Social innovation and inclusive business model for the bottom of the pyramid: a case study of organic tourism ecosystem in Thailand

Abstract

Social inequality and poverty are major challenges facing all humans in the 21st century. At the same time, income gaps, uneven development of urban-rural, and poverty as the stumbling block of Thailand to achieving the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. It is necessary to explore new development models by promoting social innovation. On the one hand, in the past few decades, the private sector is one of the main contributors to Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the ASEAN region. It is important to encourage the private sector to assume more responsibilities for contributing to local development. The inclusive business model as a business approach with a focus on the improved benefits of the “Bottom of the Pyramid” community, and promote sustainable development economically, socially, and environmentally. On the other hand, the tourism industry has contributed to Thailand’s economic prosperity and poverty reduction, but some research shows that under certain circumstances, tourism has also deepened the fissures separating the rich and poor, and worsens wealth distribution. In this thesis, an inclusive business case study was selected which call the "Suan Sampran" organic tourism project in the Nakhon Pathom province of Thailand. Based on the qualitative research method through in-depth interviews with different project stakeholders, to analyze the role of the private sector’ inclusive business model on promoting inclusive growth for Thai society. This research finds that develop inclusive business in the organic tourism industry helps improve the “Bottom of the Pyramid” community’s sustainable livelihoods which leads to promoting poverty reduction and social equality in Thailand. Besides, this research may also help to investigate the challenges in implementing the inclusive business model in the organic tourism industry of Thailand.