What I like most about Strategic Challenges for the Base of the Pyramid is the authors' clear understanding of what we have already learned about the BoP domain and their subsequent focus on creating new knowledge. The chapters in this book provide important insights into several important topics in the BoP domain, including trust, innovation, and scale. Congratulations to Patrick Vermeulen, Edgar Hutte and their colleagues in putting together this book.' - Ted London, William Davidson Institute and Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, USThis pioneering book addresses some of the key challenges that firms encounter when they enter low-income markets and offers solutions - based on empirical evidence - for those firms already operating in such a difficult arena. The Base of the Pyramid (BoP) has become a popular area for firms to search for new business potential. However, serving the BoP requires a fundamentally different approach to doing business and presents a new and unique set of organizational challenges. In this book, Patrick Vermeulen and Edgar Hutte discuss some of the key challenges firms are confronted with when operating in BoP markets. Based on empirical evidence from various companies across the globe, the authors provide valuable insights into how firms can deal with these challenges. With the rapid growth of developing countries, Western firms should be more aware of the potential problems when entering these markets; this book will help those making the crucial choices necessary to resolve these issues. This book will appeal to academics and students in international business or business administration. It will also prove an essential resource for practitioners that are active in, or are considering moving into, low-income markets. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. The Base of the Pyramid 3. Cross-sector Collaborations at the Base of the Pyramid 4. Building Trust at the Base of the Pyramid 5. Innovation at the Base of the Pyramid 6. Scaling Challenges at the Base of the Pyramid 7. Next steps in Base-of-the Pyramid Research and Practice Index

Strategic choices made by entrepreneurs have major consequences for SME performance. This book explores the factors that influence entrepreneurial strategic decisions using a cognitive theoretical framework. The proposed model, based on a dual processing approach, integrates motivation, emotions and information processing modes and is tested in several empirical studies. The results show the model's potential for furthering interesting research agendas in entrepreneurial cognition research. The authors also reveal that entrepreneurial cognitions can be elicited and represented in the form of cognitive maps. The structural complexity of the cognitive maps (cognitive complexity) is an important prerequisite of effective strategic decisions and is a core concept for the advancement of our knowledge in entrepreneurial cognition. The book is an informed and interesting exploration of entrepreneurial cognition with both theoretical and methodological contributions to this field of research. Entrepreneurial Strategic Decision-Making will be of great interest to undergraduate students and academics in the field of entrepreneurship. Policymakers will learn from this book to understand the distinctions between various types of entrepreneurial decision-makers and the way they make strategic decisions.

Strategic choices made by entrepreneurs have major consequences for SME performance. This book explores the factors that influence entrepreneurial strategic decisions using a cognitive theoretical framework. The proposed model, based on a dual processing approach, integrates motivation, emotions and information processing modes and is tested in several empirical studies. The results show the model's potential for furthering interesting research agendas in entrepreneurial cognition research. The authors also reveal that entrepreneurial cognitions can be elicited and represented in the form of cognitive maps. The structural complexity of the cognitive maps (cognitive complexity) is an important prerequisite of effective strategic decisions and is a core concept for the advancement of our knowledge in entrepreneurial cognition. The book is an informed and interesting exploration of entrepreneurial cognition with both theoretical and methodological contributions to this field of research. Entrepreneurial Strategic Decision-Making will be of great interest to undergraduate students and academics in the field of entrepreneurship. Policymakers will learn from this book to understand the distinctions between various types of entrepreneurial decision-makers and the way they make strategic decisions.