Sustainable Supply Chain Management at the Base of Pyramid: A Literature Review

Abstract

In recent years, establishing partnerships with actors from the so-called base of the pyramid (BoP) has become a pivotal task for firms that operate or do business in developing countries. By engaging in BoP markets, firms are able to meet their own growth targets while simultaneously stimulating the economic development of poor countries. Due to the increasing relevance of sustainability, business decisions have to be made under consideration of economic, environmental, and social criteria. As a consequence, new challenges for supply chain management (SCM) arise. Even though these management theories are somehow connected, only little attention has been given to linking BoP research and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) yet. This chapter sheds light on this research area. A systematic review and content analysis of 76 related papers is presented to examine the state of research. The examination of sustainability constructs reveals a clear dominance of social aspects and a deficit in environmental sustainability consideration in SCM, while the integration of all three dimensions of sustainability is still occasional. The study contributes to research by analyzing the coherence of sustainability, in particular its social and societal aspects, and SCM at the BoP. Practitioners gain insights on social and societal aspects of SCM in context to poverty alleviation and making business with the poorest members of the world.