The Next 4 Billion
March 27th, 2007
Three years ago, University of Michigan strategy guru C.K. Prahalad proposed that multinational corporations could alleviate global poverty while boosting their bottom lines in his best-selling book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid.
In an interview for Fast Company’s March issue, Prahalad gives an example:
FC: Can the poor–or even the “underserved”–really be a growth engine for companies?
Prahalad: Look at wireless. In India, wireless-communication companies are adding 5 million new subscribers per month. They expect, by 2010, to have 400 million subscribers connected wirelessly. If you’re Nokia, or Motorola, or Ericsson, and you don’t participate in that market, 50% of your future business is gone.
Though Prahalad’s critics have charged that the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is smaller and less lucrative than Prahalad has claimed, a recent report by the IFC (the private sector arm of the World Bank Group) called “The Next 4 Billion” seems to back him up.
According to the World Resources Institute,
New empirical measures of their aggregate purchasing power and behavior as consumers suggest significant opportunities for market-based approaches to better meet their needs, increase their productivity and incomes, and empower their entry into the formal economy.
Drawing on income data from 110 countries and standardized expenditure data from 36 countries across the globe, The Next 4 Billion is an important first look at the market opportunity represented by four billion individuals who make up the BOP.
The sooner the developed world can bring the developing world into the club, the sooner they are regarded as an equally worthy recipient of all the necessities and all the luxuries the world has to offer, the sooner global poverty will become a hazy relic of the past.
Certainly charity has its place in the alleviation of global suffering. But long-term, finding ways to bring these people, these countries into the world marketplace will ensure that charity is no longer necessary.
Captain Planet Saves Belfast
March 27th, 2007
My friend Amy is trying to educate me on a little bit of Belfast history before I head over there in a couple of weeks. Lesson #1 is this YouTube cartoon called “Captain Planet Saves Belfast.”
The synopsis, according to its creator:
“Captain Planet and his buddies are on hand to save Belfast from a nuke.”
Here’s Amy’s take:
if you’re gonna post it on thinkbigg please mention that it’s a GROSS simplification and the accents are atrocious- not to mention that i’ve NEVER seen an irishman or ulsterman that big!!! the paramilitary guys are all short stocky shaved headed guys :o) HA! and they never go by their real names, they have nicknames like spud, mad-dog, macca. and, if the writers really wanted to use ‘typical’ northern irish names they’d have used Gerry for a catholic and Billy for a prod.
Is there a lesson? Perhaps just that human beings seize on incredibly subtle and often stupid ways to differentiate ourselves, and then to hate what we don’t understand.
If only that lesson were just for Northern Ireland.
Online Drug Interaction Checkers
March 27th, 2007
Perhaps the story of Anna Nicole Smith might have ended differently if she had access to a reliable online prescription drug interaction checker?
Okay, perhaps not. But you can certainly make use of a variety of helpful online tools to check out your prescriptions for adverse drug interactions.
Why bother? According to the Washington Post,
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that deaths from accidental drug interactions rose 68 percent between 1999 and 2004, continuing a steady climb since the early 1990s. Unintentional drug poisonings accounted for nearly 20,000 deaths in 2004, said the CDC, making the problem now the second-leading cause of accidental death in the United States, after automobile accidents. “Prescription drugs, especially prescription painkillers, are driving the prolonged increase,” the report stated.
Luckily there are lots of online resources to help. The University of Maryland Medical Center might be my first stop, if for no other reason than university doctors seem smarter than most. On the negative side, the results tend to be what you’d expect from medical school professors, and so can be a bit hard to parse through.
Drugstore.com also has its own tool, as does Drugs.com, Eckerd Pharmacy, and Discovery Health.
The quality of the information probably varies site by site, so as always, don’t take what you read online at face value — always remember to use the information to check with your doctor!
World Water Day
March 22nd, 2007
Today, March 22nd, is World Water Day!
Why not celebrate by doing your part to provide clean water to someone without access to the clean, clear drinking water you take for granted every day?
World Vision offers a variety of ways for you to get involved in giving the gift of water, at all price points.
A gift of $5400 can drill a new 60-foot well in Malawi, but even a gift as small as $20 can purchase a share of a foot-powered pump in countries like Malawi and Burundi. Make a difference for your planet today!
Moonching Wu Recycled Cashmere
March 21st, 2007
Is there anything better than the feeling of your softest cashmere sweater when the weather outside is cold and rainy?
Perhaps the only thing better might be knowing that your cashmere was carefully and beautifully recycled!
Designer Moonching Wu will gladly and gratefully accept any cashmere garment donations to turn them into amazingly beautiful works of art.
The assortment of striped quilts, throws and scarves don’t come cheap — recycled sweaters don’t necessarily mean thrift store prices! But the selection epitomizes the idea of “trash to treasure,” and the item you purchase is guaranteed one-of-a-kind.
Treat yourself! You deserve it!