Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) organizations are the ones that develop a set of capabilities that contribute to create short- and long-term sustainability values inside and outside the boundaries of B...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00076503211001826

Capabilities of Bottom of the Pyramid Organizations

Maternal mortality is an acute problem for many countries around the world, particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). Most remote locations in these underdeveloped nations, for instance, in Africa, have to cope with the problem of interrupted electricity supply making healthcare practitioners often experience a helpless compulsion to compromise in providing quality medical attention, especially during childbirth. Along with many public, private and nongovernment initiatives, WE CARE Solar (hereafter WCS) – a social innovation venture comes with an idea of developing portable solar suitcases to respond to this intransigent problem.,This paper introduces a social enterprise that established its operation in Africa and so far has served in more than 30 similarly impoverished economies. Data was collected, analyzed using documentary research method. The authors have also collected and correlated the statements from the founder of WCS to complement the authors’ findings. With this paper, the authors intend to establish the type of innovation tools that are needed to provide value with a social innovation initiative in the health sector in the least developed country perspective. To facilitate better social outcomes and to ensure greater good, innovation requires to be accompanied by stakeholders’ involvement.,The findings indicate that WE CARE Solar has a positive social contribution toward ensuring safe motherhood and childbirth in underdeveloped countries by providing access to reliable solar power sources. The six-step social innovation process can be adopted by other social ventures to propose innovative solutions to social needs. Analyzing WCS's service delivery from the perspective of the 4As framework and value co-creation model, it is suggested that sustainable social change can be established with value co-creation through community engagement with multiple stakeholders.,This research was solely focused on one organization alone. Future research could look into the model to ascertain its acceptability in similar social innovation in healthcare initiatives.,This paper attempts to address a gap in social innovation in healthcare and its adaptability using the 4As framework with the value co-creation model. The authors propose this model from the data accumulated throughout the research, which could also serve to assist organizations looking for scalable and sustainable change.

Value co-creation through social innovation in healthcare: a case of WE CARE Solar

Integrating Corporate Social Innovations and cross-collaboration: An empirical study

\nPurpose\nThis study aims to identify the nature of the characteristics and the social results of partnerships established between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the company.\n\n\nDesign/methodology/approach\nThis research is a qualitative collective case study. Data were collected through 12 interviews and analyzed through the content analysis technique.\n\n\nFindings\nThe findings indicate that in the first case, the partnership is driven by the company’s interest in qualifying its supplier, facing a relational identity orientation, establishing philanthropic relationships. In the second case, the search for social legitimacy is evident, in the face of a collectivist identity orientation, in which Petro establishes a relationship of a transactional nature. Thus, the differential in intersectoral collaboration lies in the interaction among company, NGO and cooperatives. The results also show that the dialogue proximity between companies and civil society have a strong relationship with social results for the local communities.\n\n\nSocial implications\nThis study reveals the need to broaden the understanding of the social results of social partnerships to local communities.\n\n\nOriginality/value\nThe nature of the relationship among state, companies, NGOs and local communities in developing countries are different from developed countries. In the first case, companies are called to assume state’s role in improving quality of life and income generation.\n

Intersectoral partnerships in the recycling sector

This article presents a new way of implementing corporate social innovations (CSI) through cross-collaboration, by analyzing the integration of these two constructs, which are usually studied separately, offering an actual perspective to address persisting social problems while reaching business results. Our findings are based on case studies conducted with key executives and consultants from social enterprises, nonprofits, multinational corporations, large enterprises, and B-Corps from Brazil, USA, Canada, Iceland, and Sweden to compare different regions with different social problems using Mirvis and Googins (2017) framework to analyze the integration of CSI and cross-collaboration in corporate strategies. Results allow us to propose a new spectrum between social and commercial business models and their relationships with governments and civil society, demonstrating that the action of all stakeholders is already taking place in different ways according to the realities of each region, promoting impactful results that are beneficial for business and society. 

This paper aims to investigate whether and how cross-sector partnerships (a growing yet controversial phenomenon) contribute to both non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and multinational companies (MNCs) political powers.,The method consists of a single case study on a partnership involving a large MNC and a small NGO, in the delivery of lighting and cooking devices to BoP (bottom of the pyramid) populations.,Thanks to economic compromises and structural arrangements, both partners succeed to take advantage of the partnership to strengthen their respective (local and transnational) political power and to serve deprived populations’ needs.,This paper contributes to the political corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature by presenting cross-sector partnerships as a potential means to reconcile the “brother enemies” and increase both firms’ and nonprofit organizations’ political roles.,The results help both NGOs and MNCs in understanding the political stakes of cross-sector partnerships and in envisioning mechanisms to handle those collaborations so as to deepen their respective goals and build public goods.,While most of the literature focuses on the strategic rationales, this paper provides political rationales for cross-sector partnerships linking MNCs and NGOs.

Caroline Hussler

Papers

Bargaining with the devil? A politicized view on cross-sector partnerships targeting the BoP