal economy is omnipresent.
- People at the bottom of the pyramid, often in relation to pay more for the same
products than people in wealthier countries; this is known as the 'BOP Penalty ".
The poorest part of the world's population drew until recently little attention of multina-
tional companies. Senior management gurus and researchers such as Prahalad (2005; 2006)
and Hart (2008; 2007) have ruled out these misconceptions with arguments and have en-
couraged multinational companies to invest money and resources in BOP-projects. To
achieve this, a change of ‘mindset’ is needed. Instead of regarding the poor as a problem
that is far removed from the business strategy and objectives, they can certainly be seen
as a potential market of micro consumers and even as a source of unprecedented inspira-
tion and innovation.
The BOP-literature reveals two arguments as to why multinational companies would initi-
ate BOP-projects. In the first place a commercial motive (S. L. Hart, 2007; C. K. Prahalad,
2005): there are opportunities for a potentially growing market or for new (sustainable)
innovations that sometimes can be introduced later in other (top of the pyramid) markets.
In addition, the theme of corporate social responsibility (S. Hart, 2007; C. K Prahalad &
Hammond, 2002; C.K. Prahalad & Hart, 2002): there is a possibility of contributing to the
society.
The central question however is how multinational companies in a businesslike successful
manner and sustainable way can enter the BOP-market and be of service. Figure 1 sketches

July 2010
the interactions studied in this research: those between the multinational ICT Company
and the local partner and those with the targeted market: the Base of the Pyramid market
(BOP).
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the ICT sec-
tor as ICT economic activities (industries) where production, goods and services are pri-
marily intended to fulfil or enable the function of information processing and communica-
tion by electronic means, including transmission and display (OECD, 2007). For the pur-
pose of this paper this definition is used to identify case studies of multinational ICT com-
panies (ICT MNCs).
For clarification purposes it needs to be mentioned that in this research project the
relationships that ICT MNCs have with local partners was identified as always including a
local for-profit organization and sometimes also including local non-profit organizations
who act as intermediaries.
Figure 1: Illustrative diagram of research area.
The next section provides a brief overview of literature on this topic.
2 Literature review
The literature reveals a large variety of variables that can influence the success of BOP
projects. Hammond and Prahalad (2003) for instance iterate factors like overcoming exter-
nal barriers, risk sharing, changing management perceptive and market intelligence. Seelos
(2008) recommends to build partnerships with organizations that already are serving the
poor and to develop a business model that supports an increase in the real income of
people at the BOP. This eventually expands the customer base. According to a WBCSD
study, the three building blocks of sustainable business with the poor are related to the
business model, the partnership and the value creation which can be identified as the
product/service development (WBCSD, 2004).

A thorough review and analysis of the literature however reveals a recurring pattern of
three high level variables, or perhaps more appropriately referred to as categories of va-
riables, namely BOP business model/strategy, product & service development and partner-
ship health. This deconstruction of Figure 1 in the these “variables” (which are the units of
analysis for this research) is based upon the identification made by for instance Prahalad
(2005) that a different business model is needed for the BOP, and that other partnerships
are involved and furthermore products and services need to be tailored to the needs of the
people of the BOP. Alongside this Simanis et al. (2008) have stressed the importance of
partnership in the context of the BOP. These three variables are depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Three (categories of) variables.
BOP business model/strategy refers to “the value an organization offers to various custom-
ers and portrays the capabilities and partners required for creating, marketing, and deli-
vering this value and relationship capital with the goal of generating profitable and sus-
tainable revenue streams” (Osterwalder, 2006). In our research this was refined by using
Klein’s business model qualities to assess those suitable for the BOP environment (Klein,
2008).
Product & service development refers to the successful delivery of those to the BOP and
abiding the 4As, namely Affordability, Acceptability, Availability and Awareness that have
proven to be essential for business success and for creating value while serving the world’s
poor (Anderson & Markides, 2007; C. K. Prahalad, 2005). This 4A-framework has to be
aligned with sustainability aspects. Otherwise products and services designed for the BOP
will lead to an unsustainable and unviable situation (Kandachar, 2008b).
Partnerships refer to “an association between two or more persons, groups, or organiza-
tions who join together to achieve a common goal that neither one alone can accomplish”
Mullinix (2002). A specific issue of interest in this area is the nature of the partnership and
interaction between ICT MNC and local partners. This has been investigated by several re-
searchers, for instance Das and Teng (2001); Kramer et al. (2007); Seelos and Mair (2007)
and (Erik Simanis, et al., 2008), and it is acknowledged that the success of such projects is
dependent on the health of the relationship between partners. London and Hart (2004)

July 2010
have stressed the need for partnerships as a way of overcoming resource scarcity and the
lack of appropriate capabilities.
3 RESEARCH PROCESS
3.1 Research Method
As a research method, the case study is used in many situations to contribute knowledge of
group, organizational, social, political, and related phenomena. It has been a common re-
search strategy in social and political science, but has found usage in business and econom-
ics where for instance the structure of a given industry is investigated. As Yin (2003) states
“…the case study method allows investigators to retain the holistic and meaningful charac-
teristics of real-life events…“.
Each individual case study consists of a "whole" study, in which facts are gathered from
various sources and conclusions drawn on those facts. For this research the use of multiple
case studies is preferred in order to be able to generalize and raise solid evidence.
3.2 Sources of evidence and data collection
The research presented in this paper focused on multinational ICT companies, active on
the continent of Africa. In almost all BOP-projects of these companies cooperation with a
local partner, whether or not for profit, was present. As a research method the case study
approach has been used. In total, ten case studies were examined; all related to multina-
tional ICT companies that have set up BOP-projects. An overview of the projects is in-
cluded in table 1. Table 1 lists the participating companies, some details about the pro-
jects they were involved in as well as the sources of evidence that were used in each case.
Project Description MNCs Local
partners
Source(s) of information
M-Pesa Mobile payments
& banking
Vodafone
(Safaricom
in Kenya)
microfinance
organization
Faulu-Kenya
Case reports, website, research
papers, cf. (DFID, 2007; Hughes &
Lonie, 2007; Lonie, 2007;
Morawczynski, 2007; Vaughan,
2007), interview with sr. manager
of company involved.
Village Phone in
Uganda
Rural shared
telephone facility
Grameen &
Nokia
Nine microfi-
nance institu-
tions (MFIs)
and a cellular
provider, MTN
papers, cf. (Grameen-Foundation,
2008; Keogh & Wood, 2005;
Knight-John, Zainudeen, & Khan,
2005; Lakshman, 2007; Nokia,

Uganda. 2006; Tetelman, Keogh, & Wood,
Village Connection Rural local phone
network in the
village
Nokia-
Siemens
(NSN)
Local
entrepreneurs
papers, cf.(Granath, 2007; Nokia-
Siemens, 2007; Schwartz, 2008),
interview with sr. manager of
company involved.
Unlimited Potential Various ICT activi-
ties aimed at
emerging mar-
kets.
Microsoft NGOs, local
authorities,
community
papers, (Bossicard, 2007;
Microsoft, 2007) interview with
manager of company involved.
i-Community in South
Africa
Telecenter. HP Mogalkwena
Telecenter
Case reports, conference pro-
ceeding, research papers.(Didier,
2003; McFalls, 2008; WBCSD,
2005)
World ahead (e.g.
Class-mate PC)
Sustainable tech-
nology for users in
developing coun-
tries.
Intel Local
government /
civil society
Case reports, online multimedia,
research papers, cf. (eLA, 2007;
Intel, 2006, 2007) interview with
sr. manager of company involved.
Digital Bridge Bringing connec-
tivity to the un-
connected
Alcatel-
Lucent
ATD Quart
Monde in
Madagascar,
research paper, Web page cf.
(Alcatel, 2006; Alcatel & Infodev,
Communication for
all
Bringing
communication to
all.
Ericsson Health care
NGO
Conference paper, cf. (Fontanini,
2006; Nielsen, 2008), interview
with sr. manager of company
involved.
Table 1: Participating companies and their projects.
We have examined three main units of analysis, namely: the BOP business model and the
strategy, the partnership, and the development of products and services for the BOP. The
business model and strategy determine the blueprint and the direction in which the enter-
prise's BOP-project is intended to head to. Partnership is an essential element and directly
identified as the first commandment of successful BOP-projects. It is also important to
develop products and services that have popular appeal in the BOP community. That is why
these three aspects are of importance when it comes to determining the success of BOP-
projects.
As can be seen the targeted organizations consisted of either ICT MNCs or internationally
operating NGOs who closely collaborated with an ICT MNC in its projects. In order to obtain
a consistent group of participating organizations and projects they were selected on the
basis that they were operating into and within Africa.

July 2010
The second selection criterion was that the MNC or NGO was involved in a project aim at
the BOP market. The third criterion was that it should be an ICT related project; in prac-
tice that meant that MNC should be an ICT MNC or that the NGO collaborated with the ICT
MNC.
The result was the identification of (and access to) these10 separate projects involving a
variety of organizations and partners that could participate in the investigation. Within
each project a variety of sources were used for data collection
A combination of different sources can provide more reliable data, and for the purpose of
the research reported in this paper the focus has been on the first three mentioned. The
first two sources provided secondary data, whilst the interviews served as sources for pri-
mary data.
Semi-structured interviews were used for the purpose of this study and key respondents
were asked to comment about certain events and issues. The discussions revolved around
the topic of problems related to cooperation with partners and issues and success factors
related to this. All the respondents gave permission for recording the interview. These in-
cluded 8 interviews with senior members of ICT MNCs and NGOs. The interviewees were
either directly active in the described projects or were seeing to its outcome.
3.3 Data analysis
For analyzing case study evidence Yin (2003) suggests three strategies for general use: one
is to rely on theoretical propositions of the study, and then to analyze the evidence based
on those propositions. A second is to use rival explanations by setting up a framework
based on these rival explanations. The third technique is to develop a case description,
which would be a descriptive framework around which the case study is organized.
For the purpose of this research multiple cases were described and cross-analyzed, effec-
tively following, in part, the suggestions by Yin (2003) of a more specific analysis technique
called cross-case synthesis. However for this project word tables, as suggested by Yin
(2003), were not used, but rather the basic coding techniques of grounded theory as sug-
gested by Glaser and Straus (1967) and Glaser (1978).
The analysis process consisted, in simplistic terms, of a search for patterns in the data;
recurring issues, in other words. These were categorized into groups and these categories
developed and became more robust as the analysis continued.

4 FINDINGS
4.1 Research results
The test case studies have resulted in an understanding of the aspects that can contribute
to the success of a BOP-project. The results of the study indicate that there is a link be-
tween a well thought out BOP business model and strategy, product and service develop-
ment tailored to the BOP-target group and a partnership with a local party (whether or not
for profit) to reach the BOP-people. It is therefore a holistic approach to these three ar-
eas, on the basis of which we explain the results below.
4.1.1 BOP business model and strategy
In many successful projects people of the BOP community are included as a seller of the
developed product. Their role in the value chain is not only of crossing the bridge with the
BOP consumers. Yes, they are micro consumer with money, despite the fact that is a little
bit, and they are critical when it comes to value for money. But the BOP entrepreneurs or
sellers act as invaluable information distributors, because many BOP consumers need told
be informed about the possibilities of the products. This educational marketing is generally
better accepted due the low threshold effect of a familiar face, which is a member of the
BOP community. This makes the project more embedded in the BOP community. The em-
beddedness in the BOP community ensures sustainable (social and economic) development
of the community and additionally the provision of affordable products for the BOP.
For example, the introduction of mobile payment and banking using M-Pesa in Kenya has
ensured that the 'unbanked ", the people who do not have a bank account, now can use
banking services by means of a mobile phone. They will be able to transfer money from the
city to the countryside. Often, the men reside in the city, and they can without losing a lot
of money to travel or commission send money to their families. They can sometimes save
on mobile accounts, while at regular bank they cannot open an account. The commission
rate of M-Pesa is many times lower than those of regular banks. That is why this option of
mobile banking has become very popular. In 2009, there were already some five million M-
Pesa users in Kenya out of a population of 35 million people. M-PESA also provides em-
ployment because there are many M-Pesa agents on the streets. They assist people to
transfer money. Even NGOs have in emergency situations made use of M-Pesa to send
money to those who needed help.
All the surveyed companies have set up a special program to coordinate their BOP initia-
tives. In this way BOP-projects can be directed from a single group and is human capacity
for the projects earmarked for the program. A separate organization unit can let it operate
effectively and follow metrics and long term goals suitable for the BOP market (it is advis-
able to take into account the benefits of other stake holders, e.g. social value and sustain-
ability impact). However, this does not mean that the BOP venture is being isolated from

July 2010
the rest of the company. Its existence ought to be embedded within the company’s organi-
zation strategy.
Sometimes at companies in which the BOP projects are initiated on the basis of corporate
social responsibility, staff from other departments of the company is working temporarily
in the projects. According to the respondents this results in higher employee satisfaction
because they feel comfortable with the company’s concern with society.
In strategies for developing BOP markets, a shift can be seen (Erik Simanis, et al., 2008).
The BOP 1.0 strategy focus is on selling to the poor, whereas BOP 2.0 strategy focus is on
co-creation & co-venture. Hart argues that it is natural companies began with resizing,
modifying their product to make it affordable to sell it to people at lower income levels.
However these BOP 1.0 corporate strategies often failed to take into consideration from
the perspective of the poor themselves (Hart, 2007a). According to Hart the answer lies in
co-creating the business. This requires a new strategy and business process: Co-Venturing.
All cases exhibit BOP 1.0 aspects, but this black & white distinction is ambiguous in several
cases. In those cases, one could speak of a hybrid BOP strategy resulting in a situation
somewhere between a BOP 1.0 and BOP 2.0 strategy. The BOP presents not a marketing
problem, not a technology problem but a business model challenge (Hart, 2007a). A new
business model brings the need of partnership with often new (non-traditional) stake-
holders.
4.1.2 Partnership
In virtually all cases we saw joint ventures with a local partner. Non-traditional partners
with whom the multinational firm collaborated included NGOs, the BOP-community itself
or the local authorities. Multinational firms, in order to reach BOP-markets which are often
to be found in developing countries, will establish partnerships with a non-profit organiza-
tion or with the local authorities. These parties have the necessary knowledge and con-
tacts. In a partnership with any other party it is to be expected that the objectives differ.
But in a partnership with a non-traditional partner that is certainly the case. The mutual
interests have to be clear and the benefits of the cooperation of all parties should be con-
cerned.
The notion that the success of projects is related to the partnership between stakeholders
in development efforts in general is not new. London and Hart (2004) show that successful
ventures include (proactively) developing relationships with non-traditional partners, both
profit as well as non-profit organizations. When it comes to ICT related projects, Kramer et
al. (2007), similarly suggests that strong partnerships have the potential to expand eco-
nomic opportunity. Jenkins (2007) for instance found that collaboration allows partners to
share knowledge and information, pools scarce or diverse assets and resources, access new
sources of innovation, create economies of scale and enhance the legitimacy of the par-
ties’ own individual activities. Mullinix (2002) essentially suggests that partnerships are

being seen as an important way to address complicated problems. Entrepreneurial success
can be enhanced by partnerships with nongovernment organizations (NGOs) because of
their localized knowledge, social embeddedness and neutral dealing with diverse stake-
holder groups (Justin, Geoffrey, Ireland, & David, 2010).
It is interesting for the multinational company to work with a local partner to obtain local
market information, to explore an emerging market, to be able to test new products, and,
of course, to be able to make a profit. For the BOP-community an affordable product is
required, or time or cost savings that result from a product (consumer’s surplus) or the
income generation factor of the product. The latter means that the BOP-consumer with
the product generates revenue that by far exceed the costs of the product.
However, it is clear from the literature that these partnerships require some attention,
and that purely creating a partnership does not guarantee success. Das and Teng (2001) for
instance regard trust is an important factor of successful partnerships. The study identified
a number of issues that made the partnership less flexible and in doing so, harmed the
result of the BOP-project .These issues were described in two previous papers (Silvius,
Sheombar, & Smit, 2009; Smit, Sheombar, & Silvius, 2009) and are classified in a number of
factors, supported by relevant theoretical perspectives in those papers, that have to do
with: driving force, skills, input-output, socio-cultural, system, and trust. The factors are
shown in the table 3, and in addition, a number of examples from the research. In the ex-
amined BOP projects attention was paid to these factors in order to mitigate their negative
impact. There was no standard recipe for acting.
Factor Description Quote or example
Driving
Force
• Problems arise when the goal
and purpose of the project
are different for each part-
ner, and when these differ-
ences are not acknowledged.
• The different foci on results
versus process by different
partners.
• The tendency of ICT MNCs to
be technocratic or technology
driven.
“If there is not a sustainable model, mutual benefits
the project will fail.”
“[Western] consultants are result driven, whereas in
developing countries the emphasis lies on the process
[of collaboration]”
“ICT consultant, often male, are technology focused.
ICT becomes the aim instead of the means”

July 2010
Skill • unrealistic expectations
about local skills and
knowledge
• ICT MNCs struggle to deal
with the diversity in skill
levels found at the local
environment.
“You have this underestimating of knowledge…we
have forgotten that there already exists some
knowledge… [of ICT]”
An example is the Nokia project for shared telephony
in Uganda where it was found that skill and
knowledge levels vary greatly from one individual or
partner to the next.
Input-
Output
• difficulties that may arise as
a result of unequal
investments / risk sharing by
partners in projects.
“If ‘Company X’ helps to grow ICT development and
the local ecosystem then there needs to be protec-
tion of intellectual property”
The nature of the cooperation transforms from a
partnership to employer-employee relationship.
Socio-
cultural
• Difficulties related to cultural
differences between
organizations and countries.
• Culture shock.
The differences in operation culture between profit
and nonprofit organizations and the difficulties it
brings in cooperation.
“IT MNCs in general want to act fast, whereas the
local partner has a different, slower, pace, which
causes some friction”
“IT Consultants are not always mentally prepared for
the challenge they face on site”
Systems • Systems integration prob-
lems.
• Actual usage of implemented
systems tends to be different
from the intended usage.
One example is that of the M-PESA project in Kenya
where the integration of systems with the local part-
ner's back-office was a noteworthy obstacle.
An example comes once again from the M-PESA pro-
ject in Kenya, where the original intention was micro
financing, but in reality users only utilized the sys-
tem to make person-to-person payments, effectively
making the installed micro-loan systems redundant
(Hughes and Lonie, 2007).
Trust • Base of confidence
• Reporting in a favourable or
positive way
• Expectation management
“It starts with mutual understanding: the local
partner has to understand what the IT MNC wants
and vice versa. Trust is essential…”
”The local partner has the tendency to tell you what
you want to hear”

“Sometimes IT consultants promise more than can be
delivered or they expect that local partner will do
more”
Table 2: Overview of observed factors in BOP ICT projects that affect partnership
health.
4.1.3 Products and services development
Innovation is the best if companies have people on the ground, to find out what the com-
munity needs and wants. This can not be developed in a far R&D lab away from the BOP
community. In all the presence within the community was of inestimable value for the
product development. The contribution of the BOP community ranged from participation in
ethnographic research to co-develop products and services (co-creation). Learning form
local partners and in particular the BOP-community is one way to tap into new knowledge
sources and thus making use of local intelligence (Boyer, 2003; WBCSD, 2004). Lehr (2007)
recommends involvement of the potential users early in the design process. Design of
products and services for the BOP requires an integral, multi-disciplinary approach and
social, business and technological innovations (Kandachar, 2008; Kandachar & Halme,
2007).
Furthermore the input of the BOP-people, who acted as the local entrepreneur in the value
chain of the product, was used for the improvement of the product. The information that
was captured “on the ground” was crucial for the success of the project and for the suc-
cessful development of the product or service which was needed in the BOP-community
and that, of course, would meet the needs of the multinational company itself. For a
proper understanding of the conditions in the BOP business environment, multidisciplinary
teams (including ethnographic research) were deployed combining product designers, soci-
ologists and anthropologist who contributed to the product development.
5 Conclusion
5.1 Holistic approach
The investigation has revealed that BOP-projects have to take into account the specific
characteristics of the BOP. This is reflected in the three areas that are examined in the
study, namely the BOP business model and strategy, the partnership and the development
of products and services for the BOP. The results of the study indicate that there is a
‘causal’ linkage between a well-thought-out BOP strategy, a correctly chosen partnership
with a local party, and the product and service development tailored to the BOP-consumer

July 2010
target group. Therefore it is a holistic approach to these three factors (see Figure 3). It
was found that there are certain factors that influence the value creation. They are BOP
business model & strategy, product & service development and partnerships. Each of these
variables has certain characteristics.
- In the case of BOP Business Model & Strategy its characteristics refer to the quality
of the business model and strategy.
- In the case of Product and Service development these characteristics refer to the
processes involved in development of products and services
- In the case of Partnerships these characteristics refer to the type of partnership,
the processes involved in the creation and development of the partnership, and the
performance of the partnership.
Figure 3: Recommendations for BOP projects in relation to the alignment of BOP busi-
ness model & strategy, partnerships with non-traditional parties and product & service
development.
These three factors are aligned in successful BOP-projects. As a starting point for the
alignment any of the three factors can be taken. For example, the developed product or
service can determine the partner choice, the distribution channel, and so on. Similarly

the BOP-business model and the partnerships will determine what product or service is
being developed in the end. It is also possible that in the practice in a particular BOP-
project not every tuning direction may be present. As long as these three areas of interest
in one way or another are connected and aligned, the BOP-project can increase the chance
for a successful outcome. This alignment has been further discussed in a previously pub-
lished conference paper (Sheombar, Smit, & Silvius, 2009).
In particular, the investigation revealed that the partnership of a multinational ICT com-
pany with a local partner can have a number of bottlenecks. Bottlenecks that have to be
addressed to increase the health and thus the efficiency of the partnership and, conse-
quently, of the BOP business model, and the products and services. These factors are cate-
gorized in a provisional framework as shown in table 3 and discussed in detail in separate
papers (Silvius, et al., 2009; Smit, et al., 2009). A fairly small sample of projects (10) was
used and these projects were only those that specifically involved local for-profit
organizations. The question of whether these findings can be generalized to other ICT
projects or even other development projects can only be answered through further
research.
The recommendations as set out in figure 3 are not a recipe for success, but they can help
to mitigate risk and increase success of a BOP-project of a company. Successful projects
show a combination of a strategic market approach, a viable economic business model,
surprising partnerships and solutions in the form of products and services that fit the needs
of the local BOP community.
5.2 The relevance for practice
The relevance and applicability of the findings for practice is that stakeholders can use the
three elements and their accompanying recommendations as a guide when entering and
dealing with each other in BOP projects. Figure 3 also provides companies with a useful
resource for further improving their own operations when engaging with the BOP. On the
other hand NGO representatives might find the recommendations useful for understanding
the benefits companies seek in partnerships with them when engaging with the BOP.
In practice this research could inspire multinational ICT companies to investigate the pos-
sibility for engaging with the BOP. Those companies that already have engaged with the
BOP might pay notice at the differences between the researched multinational ICT compa-
nies. Furthermore it highlights the importance of partnerships for reaching the BOP and
cooperation with non-conventional partners. Both engaging with the BOP and cooperating
with non-conventional partners require a different mindset and preparation of company
employees and management. In the cases it is apparent that long term goals are more real-
istic than shot term targets. Companies could define metrics for these. It is advisable to
train staff for potential culture shock aspects when staying “on the ground” in the BOP
community. Furthermore cross-cultural management skills and mutual understanding are

July 2010
needed for improving the partnership with non- conventional partners. The identification
of the issues that affect the health of the cooperation might be useful.
Ecological sustainability is a challenge for business, but academics argue that BOP strate-
gies (in conjunction with clean technology) might proof to be invaluable for companies,
leading to a competitive advantage. To conclude on this: it is advisable that management
has long-term targets set for BOP ventures and use appropriate metrics to measure its out-
put. Employees involved with BOP projects should be staying significant time on the ground
for better engaging with the BOP and understanding the needs.
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