| Abstract |
Business models represent the main innovation focus for companies that aim to expand their markets at the Base of the Pyramid. So far, one of the most critical challenges Base of the Pyramid business models face is sustainability. Different literature streams advocate that in order to achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability while contributing to local development, collaborative and participatory approaches known as value co-creation are needed. Additionally, two groups of stakeholders, namely customers and non-business actors, are the most relevant for the sustainable value cocreation mechanisms in Base of the Pyramid markets. In this sense, the overarching aim of this doctoral thesis is to investigate how co-creation mechanisms with customers and cross-sector actors affect the sustainability of business models at the Base of the Pyramid. The research process is guided by the theory of co-creation and borrows insights from several research streams, namely development cooperation and policy, sustainable business model and BOP innovation. The research design follows a deductive approach where hypotheses are formulated based on the review of the literature, case studies and expert interviews and tested through a large scale empirical study. This paper brings together insights from the aforementioned research streams and presents preliminary findings in the form of a conceptual framework based on literature review, expert interviews and case studies. Additionally, the design for the empirical testing of the framework through a large scale survey is described as research outlook. |