Including the bottom of the pyramid countries : redefining the global triad as business systems and institutions

Two seminal works have illustrated the importance of including developing economies in international business research. First, Prahalad and Hart’s (2002) work on strategies for countries at the bottom of the pyramid have shown the economic and business potential of the world’s low income countries. Second, Rugman’s (2000) work on regionalization has major implications not only for international business research but for economic growth in developing economies. MNCs are major sources of finance, technology and knowledge for developing economies; regionalization means that developing economies do not have access to these crucial resources owned by MNCs. This paper advocates that, for international business researchers to include base of the pyramid countries, a fundamental re-definition of the global triad (Ohmae, 1985) is required. The new definition is one based on business systems and institutions, which includes bottom of the pyramid countries as one type of business system.