The Role of Social Enterprise Hybrid Business Models in Inclusive Value Chain Development

Bob Doherty,Pichawadee Kittipanya-Ngam

doi:10.3390/su13020499

Bob Doherty, Pichawadee Kittipanya-Ngam

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020499

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jan 7, 2021
Citations: 20	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of York, Thammasat University

Abstract

This study contributes to the growing interest in hybrid organisations, sustainable business models and inclusive value chain development (IVCD). Recent work has identified that of some 570 million farmers in the world, more than 475 million farmers are smallholders in low-middle-income countries experiencing increasing food insecurity and rural poverty. Research argues that there is a lack of research that provides work on appropriate solutions for smallholders. This paper answers this call by a qualitative study of ten case studies, which draws on hybrid organising, sustainable business model and IVCD research to identify the novel business model characteristics that hybrid organisations use to create and manage more inclusive value chains for smallholders. These hybrid organisations are designed to create a value proposition that delivers sustainability upgrading for smallholders via both product, process and governance upgrades, empowers smallholders to achieve development goals and creates multiple value for social impact. We therefore identify the important characteristics of the hybrid business model to provide appropriate solutions for smallholders and overcome the challenges identified in the inclusive value chain development literature.

Highlights

This paper identifies the business model architecture used by hybrid organisations to create and manage inclusive value chains for smallholder farmers
We contribute to the literature on inclusive value chain development (IVCD), sustainable business models and hybrid organisations by integrating these three emerging areas of the literature to provide insights into the complementarities of these three fields
This research began with the literature review on value distribution issues in agriThis research began with the literature review on value distribution issues in agrifood supply chains, hybrid organisations, inclusive value chain development (IVCD) and food supply chains, hybrid organisations, inclusive value chain development (IVCD) and sustainable business models in order to identify the key research gaps, which offered a sustainable business models in order to identify the key research gaps, which offered a foundation for the development of data collection

Summary

Introduction

This paper identifies the business model architecture used by hybrid organisations to create and manage inclusive value chains for smallholder farmers. The concept of inclusive value chain development (IVCD) has emerged in the international agricultural research literature as a way of integrating competitiveness with poverty reduction for smallholder farmers [1,2] This literature has been dominated by financial and economic aspects, with very limited treatment of other key pillars of sustainability, including social and environmental dimensions and how these dimensions in combination could result in more inclusive approaches [3]. This is demonstrated by the fact that common forms of value chain strategy for smallholders identified in the literature so far include contract farming, spot market selling and improved integration with large agribusiness [3,4].

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