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Business and Philanthropy

The subject of the BusinessWeek article, "Small is Profitable" (2002) by Manjeet Kripalani and Pete Engardio, is how big multinational corporations are learning to create products small enough for people in third world countries to afford as well as simple enough to incorporate them into their everyday lives. For example, one dairy company, Anand Milk Union Ltd. (Amul), buys its supplies from 2 million individual people through cooperatives set up in villages across India. This is not a nonprofit organization, but a for-profit company that buys milk from private farmers daily. Amul has seized market share in India from such companies such as Nestle and Unilever and it hopes to break into the U.S. market soon. The money the local farmers earn is then spent and put back into their economy.

Unilever, which hopes to have developing nations as 50% of its global sales by 2010, has begun producing its personal hygiene products in "tiny packages costing a few cents each" (Kripalani & Engardio, 2002, p. 2), small enough for people in third world countries to afford. These are products such as shampoo, deodorant, Vaseline, and toothpaste. These corporations are developing a market in countries that would otherwise not be able to afford them. As the industries in these countries grow and the people in these countries begin to prosper, it is anticipated that they will then be able to afford the higher end products from those multinational companies.

This article was able to balance neatly on the edge of business and philanthropy, showing that the two ideals are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The authors also listed such companies as Coca-Cola, Motorola, Philips, N-Logue, Encore Software Ltd., and Freeplay Energy Group. So, they seem to have covered the spectrum of interested business from toiletries and soft drinks to radios and Internet use in developing countries.

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Business and Philanthropy. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:01, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1696265.html