Co-opting Business Models at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP): Microentrepreneurs and Multinational Enterprises in Ghana

Stephanie Decker*, George Obeng Dankwah

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
52 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In African countries such as Ghana, micro-entrepreneurs make formal economy goods and services available to Base-of-Pyramid (BOP) consumers. Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) co-opted the BOP business model when entering the BOP market. We conducted a multiple case study of six MNEs and 36 micro-entrepreneurs in three key sectors. In FMGC and telecommunications, reverse bridging enables MNEs to capture value from BOP business models. This has a negative impact on both the financial and social capital of micro-entrepreneurs. In finance, micro-entrepreneurs are buffered from these negative effects of co-optation through a process we call integrating, which maintains and enhances their social capital even when their financial capital is reduced. Our research contributes to the BOP literature, first, by demonstrating that financial and social capital are closely intertwined at the BOP, and second, by analyzing how negative effects of co-optation can be buffered by enhancing micro-entrepreneurs’ social capital.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)151-191
Number of pages41
JournalBusiness and Society
Volume62
Issue number1
Early online date11 Apr 2022
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 11 Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.

Research Groups and Themes

  • Global Political Economy
  • MGMT Strategy International Management and Business and Entrepreneurship
  • Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC)
  • MGMT theme Global Political Economy

Keywords

  • Africa
  • base of the pyramid (BOP)
  • business models
  • microenterprise
  • multinational enterprises (MNEs)

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