ABSTRACT
Pictures and stories of poverty and environmental degradation increasingly populate our televisions, e-mail inboxes, and the Internet-a consequence of our growing global connectedness. Concurrently, several calls for social change argue that poverty alleviation is both a social imperative and a business opportunity (Cortese, 2003; Pearce, 2005; Prahalad & Hart, 2002; UNDP, 2004; WBCSD, 2004). Management scientists suggest that businesses and business schools can lead the charge on social issues-in part because business schools are well-positioned to shape leaders focused on both environmentally and socially sustainable behaviors (Bennis & O’Toole, 2005; Dudley, Dudley, Clark, & Payne, 1995; Gordon, 2008). Addressing such large-scale problems from any institution requires the creation of new knowledge and capabilities-as current capabilities may not be suffi cient to change the status quo (Sen, 1999). Th us, even as business leaders recognize the need for new knowledge in order to work eff ectively in low-income and developing country contexts, most are left to navigate social issues with few “signposts”—for an exception, see BoP Protocol (2010). In an attempt to address this need, this chapter outlines a theory-driven process model for knowledge creation in developing country contexts. Herein, I use evidence from a fi eld engagement to suggest
how actionable new knowledge for subsistence contexts can be co-created with stakeholders-while improving all parties’ ability to relate and innovate. I argue for careful project and partner selection as well as for a deliberate sequencing of four elements of the engagement process.
