Inclusive Business
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Contents
Inclusive Business - A Resource Page
Building development partnerships with businesses in and around value chains focuses on building relationships with commercial entities in ways that work to involve them in creating opportunities for the poor. Leading thought on this seeks to discover shared value, as opposed to the offering of charity.
An inclusive business is a [http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_business| sustainable business] that benefits [http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-income| low-income] communities. It is a business initiative that, keeping its for-profit nature, contributes to poverty reduction through the inclusion of low income communities in its value chain. In simple words inclusive business is all about including the poor in the business process be it as producers or consumers.
Inclusive business is not corporate [http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy| philanthropy], which has inherent limitations of scope and budget. Rather, it is the search for sustainable [http:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_models| business models] that "do well by doing good" and have the potential to become part of the mainstream business model within the companies concerned — the key to business having development impact at scale.
The following documents are useful in understanding how inclusive business practice works
Harvard Business Review: Thought Pieces
1) Is the bottom of the pyramid really for you? March 2011 2) The Big Idea: Creating Shared Value; Michael E Porter and Mark R Kramer 3) Scaling up Inclusive Business; IFC and Harvard Kennedy School of Management, Beth Jenkins and Eriko Ishikawa; April 2010
Multilateral Agencies
1) Business Models that a/spanspan stylebackground-color: ffffff color: 252525 font-family: sans-serif font-size: 14px re inclusive of small farmers; Bill Vorley (IIED), Mark Lundy (CIAT) and James MacGregor (IIED); April 2008 2) Making the most of agricultural investment: A survey of business models that provide opportunities for smallholders; Sonja Vermeulen and Lorenzo Cotula 3) Telling our story: Base of the pyramid investments; IFC 2010 4) The next billions: Unleashing business potential in untapped markets; World Economic Forum, 2009 5) The MDGs Everybodys business How inclusive business models contribute to development and who supports them; UNDP 2010
Case Studies
1) Exploring the links between international business and poverty reduction; Oxfam, Cocal Cola and SAB Miller 2) Inclusive Business: Creating Value in Latin America; SNV and World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2011
Inclusive Markets
1) Inclusive Markets - An introduction to the Gyan Shala Model; Monitor Group, September 2009 2) Unmet needs and business solutions fore the majority in Latin America Report to the Inter American Development Bank on behalf of the network for inclusive markets
Useful Links
- IFC Inclusive Business
- Growing Inclusive Markets, UNDP-led inclusive business initiative with case studies database
- DCED overview on inclusive business models debate
- Inclusive Business website
- The Practitioner Hub for inclusive business
- Inclusive Business brochure of the WBCSD-SNV Alliance
- Video on "Inclusive Business - profitable business for successful development"
- Promoting Small and Medium Enterprises for Sustainable Development - published by WBCSD in collaboration with SNV
- Doing Business with the World – The New Role of Corporate Leadership in Global Development
- Endeva - research on inclusive business in various sectors
