Ingraining Product-Relevant Social Good into Business Processes in Subsistence Marketplaces: The Sustainable Market Orientation

Abstract

This article uses insights gained from the unique context of subsistence marketplaces, or the base of the pyramid, to put forth a sustainable market orientation for businesses. Using qualitative research and case studies of businesses, ingraining social good in a product-relevant sense is argued to be central and essential for businesses in subsistence contexts to be successful. This analysis is unique in taking a bottom-up in orientation and begins at the microlevel, drawing on psychological and sociological aspects of subsistence marketplaces to derive macrolevel implications.