Social and circular entrepreneurship

Part 1: The commons as an alternative business model for sustainability (prof. dr. Ingrid Molderez)

Within economic theory, privatization is often perceived as the only way out to many problems related with scarce natural resources especially in the South. However, it is desirable that the argument of pure efficiency is counterbalanced by other societal goals and takes people from the South into consideration on an equal basis.

Doing something good for people from deprived regions is often perceived from a top-down perspective, like in the case of the base of the pyramid. The many criticisms this model received, urged for new approaches with more emphasis on ‘co-venturing’ enabling to see the people from deprived regions as partners. This was a positive evolution because it started from the people, what they needed and how they could be part of the process of creating products or services. However, the knowledge transfer was still predominantly western oriented. There seems to be a lack of cases that focus on co-creation where the learning goes from the bottom to the top, i.e., organizations from the West learning from the capabilities and competencies of people from the South. More and more, the commons are suggested as an alternative business model. In this presentation two cases will be used to analyse how the model of the commons can fulfil a growing demand for inclusiveness and to demarcate its challenges and barriers.

Part 2: To Be Determined (prof. dr. Kamana Baemer)