ABSTRACT
Making the market work for everyone involves two basic measures: enabling access to effective markets and spreading consumer purchasing power. These two measures, representative of supply and demand, go hand in hand. Business is becoming more interested in working to develop partnerships with governments and civil society to demonstrate that markets can help people toward sustainable livelihoods. A growing number of companies are realizing that there are good business reasons, as well as good moral and philanthropic reasons, why business should address the unmet needs of the world’s poor. If companies can design innovative business models that bridge the affordability gaps between poor people and basic needs, they could take advantage of the biggest business opportunity of the 21st century—while solving one of its most pressing moral dilemmas. Provision of information is more and more the realm of digital technologies, offer great disruptive potential for emerging markets.
