IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v45y2013icp137-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate-Led Sustainable Development and Energy Poverty Alleviation at the Bottom of the Pyramid: The Case of the CleanCook in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Sesan, Temilade
  • Raman, Sujatha
  • Clifford, Mike
  • Forbes, Ian

Abstract

Corporations are increasingly viewed as key actors in poverty alleviation. “Bottom of the Pyramid” (BoP) advocates suggest that MultiNational Corporations (MNCs) can simultaneously alleviate poverty and make profits by selling scaled-down products to the poor. Our paper investigates this claim using the case of the CleanCook stove-and-fuel technology introduced in Nigeria by an MNC working through a nonprofit organization and local business actors. Supply and demand-side analyses show that the CleanCook is least likely to reach the energy-poor BoP households originally targeted. The evidence suggests that serving the BoP requires greater differentiation than can be achieved with profit-driven business models.

Suggested Citation

  • Sesan, Temilade & Raman, Sujatha & Clifford, Mike & Forbes, Ian, 2013. "Corporate-Led Sustainable Development and Energy Poverty Alleviation at the Bottom of the Pyramid: The Case of the CleanCook in Nigeria," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 137-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:45:y:2013:i:c:p:137-146
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.10.009
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12002537
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.10.009?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emeka Nwankwo & Nelson Phillips & Paul Tracey, 2007. "Social Investment through Community Enterprise: The Case of Multinational Corporations Involvement in the Development of Nigerian Water Resources," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(1), pages 91-101, June.
    2. Anozie, A.N. & Bakare, A.R. & Sonibare, J.A. & Oyebisi, T.O., 2007. "Evaluation of cooking energy cost, efficiency, impact on air pollution and policy in Nigeria," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1283-1290.
    3. Masera, Omar R. & Saatkamp, Barbara D. & Kammen, Daniel M., 2000. "From Linear Fuel Switching to Multiple Cooking Strategies: A Critique and Alternative to the Energy Ladder Model," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 2083-2103, December.
    4. Kolk, Ans & van Tulder, Rob, 2006. "Poverty alleviation as business strategy? Evaluating commitments of frontrunner Multinational Corporations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 789-801, May.
    5. Hiemstra-van der Horst, Greg & Hovorka, Alice J., 2008. "Reassessing the "energy ladder": Household energy use in Maun, Botswana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 3333-3344, September.
    6. Bailis, Rob & Cowan, Amanda & Berrueta, Victor & Masera, Omar, 2009. "Arresting the Killer in the Kitchen: The Promises and Pitfalls of Commercializing Improved Cookstoves," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 1694-1705, October.
    7. Shonali Pachauri & Daniel Spreng, 2003. "Energy use and energy access in relation to poverty," CEPE Working paper series 03-25, CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zurich.
    8. Oladosu, G. A. & Adegbulugbe, A. O., 1994. "Nigeria's household energy sector : Issues and supply/demand frontiers," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 538-549, June.
    9. Leach, Gerald, 1992. "The energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 116-123, February.
    10. Shrimali, Gireesh & Slaski, Xander & Thurber, Mark C. & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Improved stoves in India: A study of sustainable business models," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7543-7556.
    11. Ananya Reed & Darryl Reed, 2009. "Partnerships for Development: Four Models of Business Involvement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 3-37, May.
    12. Reddy, Amulya K.N. & Reddy, B.Sudhakara, 1994. "Substitution of energy carriers for cooking in Bangalore," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 561-571.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nie, Peng & Li, Qiaoge & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso, 2021. "Energy poverty and subjective well-being in China: New evidence from the China Family Panel Studies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. D’Amelio, Matilde & Garrone, Paola & Piscitello, Lucia, 2016. "Can Multinational Enterprises Light up Developing Countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 12-32.
    3. Mario Pansera & Fabien Martinez, 2017. "Innovation for development and poverty reduction: an integrative literature review," Post-Print hal-02887777, HAL.
    4. Ans Kolk & Miguel Rivera-Santos & Carlos Rufín, 2018. "Multinationals, international business, and poverty: A cross-disciplinary research overview and conceptual framework," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(1), pages 92-115, June.
    5. Raja Usman Khalid & Stefan Seuring, 2019. "Analyzing Base-of-the-Pyramid Research from a (Sustainable) Supply Chain Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 663-686, March.
    6. Bensch, Gunther & Kluve, Jochen & Stöterau, Jonathan, 2021. "The market-based dissemination of energy-access technologies as a business model for rural entrepreneurs: Evidence from Kenya," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Kleemann, Linda & Humberg, Kerstin, 2014. "Social business: A new private sector contribution to development? Reflections on opportunities, limitations, and risks," Kiel Policy Brief 82, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    8. Sarkar, Soumodip & Pansera, Mario, 2017. "Sustainability-driven innovation at the bottom: Insights from grassroots ecopreneurs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 327-338.
    9. Mariana Voros Fregolente & Marly M. Carvalho, 2023. "Exploring BoP Generations through Business Model Innovation Lens: A Review and Framing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-37, August.
    10. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Yuan, Zihao, 2024. "Impact of energy poverty on public health: A non-linear study from an international perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    11. Aman, Sadaf & Seuring, Stefan, 2022. "Interestingly it's innovation: Reviewing sustainability performance management in the base of the pyramid (BoP)," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    12. Cieslik, Katarzyna, 2016. "Moral Economy Meets Social Enterprise Community-Based Green Energy Project in Rural Burundi," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 12-26.
    13. Tsai Chi Kuo & Wei-Jung Shiang & Jessica Hanafi & Sz Ying Chen, 2018. "Co-Development of Supply Chain in the BOP Markets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-14, March.
    14. Manoj Kumar, & Sachin Kumar, & Tyagi, S.K., 2013. "Design, development and technological advancement in the biomass cookstoves: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 265-285.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sehjpal, Ritika & Ramji, Aditya & Soni, Anmol & Kumar, Atul, 2014. "Going beyond incomes: Dimensions of cooking energy transitions in rural India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 470-477.
    2. Han, Hongyun & Wu, Shu, 2018. "Rural residential energy transition and energy consumption intensity in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 523-534.
    3. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    4. Mensah, Justice Tei & Adu, George, 2015. "An empirical analysis of household energy choice in Ghana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1402-1411.
    5. Ahmed Moustapha Mfokeu & Elie Virgile Chrysostome & Jean-Pierre Gueyie & Olivier Ebenezer Mun Ngapna, 2023. "Consumer Motivation behind the Use of Ecological Charcoal in Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-22, January.
    6. Guta, Dawit Diriba, 2014. "Effect of fuelwood scarcity and socio-economic factors on household bio-based energy use and energy substitution in rural Ethiopia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 217-227.
    7. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2013. "The energy ladder: Theoretical myth or empirical truth? Results from a meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 504-513.
    8. Maes, Wouter H. & Verbist, Bruno, 2012. "Increasing the sustainability of household cooking in developing countries: Policy implications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 4204-4221.
    9. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2014. "The impact of the household decision environment on fuel choice behavior," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 236-247.
    10. Ekholm, Tommi & Krey, Volker & Pachauri, Shonali & Riahi, Keywan, 2010. "Determinants of household energy consumption in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5696-5707, October.
    11. Harrington, Elise & Athavankar, Ameya & Hsu, David, 2020. "Variation in rural household energy transitions for basic lighting in India," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    13. Muhammad Saad Moeen & Muhammad Asjad Tariq & Saqib Shahzad & Shehryar Rashid, 2016. "Factors Influencing Choice of Energy Sources in Rural Pakistan," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 905-920.
    14. Patricia Iyore Ajayi, 2018. "Urban Household Energy Demand in Southwest Nigeria," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(4), pages 410-422, December.
    15. Dongzagla, Alfred & Adams, Abdul-Moomin, 2022. "Determinants of urban household choice of cooking fuel in Ghana: Do socioeconomic and demographic factors matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    16. Takama, Takeshi & Tsephel, Stanzin & Johnson, Francis X., 2012. "Evaluating the relative strength of product-specific factors in fuel switching and stove choice decisions in Ethiopia. A discrete choice model of household preferences for clean cooking alternatives," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1763-1773.
    17. Helen Hoka Osiolo & Peter Kimuyu, 2017. "Demand for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement Interventions," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 1-19, September.
    18. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Das, Sukanya & De Groote, Hugo & Behera, Bhagirath, 2014. "Determinants of household energy use in Bhutan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 661-672.
    19. Lohri, Christian Riuji & Rajabu, Hassan Mtoro & Sweeney, Daniel J. & Zurbrügg, Christian, 2016. "Char fuel production in developing countries – A review of urban biowaste carbonization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1514-1530.
    20. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2007. "Fuel choices in urban Indian households," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 757-774, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:45:y:2013:i:c:p:137-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.