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After the completion of this case study, students will be able to understand the importance of being close to local people when embarking on social business; understand that clear purpose and good decision-making can lead to great outcomes; and learn that innovation is crucial to ensure sustainability of both business and impact.

The case highlights the journey of Laiterie du Berger (LDB), a social enterprise in the agribusiness industry and the challenges faced as it expands and innovates. LDB’s roots lie in its commitment to social impact, aiming to uplift the Fulani livestock farmers and address socioeconomic issues. The company’s business model prioritizes people over profits, focusing on sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The LDB case showcases the challenges and opportunities in the agribusiness industry. LDB’s commitment to social impact, demonstrated through its support for farmers and sustainable farming practices, has been integral to its success. As the company expands and innovates, it faces critical decisions that require balancing financial growth with social responsibility. By embracing development, innovation and collaboration, LDB can continue to be a catalyst for positive change in the agribusiness industry while staying true to its roots and the principles that have defined its journey.

This case study is designed for bachelor’s and master’s degree students in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as MBA students. The case focuses on social entrepreneurship with the example of an agribusiness company located in Senegal, prioritizing social impact and quality of life. The case study explores the dynamics of the sector, including expansion strategy, innovation initiatives and the dilemma of balancing social mission and profit that social entrepreneurs may be facing. By analyzing this real-world situation of LDB, students will have the opportunity to enhance their decision-making skills.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The case demonstrates the use of strategic management tools such as pros and cons analysis, SWOT analysis, strategy canvas, the four-action framework and the eliminate–reduce–raise–create grid to create a Blue Ocean.Through a discussion of the case, students will be able to:▪ conduct pros and cons analysis to objectively understand a situation;▪ conduct SWOT analysis to understand the internal and external ecosystem;▪ understand non-customers and paths to reach them;▪ demonstrate the role of strategy canvas and the four-action framework in designing a new offering; and▪ explain how to create a Blue Ocean market space, by implementing the concept of value innovation.

This case describes a situation in which Dr Vishal Sardeshpande (Sardeshpande), a first-generation entrepreneur in the agro and food processing industry, started Sarvaay Solutions to provide technological solutions for the sector, especially for the small/medium-sized farmer. Such farmers did not have access to technology and the markets to create value addition on their farm produce, and hence were at the mercy of the middlemen or the large farmers. After years of experimentation from 2006 till 2018, Sardeshpande made a resource-efficient jaggery manufacturing process (REJMP) in Pune to enable and empower the farmer to produce quality jaggery using their own sugarcane, which otherwise was sold to the middlemen. Sardeshpande knew the industry and was aware of the challenges faced by the farmers, traditional jaggery producers and cooperative farming bodies. In June 2022, while sitting in his house, Sardeshpande was struck with an idea that the key to success of REJMP is to empower farmers or traditional jaggery producers or cooperative farming bodies to create value from agriculture produce and wondered the way forward. The purpose of this case is to provide an opportunity for the participants to use management tools such as strategy canvas, four-action framework, Pros and Cons analysis and SWOT analysis to understand noncustomers and paths to reach them and understand new industry creation. Participants need to take into consideration the data given in the case and make realistic assumptions to understand how new industries are created.

The case engages the participants in deciding a suitable course of action for Sardeshpande to decide the Blue Ocean strategy. It helps them to delineate the challenges faced by an entrepreneur to select a route for the new market space.The case is ideal for undergraduate, postgraduate or executive education students and can be used in the following courses of a business management, agri business management or entrepreneurship programs:▪ creating new industries;▪ Blue Ocean strategy; and▪ strategic management.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Teaching objective 1: To flourish and explore the current business model to get socioeconomic benefits from organic farming compared to conventional farming; in the context of hill farming. Teaching objective 2: To explore and design innovative entrepreneurship opportunities in the field of organic farming and how these opportunities can be seized by using managerial skills. Teaching objective 3: To analyze the economic benefits of organic farming compared to conventional farming.

Manj Gaon is a small village in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. This village serves as the Uttarakhand Organic Commodity Board’s training facility. Organic farming was the primary source of income for farmers in the late 1970s, but the Green Revolution in India had a negative impact on agriculture, the environment and the economy of the country. After the Green Revolution, the agriculture sector was completely dominated by conventional farming, and the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides affected the village to some extent. But farmers like Bhagchand Ramola paved the way for other farmers to grow and shine through organic farming. The organic farming model developed by Ramola was helping farmers and society in several aspects, such as the economy, health and the environment. A self-developed organic farming model had been generating fair revenue for the farmers and uplifting their socioeconomic status as compared to conventional farming. Complete adoption of organic farming in the village requires an analysis in terms of sustainable economic growth. However, there was a certain dilemma that was stifling the growth of the newly adopted business model because farmers were dependent only on Japanese buyers and input providers. So, there was a huge need to tie up with other consulates across the country. Secondly, expanding a business model requires more input and output in terms of manpower and revenue, so persuading conventional farmers to adopt the organic farming model was quite a challenge for Ramola.

The case can be taught to the MBA-level students.

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CSS 11: Strategy.

Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Small-scale Dairy Farmers

This case is appropriate for undergraduate final year/senior as well as graduate-level programme students.

This case explores the life of Saravanan, a small-scale dairy farmer in Malaysia. He inherited the business from his father. Small-scale farmers in Malaysia own farms with 30 (or fewer) milking cows. Over the years, milk consumption had been on the rise, but production was less than promising. Besides low-quality milk, Saravanan often experienced issues of low milk yield. Selling fresh milk as his only source of income and the milk collection centre as his sole marketing channel, Saravanan was caught in a financially tight situation when product diversification and marketing initiatives were limited. Saravanan’s problems began with rejected fresh milk, which landed him with zero income for the day. This issue was detected when the authorities identified a few contaminated batches of milk during a site visit. The problem compounded when Saravanan had to settle three months’ debt with the feed supplier on the same day. Saravanan’s predicament echoed the plight faced by small-scale farmers in Malaysia. After managing the farm for more than 30 years, Saravanan had plans to pass it to his son, Mugunthan. However, doubts about the sustainability of the business remained. Would Mugunthan suffer the same dire fate? Would he be able to find a way out? Based on the problem-solving framework, the case attempts to identify and assess the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia, and at the same time, to suggest solutions that will ensure the sustainability of their business.

After attempting the case, students should learn to empathise with the hardship small-scale dairy farmers endure in the pursuit of their businesses, analyse issues and determine the root causes of the problems faced by small-scale dairy farmers in Malaysia based on the problem-solving framework, generate and justify sustainable solutions to solve the problems faced by these dairy farmers and present the case, discuss and work in teams, and critically offer sustainable solutions based on framework and theories.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

1. Analyze the factors influencing the creation of a social enterprise, while appreciating the theoretical perspectives on social entrepreneurship and social innovations. 2. Analyze the impact of social enterprises on sustainable development. 3. Recognize the need for different types of strategies in the varied situation. 4. Analyze the business model.

Shashi Kumar, the CEO of Akshayakalpa Farms & Foods Pvt Ltd (Akshayakalpa), is determined to take the business to the next growth level. He has integrated technology to measure and monitor the quality of milk and to reach out to tech-savvy customers. Owing to the preservative-free and short life of milk, he believes that redesigning the marketing and distribution strategies is the only way to ensure the massive expansion and growth that will enable Akshayakalpa to reach out to customers directly and quickly. Another issue he was facing was a lag in receivables. Their receivables from vendors were delayed and held up because of issues related to product spoilage and returns. This has posed a liquidity challenge to Akshayakalpa. Amidst all these challenges, he wants to develop the best strategy to take the business forward to the next level.

This case can be used in undergraduate or postgraduate courses in Management, Social Entrepreneurship and Business Sustainability with special relevance to social enterprise creation, enterprise growth strategies, sustainable development, sustainable business models, etc.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcome of this study is to bring to the table of a wider intellectual audience, a unique model of community-based entrepreneurship, which is working wonders with its unique selling points (USPs) in promoting sustainability and conserving the ethos of villages and, at the same time, generating livelihoods through traditional farming techniques adopted by the rural population residing in the Himalayan region of India.The proposed case study can be used as a replicable model in other parts of rural India and other emerging economies to start and scale up a similar “integrated rural development model” through effective policy advocacy and public–private partnerships and to develop sustainable farmlands and livelihoods for rural India. It has a definite potential to be used as a pedagogical tool in postgraduate programmes offering courses in microfinance, financial inclusion, social and community entrepreneurship, sustainability, entrepreneurship, community development finance and rural immersions and public policy.

This case study is set in the backdrop of 2023 having been declared by the UN as the International Year of Millets and India being the homeland for millet cultivation. The objective of the case study is to bring to the table of a wider intellectual audience, a unique model of community-based entrepreneurship operating in the Himalayan region of rural India. The community-based entrepreneurship model works on the USP of promoting sustainability and conserving the ethos of villages and generating livelihoods through traditional farming techniques. This case study traces the journey of Roopesh Rai (protagonist and the founder of Bakrichhap), the community-based entrepreneur and his challenges in setting up the enterprise. The narrative is built in the light of a series of interviews with Rai, the main protagonist and the founder of Bakrichhap, as well as the people of Goat village by Komal, a post-doctoral fellow in the area of community-based enterprises (CBEs). Through this narrative, the case writers’ endeavour was to understand how CBEs such as Bakrichhap were providing a means of integrated rural development in the hilly region of Uttarakhand, India. Also, how such enterprises were thereby curbing distress migration, unemployment and a large-scale erosion of the cultural heritage and traditional and indigenous farming techniques of the land. In the first seven years of the operations of this uniquely curated CBE, Rai endeavoured to iron out many bottlenecks. This case study also highlights the gamut of challenges faced by community-based entrepreneurs like Rai in designing strategy for growth and expansion. What strategy should Bakrichhap follow for expansion to the other regions of the country? Should all the three existing verticals of the enterprise be scaled up parallelly or should each individual vertical be expanded one after the other in a phased manner? Stemming out from the main dilemma of strategic expansion were the related issues of funding (finance) and the formation of an effective team (HR).

This case study can be used in undergraduate, graduate and executive programmes offering courses in microfinance, financial inclusion, social and community entrepreneurship, sustainability, entrepreneurship, community development finance and rural immersions and public policy.

This comprehensive case study is written by using the triangulation of data collected through a series of personal interviews, website information, news articles, personal observation and field visits. The research design used is single case (holistic; Yin, 2003, 3rd edition). The timeline of this case study is 2021 to 2022 and place is Nag Tibba, Uttarakhand, a Himalayan state in North India.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship.

This case is designed for teaching entrepreneurship at master’s level. Depending on students’ interests and exposure levels however, it can be applied to teaching undergraduate entrepreneurship courses that are taken after at least the two basic entrepreneurship courses.

Nigeria’s tomato industry is one of the most dysfunctional in the entire nation’s economy. Although the country is West Africa’s largest tomato producer, nearly half of the produced tomatoes rot on the way to the market, which makes Nigeria heavily reliant on imported tomato paste. Amidst growing concerns among stakeholders of the need to address the dysfunction of the tomato industry, Tomato Jos emerged as the earliest social impact venture in the tomato paste industry. Nigeria’s changing macro-economic conditions clearly call for a tomato processing industry and the entry of Tomato Jos is well timed. Within a span of two years, the company successfully raised $600,000 in equity, debt and grant financing that has catered for start-up expenses and expansion to 150 hectares of farmland. The company plans on raising an additional $25m to cater for their planned Stage III growth. Amidst growing excitement over the entry of Tomato Jos in the industry with a social enterprise, Africa’s top business tycoon, Aliko Dangote, announced entry into the tomato processing industry with a major tomato processing facility in the same region as Tomato Jos. The Dangote Group of companies is seen as very tough competition to contend with, due to their sheer size, political leverage and financial capital. This case study primarily teaches how multiple aspects of start-up entrepreneurship may be handled rather than being taught separately as is often the case in mainstream business education. Entrepreneurs in the field rarely confront real challenges in this way. This case study introduces a practice of teaching a collection of key aspects of entrepreneurship, their nuances and inter-relationships in an integrated fashion.

The overarching objective of this case is to teach students how to interpret the shifts in industry position resulting from the entry of an important competitor within the larger context of growing a social venture. At the end of the case study analysis, students will be able to analyze the effects of changing forces and conditions in a country’s business environment on a start-up social enterprise; interpret the shifts in a venture’s industry position after the entry of an important competitor; identify appropriate funding sources and financing strategies to fuel the growth of a social enterprise; identify areas of a start-up’s business model that need improvement and/or iteration to support faster growth; and develop an effectuation-based strategy for a growing venture.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Social entrepreneurship/social innovation.

This real case targets license and master’s students as part of an ongoing course on social entrepreneurship, social innovation, in one word, on entrepreneurship.

Mlouma is a platform based on Web, SMS, USSD, mobile application and call center. This social enterprise keeps farmers in contact with food buyers by displaying real-time market prices and localizations. The service will improve the efficiency of the agriculture supply chain, helping farmers to get a better price for their product. By introducing information and communication technology, Mlouma provides innovative solutions to the market failure by creating more value for producers and consumers.

This case shows the importance of the entrepreneurial orientation of social enterprises to adapt to its context and discuss theory of social entrepreneurship.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The Farmcrowdy case pursues the following aims: familiarizing students with the concept of business models for agricultural businesses and explaining the key decisions and activities within a business model; recognizing different opportunities for business model innovation by farmers and stakeholders in the agricultural sector; identifying concepts and tools from the business world that can be used in farming and other agribusiness-related ventures; highlighting opportunities for agribusiness firms to engage in business model innovation; and developing a business model canvas that highlights key components of a business model.

Agriculture stands as the leading driver of economies in most African countries. Most people depend on this sector directly or indirectly for their livelihoods on a daily basis. However, due to challenges like climate change and its variability, high initial startups capital, poor pricing, pest attacks, among other factors, people are gradually opting out of this sector. This has implications for employment, food and human security issues for farmers, their families and the society at large. Individual farmers that opt to remain in this sector are often met with challenges accessing technology in adapting to the challenges aforementioned. This decreases their resilience to the impact of climate change and its variability, pest and disease attack, securing loans to expand farming operations, among others. This raises the risks associated with investment in this sector as one cannot be assured of a fixed return on investment at the end of each crop cycle. Investors who opted to manage this risk associated with investment in the agriculture sector had challenges getting an official database of farmers to invest in as well as knowing whether individual farmers are experienced enough and committed to fixed agreements. It is against this backdrop that Onyeka Akumah founded Farmcrowdy in Nigeria with the aim of empowering farmers and connecting investors to right farmers with an assured return on investment at the end of every crop growing or animal-rearing season using online technological packages. The Farmcrowdy business model allowed Nigerians to venture into farming and other agricultural ventures at the touch of a button while empowering local farmers and boosting food production, creating employment for all stakeholders in the agricultural value chain. With ensuing challenges and competitors in the agro-technological industry, Farmcrowdy aims at extending their business model to other West African countries like Ghana. A few suggestions are made to help improve Farmcrowdy business model. First, they can add novel activities to the business model. Second, they can change one or more parties that perform business model activities. Finally, they can link business model activities in new ways like the development of model farms as a training ground for new farmers and the development of a go-back-to nature campaign to end-users of the products from farms. This case can be used by different audiences. The case can be used for teaching students at the graduate level, especially in the development of executive courses on innovation and entrepreneurship, strategy, agricultural technology and innovation. A wealth of supporting materials is available to the Professor, including videos and background information.

PhD, Doctor of Business Administration, Executive MBA

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

The subject areas are social entrepreneurship and marketing in social enterprises.

This study is applicable to undergraduate or MBA-level courses; possibly executive programs as well.

Farm Shop was established in 2012 as a not-for-profit trust, with an aim of developing a distribution platform for poor, rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa so that smallholder farmers could get the farm inputs and services needed to increase their productivity and income. Attempting to reach scale, this social enterprise is in the process of building a micro-franchise network. Unlike franchises in industrialized countries where the franchisor starts with a vetted and replicable turnkey business, Farm Shop was created from scratch. After prototyping the shop concept and validating the business model in Kiambu County of Kenya, Farm Shop has 10 fully operational shops and is keen to start its growth phase, aiming to have 120 shops in its network within the next 12-18 months. It is only at that point that break-even will be achieved. Recognizing the key role of marketing in Farm Shop’s growth efforts, the founders are now focused on finalizing their go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Having initiated and measured the results of a number of marketing activities over the past six months, it is now time to decide which of these activities should be incorporated into their micro-franchise system. The management team knows that to provide advice, training and quality products to farmers, they first needed to develop awareness, interest and desire for what Farm Shop has to offer, not to mention the need to gain the farmers’ trust. Fundamentally, farmers needed to be convinced that Farm Shop can help them improve their productivity and income.

The study enables to gain an overall understanding of the range of challenges and opportunities associated with establishing a micro-franchise in an emerging market context; to gain a better understanding of social marketing, including the four types of behavioral influence it attempts to achieve and the similarities and differences between social and commercial marketing; to introduce the “theory of change” concept, providing a framework for understanding how and why change will occur; to introduce the concept of business models and explore the differences between “traditional” and “social entrepreneurship” business models; to understand how a competitive advantage is created; to introduce basic marketing concepts and the GTM concept and its role and application in a business model for a new social enterprise and to understand how marketing contributes to the social enterprise’s strategic goals and sustainability, thereby gaining an understanding of how “social marketing” is differentiated from commercial marketing.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.