Supply-Chain Research Opportunities with the Poor as Suppliers or Distributors in Developing Countries

Production and Operations Management · 2014 · Volume 23 · Issue 9

Abstract

Many social enterprises and some companies have developed supply chains with the poor as suppliers or distributors to alleviate poverty and to create revenues for themselves. Such supply chains have created new research opportunities because they raise issues fundamentally different from those examined in the existing operations management literature. We report this phenomenon of supply chains with the poor as suppliers or distributors in developing countries and identify operations management (OM) research opportunities. We also provide some stylized models to serve as potential seeds for modeling-based research in this area.

Keywords

micro-entrepreneurs, social business, social enterprise, socially responsible operations, supply chain management, supply chain surplus, value creation

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