Reaching the Mass Market of the Base of the Pyramid : Using the five A’s concept

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate how organizations have entered the Base of the Pyramid market segment using the five concept of; awareness, affordability, accessibility, availability and acceptability. The authors believed that the A concepts needed to be further tested as the model of entry into the BOP market segment. Qualitative research method was utilized in carrying out the study. The research data collected consisted of semi-structured interviews with six organizations from India and Kenya. The interviews were based on the same question and structure in all cases. The results revealed that the organizations had applied the five concepts when entering the BOP market segment in ways that resulted in some similarities and some differences. There were four common characteristics on awareness, five common characteristics on affordability, five common characteristics on accessibility, six common characteristics on availability and five common characteristics on acceptability. The study also concluded that there were some differences and similarities between the countries of this study. There were two common characteristics on awareness for the two countries. The rest of characteristics on the other four concepts were different for the two countries.