Co-opting Business Models at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP): Microentrepreneurs and Multinational Enterprises in Ghana
研究加纳三个行业中跨国企业如何共选金字塔底层的商业模式，发现快速消费品和电信业通过反向桥接损害微型企业家的财务和社会资本，而金融业通过整合过程缓冲负面影响但减少财务资本。
In African countries such as Ghana, microentrepreneurs make formal economy goods and services available to base of the pyramid (BOP) consumers. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) co-opt BOP business models when they enter the BOP market. We conducted a case study of six MNEs and 36 microentrepreneurs in three key sectors. In two sectors (fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunications), reverse bridging enables MNEs to capture value from BOP business models, which has a negative impact on both the financial and social capital of microentrepreneurs. In the third sector (finance), microentrepreneurs are buffered from the negative effects of co-optation through a process of integrating, which enhances their social capital but reduces their financial capital. Our research contributes to the BOP literature, first by demonstrating that financial and social capital are intertwined at the BOP level, and second by analyzing how the negative effects of co-optation can be cushioned by enhancing microentrepreneurs’ social capital.