BHP Billiton: Innovation and Benefit to the Bottom of the Pyramid

This essay examines how innovation can address social needs, focusing on BHP Billiton Ltd as a case study. It discusses the company's background, the social need of access to healthcare within the mining sector, and how innovation contributes to easing this access. The essay further analyzes the benefits of these innovations to the poorest socioeconomic group, known as the bottom of the pyramid, and the advantages for the organization itself. It explores push and pull factors influencing entrepreneurship and employment within BHP Billiton, highlighting the importance of innovation for organizational growth, worker safety, and environmental impact reduction. The conclusion emphasizes the vital role of innovation in ensuring growth and survival for organizations in the market.

Running Head: CREATIVITY AND BUSINESS HEALTH 0
Creativity and business wealth
JUNE 23, 2018
BHP

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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................2
(How can innovation address the social need)........................................2
Company background (BHP-Billiton Ltd).................................................2
Social Need (Access to Healthcare)...........................................................3
Innovation contributes to the ease of access to healthcare.........................4
The benefit to the poorest socioeconomic group (Bottom of the pyramid)5
Benefits to the organisation........................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................7

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Introduction
(How can innovation address the social need)
In every organisation, the people or employees face certain issues that might affect their
personal as well as professional life. Especially some social needs or challenges can be social
exclusion, poverty, a considerable level of inequalities, health and demographic challenges,
access to education and healthcare facilities. Social needs in organizations arise because of
the working conditions, education, community development, health. Therefore, in order to
meet these social needs strategies, ideas or activities are implemented. The level and nature of
social challenges differ from person to person, as well as from one organisation to another
(Innovation policy platform, 2013). Innovation can help address various social needs in the
organisations to improve their productivity and performance. The issue of social exclusion
can be resolved in a way by reducing unemployment and creating opportunities for the
disadvantaged groups especially. In addition, production of goods that are easy to use and
afford for the public can diminish the inequalities or differences between different sections of
the society. Thus, it will help in improving the living standard of people. Innovation can also
bring light towards addressing health needs by providing more personal and preventive health
care products.
Company background (BHP-Billiton Ltd)
In the year 1885, BHP Billiton Ltd was established. It functions to perform the operations of
extracting minerals, oil and gas. The formation of the company takes place through the
merger of the Australian Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP) and the Anglo-
Dutch Billiton, plc, which formed as a dual listed company. The company Headquartered in
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. BHP is the largest mining company based on market
capitalization. BHP operates in a broad sense, diversified operations in mining, processing,

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oil and gas production operations in over 25 countries. Therefore, the company has five
operational units, which are, coal, copper, iron ore, petroleum, and potash. Innovation in
mining industries is very crucial if they want to grow and develop. As with the reduction in
productivity, bringing new and innovative methods of working can keep costs down
particularly through automation. The main aim or the corporate purpose of the organisation is
to look towards the interests of shareholders, creating value through procuring, developing
and marketing of the resources. BHP focuses on three core values such as leadership, client
focus and integrity and collaboratively brings about innovation to the market in a culture that
demands competence, value. These all factors will lead to improving the services and lives of
the people. BHP is consistent with the strategies that mean they have the plan to grow the
value of BHP. The company follows a strategy to own and operate a long–life, with least cost
and expandable upstream assets that vary according to the commodity and market (BHP,
2018).
Social Need (Access to Healthcare)
Amongst all the different social issues present according to the company, access to the
healthcare is one of the major issue observed in the mining sector. The rising number of the
elderly people demands advanced health care services and the public expenditures related to
them. Since, mining sector consists of people of different age groups from different
backgrounds, who lack nutrition, proper food, shelter. Resolving the social need of the
workers in the BHP mainly includes both technical and organizational innovation which can
contribute towards addressing health problems by providing more personal, and preventive
health care products (Bucher, Jager and Prado, 2016). Providing opportunities and services to
the older people to remain active and work with more enthusiasm. The success of innovation
in any organisation depends on two things that are resources such as people, money or
finance, equipment, tools and the capabilities of the organisations to manage it. Innovation

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benefits in different ways depending on the nature of operations carried out. It means
successful innovation is associated strongly with the manner a corporation is socially
responsible manage projects, how they employ the inputs or resources towards attaining the
goals. Lastly, how they link up and fulfil their customer requirements (Yakovleva, 2017).
Access to healthcare is crucial to every individual because it affects or influences the overall
physical, mental, and social health condition and quality of life. One of the social issue at
BHP has some barriers such as the high cost of care, and lack of availability of services.
These barriers lead to complex problems such as the inability to receive the benefit of
preventive services, financial burdens on the families of the people working in the
organisation. Improving the access to healthcare depends on the availability of source to
people.
To receive the benefits of health care, there should be a proper implementation of the
ambulatory system and health check-up of the workers to maintain their health record. BHP
donates the one per cent of profits calculated before tax to community programs at their own
discretion. In this way, the company fulfils their social responsibilities. Where a high degree
of diseases exists in their organisation, they often provide control programs to the
communities and workers. These initiatives include carrying out projects to help maternal and
child health. Use of several productive programmes will contribute towards improving the
status of healthcare access for the people (Global communities, 2014). Use of the ANDA
(Abbreviated New Drug Application) program in Colombia was introduced which focussed
on providing access to basic healthcare facilities to the people. In addition, they have made
investments in community health to improve the quality of medical care to people, who find
it difficult to afford (BHP, 2015).

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New and modern systems of managing health and healthcare may lead to success in
achieving the goals. It means setting up or organising healthcare programs within the
organisation. They include the regular health check-up of the workers so that they can have
ease of access. Other programs may include Vaccination for the children of the workers in the
mining sector free of charge or cost (Healthy people, 2018). For example, in the case of the
workers who have risks to issues such as hypertension and different types of cancer.
Organising programmes and putting efforts towards the development of new technology
would help in improving access to healthcare. Developing apps will further help in reporting
the emergency need for healthcare facilities to any individual. Healthcare facilities are most
vital to every individual in each organisation, so there should be an improvement in terms of
resources and quality (Page, 2014)
The benefit to the poorest socioeconomic group (Bottom of the pyramid)
Bottom of the pyramid, also known as base of the pyramid is defined as the largest, but
indicates the poorest socio-economic group. In other words, it means as a group of more than
4 billion people who live in wretched poverty. Therefore, a person belonging to this group
faces exclusion from the modern globalised and civilised societies, consumption and access
to financial services. It is a market-based economic development model that aims at reducing
poverty along with ensuring growth and profits for the multinationals. Firms in different
industries commonly use this phenomenon. BOP approaches reciprocate poverty as an
economic opportunity for MNCs (Financial times, 2018). It is based on three premises such
as first can be stated as that the World’s poor consist for the most massive growth
opportunities and profit potential for the multinationals. Secondly, those multinationals
should play a leading and supportive role in exploiting the usefulness and potential of those
difficult to access markets. Third, premise states an initiative to bring poor to the global
economy along with taking measures to reduce poverty. BOP (Bottom of the pyramid)

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consists of people who often face many difficulties, but they are more concerned with their
present consumption rather than future.
Innovation can help improve the living standard of the people under BOP. People in the
mining company often face some difficulties while working. They work under different types
of conditions and using eco-friendly products at the workplace will enhance the standard of
living of the people at BOP level (Career mine, 2018). In other words, establishing a
mechanism which would not harm their health benefit them. There are a number of dangers
to miners while working in the mining factories such as gas explosions, equipment accidents,
and a lot of health risks or respiratory diseases (Kohler, 2015). To reach or satisfy the needs
of those 4 billion should be on 4A's, which are Availability, Affordability, Acceptability, and
Awareness. BOP entrepreneurs are some part of the society so they have a significant impact
on the business firms and their environment.
Bottom of the pyramid (BOP) emphasizes the world’s poor that represents a huge untapped
consumer market for the corporations to explore. Innovation is correlated with the
multinationals or entrepreneurship consists of three phases which include, generating new
ideas, then selecting the appropriate ones and then implementing them (Sinkovics, Sinkovics
and Yamin, 2014). In addition, innovation in the mining aims to improve the worker safety,
increase efficiency and reduce the external environmental impacts. In these industries
specifically, innovation is strongly associated with the growth and success of the
organisation, shareholders and risks with the attainment of goals and objectives. Managing
innovation means building a dynamic capability that is often not an easy task because
innovation cannot take place without taking risks (Dixon, Meyer and Day, 2014). Therefore,
to develop and promote the lives of people innovative strategies in the mining organisations
such as BHP are used, which often constitutes of lower-level workers.

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Push and Pull factors
Push-pull factors are those that drive people to move from one place to another. Therefore,
the combination of these push and pull factors helps to determine migration or immigration of
people from one place to another. Certain push and pull factors that push people to become
entrepreneurs such as unemployment, job insecurity, and disagreement with the management,
present working conditions, methods and technologies used. Whereas pull factors towards
innovation in the mining sector includes independence, achievement and personal wealth.
There are some push and pull factors, which operate in the company BHP, these include the
push factors such as poorly governed/ungoverned areas, government repression or violations,
and the threat from the culture of the society, are the push factors. These factors serve to be
known as a reason for the workers in the industry to leave a particular region or country. Push
and pull factors influences the working and performance of the BHP Billiton, in a way that
the worker may leave the place and migrate to the another city or country which leads to the
loss of efficient human resource of the organisation. These factors influence the
entrepreneurship and ultimately affect the employment in the organisation. In turn, it will
affect the motivation of the existing employees and the future prospects to be a part of the
BHP. Hence, it can be stated that in every organisation push and pull factors serve as initial
triggers.
Benefits to the organisation
Innovation plays a vital role in all organisations to ensure growth and survival in the market.
Any business firm or management should look towards new ways to improve their working
and performance. There can be numerous ways to develop new ways of conducting business
activities. Innovation solves many impossible problems, increase workplace productivity by
implementing new ideas and processes, leads to creativity, and brings about new and unique

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features. Mainly in mining industries, there has been used a ‘zero harm approach' which
focuses on improving the working environment. This will benefit the organisation as a whole
by sustaining their strategies, goodwill and workers (Zero harm, 2018). Every organisation
must represent itself in such a way that the organisation innovates in every aspect. In general,
sense, innovation is the term that defines the availability of a new, viable business offering.
However, innovation should be within certain limits so that it does not dilute the
organisational capacity to use innovation. It can be in the form of bringing new business
opportunity by introducing new and advanced technology for leading outcomes. In this
fashion, innovation and entrepreneurship are correlated (Galindo, and Mendez, 2014)
Conclusion
To conclude the above discussion it states that the ‘innovation’ is the most important key
factor in every organisation. Redressal of social needs is one of the advantages of using
innovation in any organisation. The social needs to be resolved for enhancing performance as
it involves many difficulties that people usually face. Every level in the organisation has
some roles and responsibilities in order to achieve success and sustain growth. Specifically,
mining industries need to be innovative to operate successfully for a long duration. It also
caters to the needs of those lower level workers also who live in extreme poverty. They are
known as ‘Bottom of the pyramid'. Among all such social needs or issues, some are access to
healthcare. Not only, those under poverty are advantageous, but the organisation as a whole.
Because innovation brings about new business, offerings that further brings opportunities
considering push and pull factors. Advancing or promoting the access to healthcare facilities
for the people working in the mining industries was a major concern.

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