Realizing Mass Market’s Full Potential In Fast Developing Countries:the Dynamic Adaptation Of Perfetti Van Melle In Bangladesh

Thanks to the recent globalization new promising fast developing countries are gaining increasing importance in the world business scenario. With the saturation of developed world markets and the increasing competition coming from these emerging realities, MNCs need to find new sources of growth and feel the necessity to develop strategies to address effectively the huge potential of people at the economic bottom of the pyramid. However, what researches show is that there is a consistent number of MNCs that focused just on the small wealthy consumer segments, by replicating the same products and business models developed in the domestic market, thus failing to penetrate the real untapped opportunity at the base of the pyramid.This work investigates the reasons of such approach and, by exploring the existing literature and statistics, it outlines the pillars of a successful penetration strategy aimed at reaching effectively the mass market in these countries with a long-term prospective. The case of Perfetti Van Melle in Bangladesh discovers in concrete how it is possible to put in practice effectively this strategy.The analysis demonstrates that thinking that there will be a unique path of development for all the countries is reckless and it is a consequence of the imperialistic approach that MNCs have been showing throughout the history.It is true that globalization changed the equilibrium of the world and created homogeneous segments worldwide, but it is currently affecting just a very small minority of the population in fast developing countries. Instead, the development of a business model from ground-up through an integrated market-driven approach, rather than adapting pre-existing solutions developed elsewhere, is the key element to succeed and reach mass market’s full potential in fast developing countries.The example of Perfetti Van Melle is indeed the demonstration that by investing with a long-term commitment at the bottom of the economic pyramid, MNCs not only can improve the lives of billions of people, but they can do it also very profitably.