Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2012 164 Micro-Entrepreneurship: A Sustenance Tool in the Unserved Market G. Magesh Kuttalam Abstract--- Organisations living in the age of intensified competition make the entire organisation to involve and reinvent their strategies and tactics so as to retain or develop business. In spite of the efforts a large market (3/4 th of the world population) remains unserved or underserved called as Bottom of Pyramid (BOP). Different experts estimate the size of BOP market as 3-5 trillion USD annually. This untapped potential attracts many of the contemporary marketers. Unfortunately a very few could succeed in their endeavour. Many corporations were unable to reach the set target and could not sustain their mission. The paper attempts to explore the challenges that were in the way to serve the unserved market. The paper ends suggesting that developing micro entrepreneurship pertaining to each village or settlement will help organisations to manoeuvre the challenges. Keywords--- BOP, Micro-Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, Unserved Market _________________________________________________ I. INTRODUCTION RGANISATIONS in these modern days are living in a world where the degree of competition is getting intensified on every passing day. The status quo of every leader or challenger in the market arena is constantly under threat due to this growing competition. Realising the necessity, organisation to withstand competition and pursue their objective of profit/wealth maximisation has started bestowing more importance to marketing and its related activities. Today, marketing is seen as a lifeline activity of any organisations irrespective of its type of product or place of operation. However, the dynamic stature of the market demands a change in strategies and activities constantly. This necessity has pushed the organisation to expand their frontiers of marketing. Hence, innovations in strategies and tactics for application have become a necessary order of the day to sustain their position in the market. Organizations design and execute training module in such a way to sensitise all the employees on the importance of marketing. The contemporary management crew irrespective of its functionality has started to develop a focus generally on market and specifically on customers. Such organisations are able to tide over the difficulties that come across. They always move in order to lookout for opportunities that are a new in the existing market or a new market. Despite the efforts, many times organisations Dr.G. Magesh Kuttalam, Assistant Professor, Department of Management Studies, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, India. E-mail:mageshkuttalam@gmail.com DOI: 10.9756/BIJIEMS.3016 fail to cover entire market. The focus is getting limited to few segments and is not even towards the entire market and sometimes is myopic in nature. 1.1 Un-Served Market The focus of the marketers was largely towards the customers belonging to the affluent class of people or those living in the urban society. Less concentration was given towards the people living in poverty or living in rural country side. Unfortunately, the segment neglected by main stream marketers makes up nearly 3/4 th of the world population. This segment of humanity still remains as an unserved or underserved throughout the world, called as Bottom of Pyramid (BOP) [1] Prahlad, 2006). World Resource Institute (2007) report [2] says that majority of the BOP population are largely dwelling in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The table 1 shows the quantum of the population living in the BOP segment and domiciled in various part of the globe. The quantum as per the report approximates to a total of 4 billion globally. The report further says that the people belonging to BOP segment are making out their every single day with less than ‘2’ USD. This from the point of marketers would give the segment very less buying power and also the demand for products and services. The same was considered to be a strong reason for the neglect of the BOP segment by the marketers. 1.2 Potentials of BOP Market The argument for the neglect of the market holds good if seen BOP customer in isolation. However, the spending power of the segment when collectively estimated gives a mind boggling figure due to the quantum of population in the segment. The size of the BOP market amounts to nearly three trillion USD per annum [4 billion x $2 x 365 = $ 3 trillion (approx...)]. Whereas the Prahlad claims that the purchasing power of the BOP segment amounts to five trillion USD. This testimonies’ that BOP market as a whole is a goldmine having huge potential in it. It O Table 1:Major Global Regions Hosting BOP Population Region BOP Population (in millions) Africa 486 Asia 2858 Eastern Europe 254 Latin America 360 Total (approx.) 4000 Source: World Resource Institute ISSN 2277-5056 | © 2012 Bonfring