Title: Sustaining by working on the bottom of the pyramid: a case of Jaipur Rugs India on its socially responsible practices

Authors: Ruchi K. Tyagi

Addresses: School of Management, Radha Govind Group of Institutions, Meerut, U.P., 250004, India

Abstract: Jaipur Rugs is a handmade carpet manufacturer of India with a reach to about 40,000 artisans. The firm is delivering the value to the customers while concurrently improving the standard of living of the artisan by uplifting rural employment. It has received many awards for following the best corporate social responsibility practices. The firm benefits the workers by connecting them with global markets. The Jaipur Rugs case also explores how a high level of decentralisation at investment and production helps it in converting all of its costs into variable costs and dramatically decreasing its fixed costs. The present case is divided in three parts to analyse the influence of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. The first part outlines the organisational structure; the second part explicates its working while the third concludes the case through strategic discussion on firm's practices.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility; CSR; global supply chains; customer value; standards of living; carpet weavers; triple bottom line; employee orientation; stakeholders; corporate reputation; India; carpet. manufacturing; handmade carpets; decentralisation; organisational structure.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2012.044864

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2012 Vol.13 No.1, pp.46 - 59

Received: 21 Mar 2011
Accepted: 04 Jun 2011
Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

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