Base of the Pyramid Learning Laboratory Address: Center for Sustainable Enterprise University of North Carolina Chapel Hill CB#3440, Kenan Center Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3440 Sponsor: Ted London, Director of the Base of the Pyramid Learning Laboratory Website: http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/KI/cse/bop.cfm Primary location: Chapel Hill, NC (although it is likely that an extended trip to an emerging economy will be part of the internship) Job title: <a href="/keyword/business-strategy/" >business strategy</a> Analyst (Summer Internship) Organization description: The Base of the Pyramid (BOP) Learning Laboratory was launched in the Fall of 2000 as an initiative to explore opportunities for value creation, sustainable growth, and human development for the four billion individuals that live primarily in developing countries and whose annual per capita incomes fall below $1,500 (PPP). Funded by member companies, the BOP Learning Laboratory is part of the Center for Sustainable Enterprise (http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/KI/cse/index.cfm) at the KenanFlagler Business School and is housed at the Kenan Center. The director of the BOP Learning Laboratory is Ted London. The vision of the BOP Lab is to connect business growth and value creation to the provision of culturally-appropriate and ecologically-effective goods and services to those at the base of the pyramid. Successfully entering these markets, however, requires addressing substantial challenges in economic, legal, and technical infrastructure, education, financial resources, and cultural differences. Initiatives targeting these markets will require a fundamental re-conception of venture strategy and an intimate understanding and appreciation of local needs, infrastructure, economic conditions, and potential partner organizations. As such, a key objective of the BOP Learning Laboratory (and this summer internship) is to produce a more holistic and complete understanding of BOP markets that will enrich venture design and deployment. The BOP Learning Laboratory s corporate members include Dupont, Hewlett Packard, Coca-Cola, Procter &amp; Gamble, Tetra Pak, Cadbury Schweppes, Danone, and Gretag Macbeth Holdings/Amayzs. Other partners include non-governmental organizations (such as the World Resources Institute, Grameen Foundation and Tata Energy and Resources Institute, etc.), multilaterals (World Bank, IFC, etc.) and start-up companies. Job Description: The internship will primarily focus on exploring opportunities and strategies used by multinational corporations, NGOs, local companies and other organizations interested in entering base of the pyramid markets in emerging economies. Additional activities will include working to expand the reach and impact that the BOP Learning Laboratory has on the practitioner and academic communities. Primary responsibilities: Analyze business strategies at the base of the pyramid This is the core component of the internship and involves identifying and conducting in-depth analyses of several base of the pyramid ventures in one emerging economy. Most likely, the person hired would spend 1-2 weeks in an emerging economy context. The objective would be to conduct an on-the-ground evaluation of several base of the pyramid-oriented ventures and to interview the key managers at these organizations. A important outcome of this research is an in-depth case study of each venture. More specifically, this activity would involve: Identification of BOP ventures The first step would be to conduct in-depth research to identify prospective existing multinational, local, and NGO initiatives targeting the BOP in a particular country. The goal would be to gain access to the most promising sub-set of these ventures to facilitate a productive 1-3 day visit with each of these organizations. Prior to the visit, research activities would involve collecting and reviewing existing published information on these BOP initiatives and potentially conducting some initial interviews by phone to get a good early sense of the on-going activities. Evaluation of BOP business strategies This will involve developing both a detailed case study of each venture and an integrative analysis of the key findings across all the cases, including identifying and evaluating of critical factors that impacted the success (or failure) of the ventures. Strategic marketing An important success metric in the BOP Learning L...