In African countries such as Ghana, microentrepreneurs make formal economy goods and services available to base of the pyramid (BOP) consumers. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) co-opt BOP business models when they enter the BOP market. We conducted a case study of six MNEs and 36 microentrepreneurs in three key sectors. In two sectors (fast-moving consumer goods and telecommunications), reverse bridging enables MNEs to capture value from BOP business models, which has a negative impact on both the financial and social capital of microentrepreneurs. In the third sector (finance), microentrepreneurs are buffered from the negative effects of co-optation through a process of integrating, which enhances their social capital but reduces their financial capital. Our research contributes to the BOP literature, first by demonstrating that financial and social capital are intertwined at the BOP level, and second by analyzing how the negative effects of co-optation can be cushioned by enhancing microentrepreneurs’ social capital.

在加纳等非洲国家，微型企业家为金字塔底层 (BOP) 的消费者提供正规经济商品和服务。跨国企业 (MNEs) 在进入 BOP 市场时会采用 BOP 商业模式。我们对三个关键领域的六家跨国公司和 36 名微型企业家进行了案例研究。在两个领域（快速消费品和电信），反向桥接使跨国企业能够从 BOP 商业模式中获取价值，这对微型企业家的金融和社会资本都有负面影响。在第三个部门（金融）中，微型企业家通过整合过程从吸收的负面影响中得到缓冲。，这增加了他们的社会资本，但减少了他们的金融资本。我们的研究有助于国际收支文献，首先通过证明金融和社会资本在国际收支水平上相互交织，其次通过分析如何通过增强微型企业家的社会资本来缓冲合作的负面影响。