Small-scale, co-designed pilot projects are a critical mechanism for testing the proposed business model and for generating real-time learning in a low-risk manner. Co-design and co-management of the pilot projects helps build local business capacity, aligns the effort with diverse needs, and marshals local resources and commitment to the effort.
Four primary tasks comprise this process: forming an Implementation Team, co-designing pilot tests, leveraging the MNC’s network, and establishing competency-building channels.
Forming an Implementation Team
The Implementation Team should be drawn primarily from the Core Team members involved in the co-development of the business plan. That said, it is important that the Implementation Team include people with the necessary skills and mindset for advancing a venture beyond the concept stage. Therefore, depending on the talents and experience of the team members, it may be necessary to bring onboard additional MNC people and/or NGO personnel with experience in new-venture development (particularly within the geographical area in question), as well as community members with entrepreneurial talents.
The possibility of successful implementation is enhanced if the team members can coalesce and function as one cohesive partnership. Mutual respect should be the key element of the team’s culture.
Co-designing Pilots
Relative to top-of-the-pyramid efforts, the pilots should be smaller in scale and greater in number in an effort to manage uncertainty and respond to contingencies. Furthermore, the timeline for implementation must be flexible and embrace a pace of change that is appropriate for the community. Indeed, the timeline must be tied to ‘local’ time as compared to ‘corporate’ time. The Implementation Team should be prepared to manage and negotiate among the different time horizons and expectations of the various constituencies.
To maximize learning, the pilot sites should be representative of the diverse conditions within the BoP community (e.g., ecological, ethnic, gender). As with the business plan, the pilot’s design should leverage and build off of existing socio-economic structures and local capabilities and resources, paying particular attention to mechanisms that help expand local business capacity. Community “competitions” organized around specific challenges or obstacles confronted by the Implementation Team offer one potential mechanism for tapping into the local knowledge.
The process and the resulting pilot designs should be documented and made available to the community through the local enterprise office.
Leveraging the MNC’s Network
In the design of the pilots, the MNC Team should explore arrangements with the MNC’s existing businesses and operations that could support the pilot’s objectives and expand local capacity while generating additional value for the corporation. For example, it may be possible to arrange for another of the MNC’s businesses to procure its raw materials from local producers or directly from the pilot itself at a lower cost. Other possible arrangements which could increase the probability of the new venture’s success by bolstering the community’s capacity include:
- Spinning-off one of the MNC’s activities (e.g., transportation) as an independent business to a local entrepreneur
- Franchising a business to a local entrepreneur
- Employing local community members to produce and provide services
Building Competency Channels
The pilot projects present the MNC Team with a low-risk opportunity to actively learn and experiment with the new skills and capabilities needed in building desired competencies. Therefore, the MNC Team should structure the pilots so that its Team is best positioned to interact with and acquire the skills and tacit knowledge that other partners may possess. In addition, the Team should design the pilots so that the MNC has the opportunity to test-out and further refine new capabilities and competencies.