Framing Inclusive Practice Options for Financial, Operational, and Community Outcomes

While the operations management literature has addressed inclusive business models for large organizations, there has been less focus on how small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) include vulnerable end-users when they are subject to industry constraints and are not able to redesign their business models. In such cases, organizations face variable profits based on the socioeconomic status (SES) of the end-user. We introduce the Inclusive Practice Options (IPO) framework to explain how, within the constraints of existing business models, SMEs can balance financial, operational, and community-related priorities. Vulnerable end-users should be considered in the end-user mix of all three priorities and may contribute to the overall fiscal solvency of the organization because while servicing these end-users may generate less revenue per end-user, they also may require less processing time, lower processing variability, and fewer denied or missed payments contributing to more stable profits on average. To present this framework, we first describe the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of IPO. We then delineate the three dimensions of the IPO framework: comprehensive financial performance, operational fairness, and community lift. We describe how the IPO framework can be applied to stakeholder management, market segmentation, and resource allocation. We provide an illustrative mental health practice case for additional context. Finally, we discuss future research directions and the implications of viewing operations management through this multidimensional lens.