The "justice of markets" is intricately connected to the treatment of the poor and the disadvantaged in market economies. The increased interest of multinational corporations in low-income market segments affords, on one hand, the opportunity for a more inclusive capitalism, and on the other, the threat of greater exploitation of poor and disadvantaged consumers. This article traces the contributions of Catholic Social Teaching and its basic principles toward providing insight into what constitutes "justice" in such "marketing to the impoverished" situations.

Writing in the Business and Politics, Santos and Laczniak 2012) formulated a normative, ethical approach to be followed when marketers e ngage impoverished market segments. It is labeled the integrative justice model. As noted below, that approach called for authentic engagement, co-creation, and customer interest representation, among other elements, when transacting with vulnerable market segments. Basically, the IJM derived certain operational virtues, implied by moral philosophy, to be used when marketing to the poor. But this well-intentioned approach raises a significant (...) “So what?” question. Are such sentiments anything but lofty aspirations for idealists or are there steps to be taken by society and business managers of goodwill to make the adaptation of the IJM by corporations more likely and pragmatic? This paper begins to layout a roadmap that shows “how and why” the IJM might more likely be vitalized. The crux, as described below, is found in the transformational justice dimensions that are embedded in institutions ; such external institutions provide a “power” impetus to assure the ethical rights claims that impoverished consumers have owed to them. In this way, the ideal exchange characteristics for bottom of the pyramid markets argued for in the IJM can become actively transformational. The main contribution of this paper is that it begins to chart out the institutional system elements that need to exercise power in order to deliver a “fairer” marketplace for BoP consumers. (shrink)

This paper provides an overview of the Integrative Justice Model (IJM) for impoverished populations that was introduced in the marketing literature in the year 2009. The IJM was developed as a normative ethical framework to guide the growing corporate interest in the base of the pyramid (BoP) market to be fair and just to all parties but particularly the impoverished customer. In an impersonal marketplace that often exploits the less advantaged participant, the IJM provides five characteristics of “just” market situations. (...) These are an authentic non-exploitative engagement, value co-creation, investment in future consumption, stakeholder interest representation and long-term profit management. At the heart of the IJM is love that flows from a recognition of the inherent dignity of those at the BoP and the need to respect and uphold that dignity in the marketplace. The hope is that as companies embrace the IJM in their functioning it will result in a marketplace that is fair, just, humanistic and loving. (shrink)