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

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 OM research opportunities. We also provide some stylized models to serve as potential seeds for modeling-based research in this area.

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