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The study aims to assess the tradeoffs associated with landless shepherding entrepreneurs working below the bottom of pyramid in the case of District Malakand. We use a transformative worldview, to raise voice for their welfare and to safeguard their livelihoods through a proposed formalization process as objective of study. The study uses an inductive-qualitative research design in conjunction with 20 semi-structured interviews and two focal group discussions conducted at veterinary clinics and analyzed with grounded theory methodology. The findings suggested that informal shepherding, serve as mechanism of a variety of wild herbs and shrubs dispersal and act as vectors of zoonotic diseases. Their high animal stocking density coupled with unsupervised herding exert anthropogenic pressures on environment such as causing barren mountains which trigger landslides. In cases of supervised herding, the impact is mitigated by the presence of experienced herdsmen. Their transhumance creates traffic hurdles as well as make animals and public vulnerable to accidents due to their animal trespassing. These shepherding entrepreneurs have an innocuous presence yet, they exhibit rent seeking behaviors during up and downland vertical mobility, although we cannot blame sheepherder's' for all environmental issues. Overall, the study concludes that their advantages in terms of food security, employment generation and ecosystem preservation outweigh their associated disadvantages. The study contributes to a better understanding of socially excluded and economically marginalized group of people with a transformative view to preserve their identity by way of recommending reforms for their formalization as a poverty alleviation mechanism below the base of pyramid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poor people segment has gained considerable scholarly attention, particularly after eight scholars established it as an untapped market. This study attempts to understand the nine consumption behaviours of a poor consumer. Therefore, we collate 384 scholarly papers indexed in the Scopus database, published during the period 1975–2020. Both evaluative and bibliometric relationship techniques, namely, Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, are utilized to understand the domain's progress in the past 45 years. Besides this, content analysis is conducted via hand search to identify the most utilized research methods, popularly applied theories and most explored contexts. Results show that research in this field has grown exponentially, particularly after 2007, with research focusing on low-income consumers, bottom-of-pyramid consumers and mobile money users. The findings indicate this domain demonstrates skewed development, and there is a huge room for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of base/bottom of the pyramid (BoP) literature from BoP 1.0 to 3.0 prompted the need for fresh theoretical perspectives to address complex and persistent social issues. This article investigates BoP through the lens of business model innovation, using a literature review along with bibliometric, network, and content analyses, to map the intellectual and conceptual structure and understand the key variables relating to BoP business models. The research encompasses 161 articles extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Documents were screened manually and with the assistance of VOS Viewer 1.6.18, Biblioshiny 4.0, IBM SPSS 20, UCINET6, and NVivo12, using abductive and deductive coding techniques. The findings reveal a prevailing focus on the exploratory phase among the articles, with a predominant utilization of qualitative research methods, particularly centered on case studies. Interviews and public data sources constitute the primary sources for supporting empirical evidence. Notably, the majority of these cases pertain to emerging economies situated across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with India emerging as the most frequently cited country in the literature. Sectors, such as energy, healthcare, agrifood, finance, and telecommunications are studied, emphasizing themes of innovation, entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Emerging themes include social entrepreneurship, frugal innovation, and inclusive business models. The research panorama encompasses a categorization of BoP enterprises based on their origin (top-down or bottom-up), their typology (commercial, assistance, or collaboration), and their interactions with BoP communities (either as customers or entrepreneurs). From an innovation standpoint, certain concepts emerged, notably frugal innovation and bricolage, accompanied by the incorporation of ecosystem theory and sustainability perspectives. The research also outlines a BoP business model framework, providing insights into key components favored by entrepreneurs in this realm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current decision-making models do not cover the processes bottom of the pyramid consumers go through when selecting mobility solutions to address access challenges they face. We investigate the process these consumers go through in their complex context in adopting a community-based renewable energy mobility solution and developing a decision-making framework. Findings indicate the positive social, environmental, and economic impact of the mobility initiative on the livelihoods of the BOP consumers. The findings offer critical theoretical contributions specifically for decision making for the adoption of renewable energy-based mobility solutions for marginalized BOP consumers and social connectedness literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both entrepreneurs and community shape and shaped by each other. Understanding entrepreneurship in a community context has received much attention of the scholars. This research contributes to the community entrepreneurship literature by explaining drivers of entrepreneurial activities among disadvantaged community. Cognitive theoretical framework is used to hypothesize the relationship. A large sample of 1173 disadvantaged community people is used. The finding shows that attitude, role model, self-efficacy, social norms, and ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities positively encourage disadvantaged people of India to become entrepreneurs. Policy implications have been drawn and discussed to promote entrepreneurial activities amongst Indian disadvantaged community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the core drivers for bottom of pyramid (BOP) consumers' motivation for participating in value co-creation (VCC) projects with firms evaluating the influence of each of the drivers considering the heterogeneity nature of the BOP. Ethnographic observations and interviews were used to conduct the research in Zimbabwe. A key finding is the impact of the heterogeneity of the bottom of pyramid on the eight drivers that are identified and evaluated in terms of their influence, thereby providing a more holistic understanding of BOP consumers participation in VCC. This research's findings have shown that digital technologies can be employed as a valuable complementary tool that firms and BOP consumers could effectively use to facilitate value co-creation. A key practical finding is the emergence of the concept of a Green Kiosk. This is a one stop resource which acts as a community building center, cultural renewal center, place of education and knowledge and point of access to other services such as telecommunication services. Evolving balance of power in the relations between the BOP and firms is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microfinance business model focuses largely on lending to the woman in the household, rather than the man. The belief is that women are more trustworthy borrowers than men, and that lending to women may have increased social impact. Yet in several cases, women do not have control over the loan backed business despite being the borrower of record. Such takeover of the business by the man constitutes an ethical violation. We find that high dependency ratios in the family are correlates of such ethical violations. Further, we also find that ethical violations have a significant economic cost, consistent with prior scholarship in the family-business domain. While access to microfinance increases household welfare, this beneficial impact reduces by over 50% in the presence of an ethical violation. Our results suggest that microfinance lenders need to move beyond the traditional role of just being a lender to providing advice on issues like family planning, and money management, and enforcement, thus moving closer to the solidarity economy paradigm of integrating savings and credit into broader canvases of social relationships and social structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketers face innumerable challenges related to awareness, affordability, availability, and accessibility to reach the Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) markets. The objective of this paper is to enumerate the challenges faced by marketers in making their product available to the rural population during COVID-19. The study focuses on 25 challenges, identified from past studies, for marketing in rural areas. Along with the identification of the challenges from a literature review and marketing practices, an attempt is made to contextually relate the challenges to one another, for which three extensive focus group discussions each among six experts were conducted. After this step, Matrice d'Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classment (MICMAC) analysis was conducted to plot the challenges based on driving power and dependence power. An Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) is also developed from the MICMAC analysis. This paper will allow marketers to identify and formulate an action plan based on the preference order generated from ISM to create maximum impact. Further, the research, marketing, and societal implications of the study are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has a large population of women in the reproductive age group of 10-50 years. Since menstruation is linked with the child-bearing capability of women, maintaining proper menstrual hygiene-practices is of vital importance. This research paper has explored the menstrual-related hygiene practices of women in the lower-income bracket, with particular reference to the usage of disposable sanitary napkins during menstruation in the Indian context. The study uses Smart PLS to analyze inter-linkages among educational awareness, healthcare facilities, and usage of sanitary napkins. Both the variables were found to have a significant impact on the usage of sanitary products during menstruation. The findings of this study suggest that improved educational awareness and better healthcare facilities can enhance the usage of sanitary napkins. It will pave the way for policy guidelines needed to improve the health conditions of women in lower segments of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research posits that decision makers use specific cognitive frames to manage tensions in sustainability. However, we know less about how the cognitive frames of individuals at different levels in organization interact and what these interactions imply for managing sustainability tensions, such as in Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) projects. To address this omission, we ask do organizational and project leaders differ in their understanding of tensions in a BOP project, and if so, how? We answer this question by drawing on a 5-year study of a BOP project of a global pharmaceutical company in India. In line with the existing research, we found three kinds of frames—paradoxical, business case, and business—held differently across organizational levels and over time. We also found that the shift in frames of both project and organizational leaders was mediated by the decision-making horizon. The initial divergence across organizational levels, seen in paradoxical and business frames, was mediated by long-term decision-making horizon. However, there was an eventual convergence toward business frames associated with the shift from long- to shorter-term decision-making horizons and one that led to the project’s closure. We contribute by proposing a dynamic model of cognitive frames in sustainability, where the research has either alluded to top-down or bottom-up understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]