Greater engagement of businesses in development in South Asia reflects a partial withdrawal of the state from providing all kinds of services. Advocates of ‘bottom of the pyramid’ approaches have argued that corporations can step in by simultaneously making profit and contributing to development goals, including rural poverty reduction. The article investigates such claims, by using two initiatives of Information and Communication Technology business designed to serve and uplift poor people by GrameenPhone Limited, a major mobile phone operator in Bangladesh, to gauge the probability of positive development outcomes for the rural poor.
AlamQ.YusufM.A.CoghillK. (2009–10) ‘Village Phone Program, Commodification of Mobile Phone Set and Empowerment of Women’, Journal of Community Informatics, 5(3) & 6(1). URL (consulted 6 September 2019), from http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/563/532
2.
AminuzzamanS.BaldersheimH.JamilI. (2003) ‘Talking Back! Empowerment and Mobile Phones in Rural Bangladesh: A Study of the Village Phone Scheme of Grameen Bank’, Contemporary South Asia, 12(3): 327–48.
3.
AndersonJ. (2006) ‘A Structured Approach for Bringing Mobile Telecommunications to the World’s Poor’, Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 27(2): 1–9.
4.
Asian Development Bank (2013a) Inclusive Business Potential at the ADB: A Preliminary Private Sector Operations Portfolio Assessment. Manila: ADB. Private Sector Operations Department.
5.
Asian Development Bank (2013b) Bangladesh: Grameenphone Telecommunications Project and Grameenphone Telecommunications Expansion Project. Manila: ADB. Independent Evaluation/Performance Evaluation Report.
6.
BanerjeeA.DufloE. (2007) ‘The Economic Lives of the Poor’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21(1): 141–67.
BayesA. (2001) ‘Infrastructure and Rural Development: Insights from a Grameen Bank Village Phone Initiative in Bangladesh’, Agricultural Economics, 25(2–3): 261–72.
9.
BlowfieldM. (2012) ‘Business and Development: Making Sense of Business as a Development Agent’, Corporate Governance, 12(4): 414–26.
10.
BlowfieldM.DolanC. (2014) ‘Business as a Development Agent: Evidence of Possibility and Improbability’, Third World Quarterly, 35(1): 22–42.
11.
BoettigerS.ToyamaK.AbedR. (2012) ‘Natural Obsolescence of Village Phone’. In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (pp. 221–9). Atlanta, GA, March 12–15.
12.
CrabtreeA. (2007) Evaluating ‘The Bottom of the Pyramid’ from a Fundamental Capabilities Perspective. Frederiksberg, Denmark: Centre for Business and Development Studies: CBDS Working Paper Series, Working Paper No. 1.
13.
CraneA.PalazzoG.SpenceL.MattenD. (2014) ‘Contesting the Value of “Creating Shared Value”’, California Management Review, 56(2): 130–53.
14.
De HaanA. (1998) ‘Social Exclusion: An Alternative Concept for the Study of Deprivation?’ IDS Bulletin, 29(1): 10–19.
15.
DolanC.Johnstone-LouisM.ScottL. (2012) ‘Shampoo, Saris and SIM Cards: Seeking Entrepreneurial Futures at the Bottom of the Pyramid’, Gender & Development, 20(1): 33–47.
16.
HamiduzzamanM.de BellisA.AbigailWKalatsidisE. (2018) ‘Elderly Women in Rural Bangladesh: Healthcare Access and Ageing Trends’, South Asia Research, 38(2): 113–29.
17.
HossainS.BeresfordM. (2012) ‘Paving the Pathway for Women’s Empowerment? A Review of Information and Communication Technology Development in Bangladesh’, Contemporary South Asia, 20(4): 455–69.
18.
IlahianeH.SherryJ.W. (2012) ‘The Problematics of the “Bottom of the Pyramid” Approach to International Development: The Case of Micro-entrepreneurs’ Use of Mobile Phones in Morocco’, Information Technologies & International Development, 8(1): 13–26.
19.
KandacharP.HalmeM. (2005) ‘Introduction to the GMI Theme Issue: An Exploratory Journey towards the Research and Practice of the “Base of the Pyramid”’, Greener Management International, 51: 3–17.
20.
Knight-JohnM. (2008) ‘Making a Business out of Village Phone’. In SamarajivaR.ZainudeenA. (Eds), ICT Infrastructure in Emerging Asia: Policy and Regulatory Roadblocks (pp. 116–30). London: SAGE Publications.
21.
KolkA.Rivera-SantosM.RufinC. (2014) ‘Reviewing a Decade of Research on the “Base/Bottom of the Pyramid” (BOP) Concept’, Business & Society, 53(3): 338–77.
LondonT.HartS. (2004) ‘Reinventing Strategies for Emerging Markets: Beyond the Transnational Model’, Journal of International Business Studies, 35(5): 350–70.
24.
MannanM. (2009) ‘BRAC: Anatomy of a “Poverty Enterprise”’, Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 20(2): 219–33.
25.
PorterM.KramerM. (2011) ‘Creating Shared Value’, Harvard Business Review, 89(1–2): 62–77.
26.
PrahaladC.K. (2005) The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Wharton School Publishing.
27.
RahmanS.A.AmranA.AhmadN.H.TaghizadehS.K. (2014) ‘GrameenPhone: Creating a Win-Win at the Base of the Pyramid in Bangladesh’, Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 33(5): 41–53.
28.
RahmanS.A.AmranA.AhmadN.H.TaghizadehS.K (2016) ‘Enhancing the Wellbeing of Base of the Pyramid Entrepreneurs through Business Success: The Role of Private Organizations’, Social Indicators Research, 127(1): 195–216.
29.
RashidA.T.RahmanM. (2009) ‘Making Profit to Solve Development Problems: The Case of Telenor AS and the Village Phone Programme in Bangladesh’, Journal of Marketing Management, 25(9–10): 1049–60.
30.
SchraderC.FreimannJ.SeuringS. (2012) ‘Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid’, Business Strategy and the Environment, 21(5): 281–98.
31.
SeelosC.MairJ. (2007) ‘Profitable Business Models and Market Creation in the Context of Deep Poverty: A Strategic View’, Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(4): 49–63.
SenA. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
34.
SenA. (2000) ‘Social Exclusion: Concept, Application and Scrutiny’. Social Development Papers 1. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
35.
SeyA.CowardC.BarF.SciadasG.RothschildC.KoepkeL. (2013) Connecting People for Development: Why Public Access ICTs Matter. Seattle: University of Washington Information School.
SimanisE.HartS. (2008) The Base of the Pyramid Protocol: Toward Next Generation BoP Strategy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
38.
SimanisE.StuartS.DukeD. (2008) ‘The Base of the Pyramid Protocol: Beyond “Basic Needs” Business Strategies’, Innovations, 3(1): 57–84.
39.
UllahM.S. (2017) ‘Empowerment, Asymmetrical Power Relations and Impacts of Information Technology in Rural Bangladesh’, South Asia Research, 37(3): 315–34.
40.
UllahM.S.HultbergL. (2009) ‘Women Empowerment Through the Village Pay Phone Program of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh: A Revisit After Ten Years’, Journal of Development Communication, 20(2): 45–60.
41.
WarschauerM. (2002) ‘Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide’, First Monday, 7(7). URL (consulted 6 September 2019), from https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v7i7.967
42.
YunusM.MoingeonB.Lehmann-OrtegaL. (2010) ‘Building Social Business Models: Lessons from the Grameen Experience’, Long Range Planning, 43(2–3): 308–25.
43.
YusufM.A.AlamQ. (2011) ‘Empowering Role of the Village Phone Program in Bangladesh: In Retrospect, in Prospect’, Journal of Information Technology Impact, 11(1): 35–50.
