Untapped Creating Value in Underserved Markets

Most companies mistakenly dismiss low-income markets as commercial wastelands. Yet many top corporations - including IBM, Ford, Hewlett Packard, and Texas Instruments - have discovered that investing in and partnering with underserved communities can yield significant profits. Based on rigorous research spanning seven years and 50 cases, Untapped shows how serving consumers and suppliers at the bottom of the pyramid can be the key to addressing corporations' pressing needs: increased sales, a qualified workforce, marketable innovations, reduced costs, and increased quality. But as corporations benefit, so too do communities, through better products, prices, and services, more meaningful job opportunities, and an increased market for their own goods and services. The authors' blend of proven strategies, practical tools, case studies, and cogent insight shows managers how to maximize profits while helping community residents increase income and assets, creating a relationship of mutual gain.

John Weiser is a founding partner in the firm of Brody • Weiser • Burns and an expert on using business strategies to achieve business and social goals. He has written numerous reports and books on this subject, including Conversations with Disbelievers. He has helped create, manage, and evaluate a range of corporate-community partnerships, including several profiled in this book.


Michele Kahane is Director of Special Projects for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. Prior to working at the Center, she was a program officer in the Ford Foundation’s Economic Development Unit. While there, she managed the Corporate Involvement Initiative, which sought to leverage private sector resources on behalf of low-income individuals. She also has been a Vice President in Emerging Markets at Chemical Bank.
Steve Rochlin is Director of Research and Policy Development for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, which helps businesses leverage their social, economic, and human assets to ensure success and a more sustainable world. He has spent more than ten years working with Fortune 500 businesses, and producing leading research on “win-win” models of corporate citizenship. He is the author of many reports and books, including Defining the Value Proposition for Corporate Citizenship.
Jessica Landis is a research consultant at the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. She has contributed to many projects on corporate citizenship, including the Conversations with Disbelievers series and the Center’s In Practice database.