Creating social value at the bottom of the pyramid: Elaborating resource orchestration via social intermediaries

Abstract

Overcoming constrained resources and enabling social, environmental, and economic value creation for stakeholders remains a managerial challenge. Small enterprises in the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) context offer an opportunity to extract insights into orchestration of resources amidst such challenges. Extensive qualitative data collected via text analysis, field visits, and expert interviews with two social intermediaries and managers of eleven small enterprises operating in BoP markets were analyzed to understand how small enterprises engage with stakeholders to structure, bundle, and leverage resources, as well as how they address environmental contingencies and social challenges in poverty settings. The findings highlight that companies must move beyond an economic resource focus and engage a diverse stakeholder network, leveraging social intermediaries for resource orchestration throughout lifecycle stages. The emergent framework elaborates on Resource Orchestration Theory (ROT), with propositions related to resource management mechanisms, capabilities offered by social intermediaries, and contingencies for social value creation.