A Study on the Integrated Design Process for the BoP and Inclusive Business

Abstract

In recent years, designers have shown a greater interest in underdeveloped global regions and have focused their efforts toward these regions in an empirical fashion. Despite this increased interest, to date, there have been no major development agencies (e.g., United Nations of Development Planning, UNDP) to discuss the role and participation of design in IDC. As a result, participation in international design-related activities has not been considered as a tenet of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) proposed by the UNDP.

Despite this oversight, a growing movement in the design domain has begun to emphasize a macro-level perspective. Designers have begun to explicitly discuss MDGs, and as a result, they have started to appear at design exhibitions. Also, many researchers have commented on the limitations of Official Development Aids (ODA) as existing solution. As an alternative to these temporary solutions, the concepts of the “Bottom of the Pyramid” (the BoP) and “Inclusive Business” (IB) are suggested as more tenable frameworks for addressing design-related issues in underdeveloped countries. The BoP refers to the four billion people around the world (roughly 2/3 of the world population) who make less than four dollars per day and represent a new global market. IB is the next sustainable development solution with regard to the BoP. Taken in concert, these two concepts are expected to produce more sustainable methods through which underdeveloped countries can become self-sufficient.

In this thesis, to promote active design participation in IDC, I suggest an integrated process model that incorporates the concepts of the BoP and inclusive business as future approaches in international development. To these ends, I have organized this project into a series of interrelated sections. The first section introduces the background for the current research, as well as its scope and methods. Second, I explain the concepts of international development cooperation, the BoP, and inclusive business to provide a comprehensive understanding of how they relate from a macro-level perspective. Next, I review and analyze extant research related to the BoP and inclusive business processes to provide a conceptual framework for the proposed integrated process. To validate the process and ensure its practical applicability, 12 experts are interviewed to generate feedback based on their experiences in the field. By refining the first iteration of the model on the basis of these suggestions and feedback, I ultimately suggest an integrated process for the BoP and inclusive business.

Timely, design domain should expand the spectrum of the role not only solving first-end design problems of the poor but also finding the real needs of the BoP people and provide sustainable inclusive business model. Through a review of this research, design participation and potential approaches for developing a model that incorporates the BoP and inclusive business emerge. In exploring such a model, this document can facilitate an understanding among designers of common goals discussed in the international development domain.