Social innovation: Creating products for those at the bottom of the pyramid
INSEAD Knowledge reprises its executive roundtable on the challenges global corporations face in designing and executing “social innovation” strategies--business initiatives targeting the four billion or so people living on less than one dollar per day in developing countries. More than price, executives reported that access to highly segmented, low income markets has proven to be the greatest barrier to product distribution and sales. Partnership with government agencies and nonprofit organizations is key to overcoming this problem, executives said. Another insight: Philanthropic models, in which products or services are donated to needy communities, turn out to be far less successful in delivering sustained social impact than market-based models, in which corporations set up locally run businesses.
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media file is a repository of links to articles and research reports that shed light on the intersection between open media and global tribes, two phenomena that together are giving birth to a new kind of business: "social enterprise 2.0."
Hosted on Delicious, this repository is meant to be a resource for media professionals, marketers, and others interested in the impact of open media and social networks on global communications and business culture. You can search the media file database from this blog or directly on Delicious. We publish media file links as we discover them.
Please suggest links to include in the database, and please also send your comments on how to make this resource more useful for you.
more media file links for October 22, 2008:
Strong partnership key to success in social innovation
INSEAD Knowledge explores the reasons why global corporations find it so difficult to successfully execute “social innovation” strategies targeting the “bottom of the pyramid”: the four billion people living on less than one dollar per day. The primary reason: Global corporations have become “disembedded” from local economies, especially poor ones, and therefore they have insufficient knowledge of the specialized needs of these market segments. Another reason: Global corporations may harbor expectations about short-term profitability that run counter to the substantial time and effort required to launch and scale projects that deliver mutual benefit to both the corporation and the poor. Corporations can improve their chances through strong collaboration with governments, NGOs, and social entrepreneurs.
Social media in Africa, part I: The market
ReadWriteWeb posts the first in a three-part series on the growth of social media in Africa. The continent is the fastest growing mobile market in the world, with 280 million subscribers and a 30.4 percent penetration rate. The social media sector is currently dominated by independent and nonprofit media operations.
Social media in Africa, part II: Mobile innovations
ReadWriteWeb continues its three-part series on the growth of social media in Africa with a review of how the continent’s technical infrastructure is determining the shape of digital innovation. Due to a history of unstable governance and civil unrest in the 20th century, the continent largely bypassed the era of community infrastructure building that characterized most of Western society during that period. As a result, there is no entrenched land-based communications establishment; the vast majority of Africans tap into the global communications grid via mobile phone and satellite. This situation has spawned a rush to fill satellite demand, plus an explosion in innovative mobile applications such as micropayments, mobile news, and GPS-based theft-deterrent systems for automobiles.
Social media in Africa, part III: Democracy
ReadWriteWeb concludes its three-part series on the growth of social media in Africa with a brief survey of web and mobile applications that are undermining the grip of totalitarian regimes on the flow of information within their societies. The most exciting aspect of these innovative applications is their source: local social entrepreneurs, not foreign aid groups, governments, or corporations. For the continent, this explosion in indigenous social media offers the opportunity to start fresh: new ideas, and a billion people to use them.
Mobile subscribers increase worldwide
ClickZ summarizes a report by the International Telecommunications Union on the worldwide explosion in mobile communications technology usage. By the end of 2008, subscriptions to mobile service providers will top 4 billion, for a global market penetration rate of 61 percent. Subscriptions have been growing at an average of 24 percent annually since 2000.
Meredith expands reach of magazines overseas
The Des Moines Register reports on the expansion of Meredith Corporation’s magazine business into developing countries. Publisher of women’s titles such as Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, and Family Circle, Meredith licenses its content to over 25 partners in 40 countries, with most new deals closing in the developing world. According to the World Bank, more than 56 percent of the global middle class resides in developing countries; by 2030, that number will rise to 93 percent. Meredith officials believe they are properly positioned to help those upwardly mobile populations satisfy curiosity about Western life.
HipChicas.com targets tween latinas with eco-friendly virtual world
MediaPost profiles HipChicas.com, a virtual world targeting socially conscious pre-teen and teenage Hispanic-American girls. Says the site’s founder, Lazaro Fuentes: “It’s as if somewhere along the line, someone decided that being hip meant that girls had to dress or act inappropriately, or had to fit into a specific mold, and that their only interests are picking hair colors or shopping for clothes. They are far more than that. These are kids that want to save the world, be in a band, and start a blog all in one day.”
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