*Call for Program Submissions*

Base of the Pyramid: Emerging Market Consumers, Workers, and Managers Track

Academy of Management Africa Conference

January 7-10, 2013 / Johannesburg, South Africa

Submissions Deadline: May 15, 2012

While people no longer imagine that a fortune simply awaits those who bring their business to the base of the world’s wealth pyramid (BOP), people do believe that value can be co-created there. Business is seen by many as an agent of world benefit in this context. But the challenges are as real as they are many. Business leaders and managers need to understand the voice of the customer, as well as the worker, financier, distributor and more. Business models must be tailored to this context. Social entrepreneurship and cross-sector partnerships may flourish in this environment as well. Those interested in contributing a paper or a symposium proposal to this track might examine such issues as:

·         Understanding customer needs in the BOP

·         Cross-sector partnerships at the BOP

·         Scaling BOP initiatives

·         Social entrepreneurship in emerging markets

·         The ethics of doing business with those in the BOP

·         New models of leadership in BOP markets

·         New models of social change agency in emerging markets

·         New models of (re)organizing supply chains to (re)connect consumers, workers and managers

·         Roles models and their work for social change in BOP markets

·         Groundswell dynamics of market creation

·         Rethinking business models for orphans, widows, and post-conflict reconciliation and integration

·         The roles of micro-finance, micro-insurance, micro-enterprise and micro-franchises in promoting holistic market development in the BOP

Track 3 - Base of the Pyramid: Emerging Market Consumers, Workers, and Managers

African Track Chair: Samuel K. Bonsu, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Northern Track Chair: Oana Branzei, University of Western Ontario.

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The Academy of Management Africa Conference will be held January 7-10, 2013 at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg, South Africa. The purpose of this conference is to bring Africa’s unique capabilities and needs to the attention of the world’s organization and management scholars and at the same time, to provide an opportunity for interested colleagues to collaborate and work on the many interesting theoretical and practical problems presented in Africa.

"Base of the Pyramid: Emerging Market Consumers, Workers, and Managers" is one of four program themes presented at the Academy of Management Africa Conference. For more information about the AOM Africa Conference, please visit the conference website: http://aom.org/africaconference or email the program development team at: [log in to unmask]

Please visit the conference website for submission policies and procedures (http://aom.org/africaconference).  The deadline for all program submissions is May 15, 2012 (5:00pm EDT).