Managing Sustainability Tensions in Base of the Pyramid Supply Chains

Sustainable development is the movement for inter- and intra-generational equity. It demands the change of individuals, organizations, networks and the whole system to reach economic, environmental and social goals for sustainability. By the investigation of supply chains, the network level is analyzed in detail. Further, research on Base of the pyramid (BoP) brings intra-generational equity into the spotlight. The BoP approach aims at including people in extreme and moderate poverty in informal economies into global market structures and unlock the potential of the BoP population. The combination of BoP business and SCs can contribute towards an inclusion into (international) markets. In this sense, including BoP actors in SCs is a contribution towards sustainable development because it is supposed to give equal chances of participation in business activities. However, the inclusion is not as trivial as it seems, therefore this thesis investigates the sustainability tensions during the BoP inclusion and the BoP SC inclusion paradox. The thesis analyses the water sachet supply chain in Ghana, the dairy supply chain in Kenya and the certified pineapple supply chain in Uganda.