This series started innocently enough as a follow-up to my SandHill.com article but somehow quietly picked-up momentum. It covers a fair amount of ground about how to go about developing bottom-on-the-pyramid opportunities and why doing that is so important to the software industry. Below are all the articles in this series. Check them out if you have missed any.
Anatomy of New Growth in India
I argue three things here. First, take emerging markets like India seriously because they punch above their weight-class. Second, go after the bottom-of-pyramid opportunities. Third, think beyond talent/cost arbitrage and build in-market capability to incubate new products and business models.
Another Reason to Not Ignore Emerging Markets
The enterprise software industry cost structure is deconstructing. The traditional infrastructure side is under attack by open-source and data-center virtualization; the application space is dealing with SaaS; and the traditional services model has already crumbled under the onslaught of Infosys and Wipro’s global delivery model. Things will change big time. Just look at what’s happened in the wireless industry.
Can’t Escape In-Market Incubation Any Longer
General Electric is leveraging the lean model to build out a new business at the bottom-of-the-pyramid in emerging countries. Software industry needs to do the same thing. And it’s not doing it!
Likely Lessons of OLPC
One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative is rethinking the value/price equation. There are many efforts on today. The winner will be the one who confronts incumbent product architectures. This has a lesson for the software industry.
Taking Inspiration from ULCC
Sometimes radical value engineering requires confronting the current way of doing things inside the firm. Texas Instruments ultra-low-cost-cellphone chipset is an example of that.
Thinking Beyond Product and Company Architecture
At times, the focus has to be neither inside the product nor inside the company but out in the market. GramaTeller ATM’s failure and eChoupal’s success illustrate the importance of building new market structures.
Building a New Value Chain
C.K. Prahalad talks about the healthcare success stories in India and how they have transformed the whole value chain to deliver high-quality low-cost care to the masses. This has implications for the software industry.
Call to Action
While the telecom, PC, semiconductor and even the healthcare industry are embracing bottom-of-the-pyramid opportunities in emerging countries, the enterprise software industry is watching from the sidelines. Why is this the case? What will the change look like when it comes?
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