A critique of the Bottom-of-the-Pyramid ideas
Aneel Karnani has referred to his very strong critique of the BOP movement’s essential ideas, that a market approach led by multinationals could alleviate poverty.
His essay, which also argues that we have to see the poor as producers, not as consumers, and that raising their income is the priority, is available here.
 Abstract: “Poor people – at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) – represent a very attractive market opportunity. The ‘BOP proposition’ argues that selling to the poor can simultaneously be profitable and help eradicate poverty. This is at best a harmless illusion and potentially a dangerous delusion. This paper shows that the BOP argument is riddled with fallacies, and proposes an alternative perspective on how the private sector can help alleviate poverty. Rather than focusing on the poor as consumers, we need to view the poor as producers. The only way to alleviate poverty is to raise the real income of the poor.
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