Serving low-income markets: Rethinking Multinational Corporations’ Strategies

In recent years a new debate is emerging about market-based approaches to serve lowincome communities, opportunities in such markets and the role of multinational corporations. This paper aims at providing an overview of low-income markets thereby analyzing challenges that multinational corporations face in addressing such markets. Various examples of low-income market approaches are examined and different firm strategies regarding R&D, production and distribution in such markets have been illustrated and discussed. It is argued why specific strategies, many of them new to multinationals, are to be devised when it comes to serving low-income communities.

Key words: Multinational corporations, Low-income markets, Bottom of the Pyramid, Business strategy

JEL codes: F23, M19, O32, O19

UNU-MERIT Working Papers ISSN 1871-9872