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Businesses Serving the Poor Need to Get Over Their Unease About Profit

Harvard Business Review

If you've ever had anything to do with business initiatives among the world's poor — the so-called bottom of the economic pyramid — you've no doubt heard the advice that enterprises in this space need to aim for low prices, low profit margins, and high sales volumes. The microfinance industry is a rare D and E success story.

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What Makes Social Entrepreneurs Different

Harvard Business Review

They're out to standardize a business model. That model might solve a social problem — but if it's profitable and doesn't fix the problem, that's okay, too. Prahalad's " bottom of the pyramid ," that began life as academic research. Commercial entrepreneurs are different.