The objective of this study was to identify whether major multinational companies in the Brazilian market, focused primarily on higher income classes, have promoted some kind of innovation, particularly disruptive innovations, to meet the emerging low-income market, impacting the operation management and/or supply chain of these multinationals. To this end, a multiple case study method was used at Nestlé, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. Results showed that multinational companies operating in the Brazilian market have not promoted disruptive innovations directed to the base of the pyramid, once they felt that the "D" and "E" classes are not attractive enough to justify investments in product development, directing investments preferentially to the "C" class through small changes in products and distribution. This way, no evidence of disruptive innovations was found; only sustainable and incremental innovations linked to the adequacy of existing products.
Innovation; Disruptive innovation; Multinational company; Base of the pyramid; Growth strategy
