Paper short abstract:

This paper identifies conflict barriers in Colombian inclusive businesses analysing strategies and motives using foundations of resource-dependence and institutional theories. The results with fsQCA distinguish necessary and sufficient conditions to successfully overcome conflict barriers.

Paper long abstract:

Engaging with businesses to alleviate poverty has gained prominence in development agendas, where inclusive businesses were launched as an instrument to involved the base of the pyramid under a value chain approach; these contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal of promoting peaceful and economically-inclusive societies. This paper is based on the narratives of actors involved in four Colombian inclusive business experiences. working in diverse conflicted scenarios affected by illicit crops, paramilitary, guerrilla or illegal gangs control, and receptor areas of displaced population and ex-combatants. The paper identifies barriers related to conflict faced during inclusive businesses implementation, analysing how successful actors are in overcoming these barriers. It also examines and analyses the strategies and motives embedded to overcome conflict barriers by using the foundations of resource-dependence and institutional logics theories, respectively, and by performing qualitative comparative analyses under a fuzzy set approach (fsQCA). The results obtained with fsQCA distinguish which configurations of strategies and motives are necessary and sufficient to successfully overcome conflict barriers in the Colombian context. This analysis provides practical insight for practitioners into which strategies and incentives are potentially necessary to deal successfully with conflict barriers, therefore providing criteria to prioritize strategies. This study does not attempt to make generalizations; instead it contributes by providing an initial theoretical framework and methodology that combines narratives with fsQCA to analyse organizational responses.