It is often argued that multinational corporations (MNCs) are in a unique position to innovate business models that can help to alleviate poverty. This empirical study into intra‐organizational aspects of pro‐poor business innovation in two MNCs suggests, however, that certain elements of their management frameworks – such as short‐term profit interests, business unit based incentive structures, and uncertainty avoidance – may turn into obstacles that prevent MNCs from reaching their full potential in this respect. We introduce the concept of intrapreneurial bricolage to show how middle manager innovators may promote pro‐poor business models despite these obstacles. We define intrapreneurial bricolage as entrepreneurial activity within a large organization characterized by creative bundling of scarce resources, and illustrate empirically how it helps innovators to overcome organizational constraints and to mobilize internal and external resources. Our findings imply that intrapreneurial bricolage may be of fundamental importance in MNC innovation for inclusive business. In addition to the field of inclusive business, this study has implications for the study of bricolage in large organizations and social intrapreneurship, as well for managerial practice around innovation for inclusive business.

The world's low-income majority is increasingly seen as a new market, the baseof-the-pyramid (BOP) market, with opportunities for new business and poverty reduction through inclusive business. This has led to research on activities geared towards this market, such as strategies for market entry and BOP business model design. However, the market itself as a dynamic entity has not been problematized. This paper suggests that defining markets in subsistence contexts as ongoing processes of economic organizing and as bundles of practices, rather than as collections of people, offers additional tools for engaging in their realization. The empirical study of informal waste trade practices suggests that the emergence of a market is linked to the economic organizing process moving from being dominated by exchange practices towards a more diversified dynamic in which these practices become linked to normalizing and representational practices. This more diversified market dynamic is intimately connected to collective organizing efforts on behalf of subsistence market actors.

No abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link

The past decade has seen a proliferation of suggestions for market-based solutions to global poverty. While research emphasises that sustainability innovation aimed at poverty alleviation must be grounded in user needs, few studies demonstrate how to study the poor for purposes of early phase innovation in business enterprises, especially in multiple locations comparatively. This study suggests that the necessary understanding of low-income users and their practices can be gained through multi-sited rapid ethnography. We exemplify how the process moves from an understanding of the needs of the poor towards innovation and offer a general framework for evaluating the success of these types of projects. The paper describes the challenges and solutions found in a multi-sited rapid ethnography research in urban base of the pyramid (BOP) contexts in Brazil, India, Russia, and Tanzania. It suggests businesses can learn about the poor with the help of this method and conduct sustainability innovation on the basis of the needs of the poor, rather than start with existing products.

Building on the capability approach to poverty alleviation, this study argues for a shift in attention from the reduction of poverty to an increase in well-being. This shift opens up a new perspective in the research and the evaluation of business involvement in subsistence markets, and provides a theoretical foundation for a holistic approach in order to engage with subsistence markets. The empirical research follows the urban poor in Tanzania in creating an innovative low-cost housing project. The study argues that communities can, and should, play an active part in the design of markets in subsistence contexts, and presents a process model on how such capabilities for well-being and market agency on individual to system levels can gradually be increased.

Several researchers have pointed out that if marketing is to develop as a discipline and contribute to solving complex business and societal challenges, it should question the neoclassical view of markets and develop its own theory of markets. Efforts in this direction indicate an emerging view of markets as dynamic, subjective, and subject to multiple change efforts. However, the neoclassical view of objective, detached, and deterministic market still influences the dominant models used to describe market change. We argue that in order to better understand market dynamics, both academics and practitioners need new concepts and constructs that go beyond existing linear process and development stage models. We seek to contribute to improved understanding of

No abstract