Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Video Case Studies, The

Video Case Studies: Produced by C.K. Prahalad's students, these videos illustrate the case studies presented in the book.

The Market Exists at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Casas Bahia
Produced by Andrew Wilson and Sami Foguel
In fifty years, Casas Bahia has grown from one man selling blankets and bed linens door-to-door to the largest retail chain in Brazil, offering electronics, appliances, and furniture. With its emphasis on serving the poor customer, its low prices, and credit determined by payment history rather than formal income (70 percent of Casas Bahia customers have no formal or consistent income), Casas Bahia grosses over US$1 billion, and has invoked deep loyalty in its customers.

CEMEX
Produced by Ajit Sharma, Sharmilee Mohan, and Sidharth Singh
The third largest cement manufacturer in the world, Cemex decided it needed to move from selling materials to selling solutions. With low fixed prices, materials on credit, pre-costed housing designs, and even supervised construction services for Mexicans working abroad, Cemex makes housing affordable and possible for the poor in Mexico.

Known Problems, Known Solutions

Salt–Hindustan Lever Limited
Produced by Anuja Rajendra and Tej Shah
In India, Iodine Deficiency Disorder hinders the growth and intellectual development of 70 million people, with twenty percent of the population at risk. Yet up to fifty percent of the iodine in iodized salt can be lost during storage, transportation, and Indian cooking. Using world-class technology, Hindustan Lever Ltd. has developed a more stable iodine for salt that is effective in preventing IDD and affordable; using village-based entrepreneurs to sell products in remote areas, HLL is ensuring its availability, as well as providing jobs, income, and self-respect for the poor.
 
Soap–Hindustan Lever Limited
Produced by Mindy Murch and Kate Reeder
Around the world, 2.2 million people die from diarrheal disease every year. Children are especially at risk–one child dies every 30 seconds. India alone contributes thirty percent of the world's diarrheal deaths. By teaching and demonstrating the benefits of handwashing through both UN and branded programs that reach into the villages, Hindustan Lever Ltd. is reducing infectious disease and improving soap sales.

Aravind Eye Hospital
Produced with the permission of Aravind Eye Hospital
From an eleven-bed clinic, Aravind Eye Hospital has grown to the largest eye care facility in the world. Their innovations in operations, materials, and patient care support seeing over 1.4 million patients, and performing over 200,000 sight-restoring surgeries, each year. Two-thirds of its patients are served at no cost–and those who pay, pay an average of $75.

Known Problems That Need System-Wide Solutions

e-Choupal–ITC
Produced by Kuttayan Annamalai and Sachin Rao
In setting up rural farmer-entrepreneurs with Internet access, and using modern technology to accurately weigh farmers' crops (and paying them promptly), ITC's e-Choupal system is transforming India's agricultural supply chain, reducing systemic corruption and giving farmers both better prices for their crops and a sense of dignity and confidence in being connected to the rest of the world.

ICICI
Produced by Michael Hokenson and Todd Markson
As the second-largest bank in India, ICICI Bank has led multiple initiatives to provide banking services at an affordable costs to the poor. ICICI has partnered with others to co-locate ATMs with rural Internet kiosks, and explore SmartCard technology to provide secure, low-cost transactions and loan management. More importantly, ICICI Bank has created a network of eight thousand Self Help Groups, each with twenty women, to serve as the vehicle for creating successful, microfinanced businesses. In the process, ICICI Bank has given these women the means to transform their social and economic lives, their families, and their villages.

The EID Parry Story
Video produced by Kuttayan Annamalai and Sachin Rao
EID Parry provides local entrepreneurs the technological backing to run Internet kiosks in rural villages. EID Parry has also created its own Internet portal, to support farmers with access to fertilizers and tools, education and crop disease diagnosis, and a direct market for their crops of rice and sugarcane. While the cases are similar, the EID Parry video focuses on the entrepreneur, and highlights how a single computer can change a whole village.

Known Problems, Unique Solutions–Innovation

Jaipur Foot
Produced by Scott Macke, Ruchi Misra, and Ajay Sharma
With five and a half million amputees, there is an almost overwhelming need for an inexpensive artificial foot/lower limb prosthesis in India. Any solution also has to meet the needs of the Indian lifestyle–walking barefooted, squatting, and sitting cross-legged. With innovative design and use of materials, Jaipur Foot (a non-profit organization) has created a low-cost prosthesis that it fits on sixteen thousand patients annually, allowing their return to their chosen professions in the fields and cities without loss of income or productivity.

New Approaches to Old Problems

Voxiva
Produced by Cynthia Casas and Will Lajoie
Peru's struggle in the early 1990s to control a cholera outbreak took years, cost thousands of lives, and meant over $770 million dollars in lost productivity, trade, and tourism for Peru's economy. Voxiva's product, Alerta, is one tool Peru is using to fight back against infectious disease outbreaks. It transforms the typical village telephone into a tool for effectively reporting health conditions and disease outbreaks in rural areas, improving the speed and quality of medical responses and saving lives.

The Beat Goes On

Jaipur Rugs
Produced by Jennifer Anderson, Nina Henning, Marion Ntiru, and Shara Senior
Jaipur Rugs provides a unique example of how a global supply chain, built around developing human capability and skills at the grassroots level and finding steady and well-paying jobs for rural men and women in the most depressed parts of India, can connect rural poor with markets of the rich, such as the United States.

Bonus Case Studies

Known Problems That Need System-Wide Solutions

The EID Parry Story
Video produced by Kuttayan Annamalai and Sachin Rao
EID Parry provides local entrepreneurs the technological backing to run Internet kiosks in rural villages. EID Parry has also created its own Internet portal, to support farmers with access to fertilizers and tools, education and crop disease diagnosis, and a direct market for their crops of rice and sugarcane. While the cases are similar, the EID Parry video focuses on the entrepreneur, and highlights how a single computer can change a whole village.