The corporate world’s shift in focus to emerging markets is by now, an oft repeated story. Of greater interest however, is the shift within this shift – that of increasing testing of BOP (base of the pyramid) waters by the private sector, particularly large conglomerates. Almost everyone by now realises that the BOP population in emerging markets, holds the key to the future of business. Although not many can claim to have cracked the BOP code completely, efforts are on towards just that.

The trend has been cutting across sectors. Companies like Unilever, Nestle, Pepsico and Danone have long been testing new ideas and ways of doing business at the BOP and all of them have been evolving their dedicated BOP strategies. Large pharmaceutical companies like Novartis have been consistently attempting to reach the last mile. Retail and telecommunications industries also reflect the same shift. The catalyst behind this shift has been intensifying competition. Companies across sectors have been battling hard to retain their market shares in their traditional upper segment markets. With traditional markets tending towards saturation, companies have been taking a hit on their revenue growth and profitability in a bid to protect their share of the pie. The competition within emerging markets has also been heating up with more and more players trying to cement their foothold and expand their market share. Companies are being forced to innovate and attempt to tap into the latent BOP demand in these markets.

According to a recent article on bdnews24.com, Bangladesh’s first online newspaper, Japanese electronics major Panasonic is one of the latest to join the BOP bandwagon as it gears up for launching its solar lanterns in developing countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia early next year. By its own submission, Panasonic has been struggling to retain its grip on emerging markets in the face of stiff competition from Korean companies like Samsung. The company is therefore, consciously targeting the BOP population with eco-friendly technologies as a strategy for winning back its market share in these countries by 2018.

With support from The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Panasonic has already test piloted the lantern in Kenya and has studied the above Asian BOP markets. Priced around USD40, Panasonic’s solar lantern will provide 20 hours of light in low mode and 8 hours in brighter mode, once fully charged. The biggest challenge for Panasonic will be however, to strike a balance between the need to lower its prices and provide better quality products to be able to compete with cheap Chinese alternatives. It will also have to compete with specialised solar players like d.light and Greenlight Planet which offer well tested high quality products at competitive prices.

Intense competition might be draining for companies, but it is a boon for the BOP. As more and more companies make a beeline for the BOP to expand their businesses, the hitherto underserved population looks well set to experience an expanding bouquet of choices in the years to come.