Product details

This supplement is to accompany the case ''308-366-1''. The abstract of the case is as follows: The case focuses on BOP (base of the pyramid) strategies. Such strategies are supposed to alleviate poverty profitably by selling cheap products to the poorest. The case presents a BOP project that Essilor, the world leader in ophthalmic lenses with 3 billion euros sales, has been implementing in India. Essilor mobile optical shops visit poor villages in rural India, in order to prescribe and sell corrective spectacles at very low prices (around 175 rupees or 3 euros) to people suffering from visual disorders. Essilor does not view this project as a charity but as a potentially profitable business. Prices, as low as they are, must cover both production and distribution costs. In the longer term, Essilor also aims at capturing a strong position in a potentially huge market which, up to now, has been deemed insolvent. The objective of the case discussion is to make students formulate recommendations to Essilor on whether and how to grow its Indian BOP initiative into a fully-fledged business. All relevant facts and figures are provided in the case, which also includes a company video (308-366-3) and an Excel financial model (308-366-4).