Unleashing the True Potential of a Social Enterprise: Constructive Engagement and Integrative Justice Model in the Indian Subsistence Context-Future Direction?

Abstract

This paper delves into the operations of Paryavaran Mitra (Friends of the Environment), a social enterprise based in India. It encourages a critical examination of the notions of justice and fairness within the context of a market dominated by exploitation in a Solid Waste Management setting. We encourage readers to adopt the macromarketing perspective to appreciate the settings and factors that shape the business practices and outcomes. Paryavaran Mitra (hereafter, PM) and its interventions are lauded as path-breaking initiatives, providing a perfect engagement model with disenfranchised populations. However, limitations of this model become apparent by the mere size of the rag-picking community in India (30000 in Ahmedabad alone). Now, a founder managing director of PM, Ajit, finds himself in a dilemma. The pivotal challenge is optimizing engagement with a greater number of rag-picking women and ensuring equitable and just outcomes for them. The paper study also attempts to exemplify how the ethical marketing model of the Integrative Justice Model (IJM) can be operationalized by adapting Constructive Engagement (CE) as a macromarketing mindset. PM has adopted these principles to guide its business practices while engaging constructively with rag-picking women. Readers are encouraged to deconstruct the setting and PM's interventions to better understand how ethical marketing principles result in desired outcomes of fairness and justice rooted in dignity within such marketplaces.