Abstract

Purpose - This article proposes a continuum of strategic engagement approaches to Base of the pyramid (BOP) markets ranging from non-profit and government aid to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and social entrepreneurship. A framework is presented to identify which approach to serving the BOP market makes the most sense under certain conditions, depending upon availability of consumer resources to participate in the initiative, the infrastructure available for the initiative to leverage, and whether the focus of the initiative is to be self-sustaining over time. Design/methodology/approach - This is a conceptual article based on literature review and synthesis.Findings - Eight different approaches to engage with BOP markets are recommended under different combinations of three underlying conditions: consumer resources, infrastructure availability and self-sustainability goals. Originality/value - Original article.

Patagonia Inc. is perhaps the best known U.S. company to become a benefit corporation, a new form of incorporation allowed in some U.S. states. Image courtesy of Flickr user Sam Beebe, Ecotrust. Sustainability is an increasingly important business issue. There is a growing recognition that the long-term viability of corporations depends on how they impact [...]

Base of the pyramid (BoP) business strategies focus on the delivery of goods and services to the world's poor. Proponents argue that previously unrecognised opportunities for profit are available to companies that target this underserved population. This strategy is commonly presented as an example of social responsibility, or social sustainability, since it targets consumers that have not traditionally had access to consumer goods and services. However, business activities can have a disproportionately harmful impact on the natural environments in which the BoP live and work. We argue that businesses engaged in BoP activities with the ostensible goal of benefitting the BoP may paradoxically harm the BoP by degrading the natural environments on which they are dependent. We provide a conceptual framework for understanding the environmental impacts that firm products, services, and operations can have on the BoP, and we provide a pragmatic solution aimed at resolving this apparent paradox.

Corporate responsibility (CR), as a business contribution to sustainable development, implies that the environment affects the organisation and the organisation reacts to its changing environment. In this way, CR can be understood as a cybernetic system operating across the interface between the organisation and its environment. This paper elaborates a cybernetic model of CR, and uses it to distinguish ways that managers sense change in their environment. Three ways to 'sense' change are compared: following trends, issues and events; picking up signals from stakeholders; and adjusting to sustainable development as a specific definition of 'progress'. The paper discusses the merits and limits of each approach. Conclusions are drawn in terms of implications for managing CR. Moreover, the cybernetic model is held to provide for a theory of CR that is more in line with the multi-disciplinary nature of practice than is found in ideas that derive from business ethics or stakeholder theory.