ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two related subjects—what we know about corporate social responsibility (CSR), stakeholder management and the proper role of business in the global society that should guide our progress; and what ethical questions are raised in doing business with this vast group of impoverished stakeholders? At its most fundamental core, CSR encompasses two related principles. First, profit maximisation is not the sole purpose of the firm. Second, a firm's shareholders are not the only stakeholder group for whom managers bear some responsibility and with whom they have sometimes important relationships. Casas Bahia, the Brazilian appliance retailer, is often cited as a good example of a success story in marketing to the base of the pyramid (BoP). Fair pricing holds in developing economies with consumer/buyers at the BoP as well. Honesty takes on special importance when advertising to the BoP. C. K. Prahalad and others tell us that the BoP often express a preference for branded goods.
