Increasing Base of the Pyramid Marketing Awareness among Undergraduate Management Students

Abstract This article explores the potential to enhance students’ knowledge and awareness of Base of the Pyramid (BoP) management issues through a relatively short-duration, in-class intervention.  Secondly, prior research... [ view full abstract ]

Abstract

This article explores the potential to enhance students’ knowledge and awareness of Base of the Pyramid (BoP) management issues through a relatively short-duration, in-class intervention.  Secondly, prior research suggests that Multinational Corporations (MNCs) exhibit a bias against engaging the potential $5 trillion BoP market; changes to students’ agreement with these MNCs’ biases were also measured.  This time-series research involved a pretest and posttest assessment surrounding an intervention delivered to 243 business students over six semesters in a three year period.  Findings strongly suggest that the intervention positively affected the subjects’ awareness and knowledge of the BoP issues studied.   Secondly, findings suggest that students’ agreement with identified MNC’s biases was significantly reduced.  The research would have benefited from the use of a control group, a step which will be taken in future iterations of this research.  The research suggests that future business and marketing managers can be educated within the context of existing management and marketing business education to recognize the fiscal efficacy of addressing the BoP market segment.  Additionally, this research suggests that management scholars in business schools can utilize time efficient interventions to more fully prepare their students to fully participate in today’s increasingly globalized economy.  Universities whose missions require consideration of social justice in business education might consider this approach to ensure that students attend to all levels of the economic pyramid, not just the low-hanging fruit in the well-developed economies at the top of the pyramid.

Keywords: Base-of-the-Pyramid, BoP, management education, global business