The inclusive business model revisited: An “extended resource‐based theory” (re)definition built on the investigation of three diversified inclusive enterprises in France

Abstract

AbstractThe inclusive business model concerns organizations whose strategic intent is to include in their value creation predominantly people who are being wasted by the dominant practices of actors on the market due to a presumption of negative performance. Inclusive business models have been initially defined by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The “extended resource‐based theory” proposes a new typology of resources, which includes the “wasted” resource notion. The strategic intent is being seen as a main component of the business model and plays an interface role. Inclusive enterprises predominantly employ people who are excluded from the workplace. The suggested definition of the inclusive business model is extended to any form of organization fighting against social exclusion and it specifies that the included vulnerable people must be the majority among the human resources. Through the “extended resource‐based theory” prism, inclusive organizations have both alternative perception and intention toward wasted human resources and inclusive business models realize this alternative intent. This renewed view of the inclusive business model could facilitate its appropriation and application by both practitioners and researchers, and both in developed and in developing countries.