Business model innovation in the agricultural supply chain at bottom of the pyramid: evidence from India

Abstract

Business model innovation at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) is typically understood from the “poor as buyers' lens.” Through the lens of stakeholder theory and sharing economy principle, our study documents, with the help of a participative observation approach, how business model innovation (BMI) is successfully implemented at the BoP with “poor as suppliers.” We show how design of incentives to stakeholders becomes a crucial factor toward successful implementation of BMI in subsistence markets. Further, we show how sharing economy principles are applied in agriculture, leading to economic and social sustainability to stakeholders. Our findings support the emerging literature on how such innovation can contribute to poverty alleviation in an emerging market context.