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The learning objectives of this case are as follows: identify and understand the major challenges/problems faced by a social enterprise in promoting handicraft business; examine the value chain architecture of handicraft products; assess the role of the protagonist (Sanjay) as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; assess Sahaj Crafts' initiatives and analyze whether the key intervention/s planned/executed were required for skilling up of rural artisans and upgradation of handicraft business; know the marketing strategies for handicraft products; and understand the “strategies” which need to be applied for uplifting people's lives at the bottom of pyramid in general and for enlivening of artisans’ clusters in particular. The outcomes are as follows: examining the value chain architecture of handicraft product; understanding the difficulties and challenges of structuring a viable social business model; examining the role of Sanjay as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; and examining the model of Craft Incubation Center and design education proposed by Sahaj Crafts for improving rural artisans’ livelihood and skills upgradation.

Sanjay Joshi – the promoter and CEO of “Sahaj Crafts” (a social enterprise established in Western Rajasthan, India), an initiative to strengthen indigenous skills and mainstream rural craft products and artworks – is faced with the question of how to scale up his organization’s operations. Doing so requires that he address these fundamental challenges in terms of – how to deal with unorganized craft communities; match up product orientation to market demands; integrate modern technology / processes in craft business; combat restricted mobility of women artisans; and make effective interventions so that the artisans learn and enjoy working in the current model and solve the financial issues faced by the social enterprise. Providing effective and implementable answers to those questions is vital to Sahaj Craft’s development in attaining its mission to alleviate poverty in the region. Failing to expand operations above a critical scale may leave Sahaj Crafts vulnerable in meeting sufficient demand for contemporary craft products in the mainstream markets.

This case study is primarily suitable for post-graduate level management students to teach the concepts of designing and operationalizing a “social” business model in a social entrepreneurship module. This case study can also be used for highlighting business model innovations in the social sector of emerging markets. The case could be taught in the following academic domains: social entrepreneurship; bottom of the pyramid; social inclusion; supply chain consolidation (vertical integration in a value chain); marketing strategies for handicraft products; branding; brand positioning; cost and management accounting.

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CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Marketing and brand management examples used in classes usually revolve around publicly traded corporations. Students are expected to learn how to deal with branding problems that can arise in new types of organizations as family businesses.

The case study discusses a brand identity and brand management problem facing the Founder of Habiba Community, Maged El Said. Habiba Community is an initiative focusing on sustainability and giving back to community. Many foundations were established under Habiba Community, such as its beach lodge, organic farm and learning center. The beach lodge and organic farm were more familiar to tourists and visitors than the other established foundations. The organic farm produced many organic products sold nationally and internationally. The founder was now faced with the challenge of whether to create one brand identity for Habiba Community as a whole or to go for separate brand identities for each of its foundations.

This case study is developed for students of the bachelor level in marketing and design studies. The case difficulty is regarded as intermediate as it includes new trends and ideas from the field of marketing and branding (as eco-branding and family business branding) and new trends in the tourism service industry (as voluntourism). Courses in which this case study can be used are integrated marketing communication, corporate identity, services marketing and brand management under marketing and graphic design studies. The case study is not designed for earlier courses in marketing and design, as students need to have basic knowledge in marketing and branding beforehand.

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CSS 8: Marketing

Strategic stakeholder engagement, entrepreneurialism, ecosystem, corporate social responsibility, event management, branding, marketing strategy.

Post-graduate level, practitioners interested in MENSA Region, entrepreneurship policy makers and NGOs.

Abraaj Capital Ltd (Abraaj), a highly reputed private equity investment and management company, strongly believed in corporate social responsibility, strategic stakeholder engagement and entrepreneurship ecosystem development. In November, 2010, Abraaj held the “Celebration of Entrepreneurship” (CoE) a two-day free entrepreneur event, in Dubai. CoE was attended by more than 2,400 participants. The purpose of CoE was to contribute to building an entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Middle East North Africa South Asia region (MENASA). Based on participant feedback, CoE Outcomes and stakeholder feedback, the event was very successful.

This case is a good example of community engagement and showcases entrepreneurship ecosystem development. This case also highlights the challenges of putting together a signature event in a very short time frame. The future management dilemmas are also raised on various issues like whether to make this successful event a regular part of their organizational activities, and issues concerning the funding of such events. This case can be used to teach event management, branding, marketing strategy, CSR and entrepreneurship (from the ecosystem point of view). It will appeal to both educationalists and practitioners interested in the MENASA region, policy makers who facilitate entrepreneurship, CSR managers, event management companies and marketing specialist. It can be used to teach both undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Strategy students can focus on marketing and branding strategies; like stakeholder engagement, internal marketing, social media, positioning and brand architecture. Student of event management can learn about prioritizing, adaptability, funding and the complexity of layering a program.

Teaching notes, videos.

It is well suited for short courses focussed on brand equity or marketing.

This teaching case is specifically aimed at postgraduate students completing a management diploma or a professional development course.

Inverroche, one of South Africa’s first artisianl gins, faces an interesting brand dilemma. By the end of 2016 through a distribution agreement with a large wholesaler, it secures a national footprint and becomes available at all leading retailers, resturants, and bars. The product’s immense growth trajectory attracts the attention of the global drinks conglomerates who see an opportunity to secure market share in the lucrative craft gin segment of the market. Founder Lorna Scott grapples with whether she has made the right choice to sell a majority share of her beloved brand to the global house of brands, Pernod Ricard. In this case, she meets with her sales team to debrief the situation as well as have a heart-to-heart with Alex Farnell, general manager of sales and marketing. The case looks at the Inverroche brand in detail, what it represents, and why it resonates so intrinsically with consumers. However, Scott and Farnell differ in opinion on the strategic objectives of the brand. Farnell seems to think that the sale to Pernod will not harm the brand, but Scott is torn. How does a niche artisinal brand scale? Can a brand remain authentic when it does scale? Is there any commercial sense in remaining artisinal? Is an artisinal brand’s brand equity compromised when it is sold to a corporate house of brands? All of these questions relate to whether a brand can remain authenthically artisinal amidst a corporate acquisition.

To identify the challenges of growing an artisinal brand

To identify the challenges of achieving scale as well as the marketing and commercial costs and profits scale represents

To identify how to build a brand that resonates with consumers

To critically assess the link between brand building, distribution, and availability

To analyse the impact of brand architecture on brand equity

Development of business models, base of the pyramid (BoP) markets.

This study can be used at Bachelor as well as on Master's level courses to reflect activities and practices within corporate sustainability, base of the pyramid and international expansion of MNEs.

This is a case study of Grundfos LIFELINK's development process, relating to the successful development of a business model for serving base of the pyramid (BoP) markets for potable water. Grundfos LIFELINK is a turnkey water solution that encompasses a solar-driven pump facility, a GPS-based monitoring system, and charges based on digital payments of water credits. Together, they represent the business model of Grundfos LIFELINK. At the same time the modules represent a business architecture that can be mixed and matched to match the skills and ensure the adaptive involvement of local partners in BoP markets. Since its cautious start in 2009, Grundfos has successfully expanded its operations to 30 villages in Kenya and LIFELINK systems will operate in 70 villages in Kenya within the next two years.

In an international business/international management context, especially the first and the last part of the case could be used as a showcase of the current transformation efforts multinational companies (MNCs) in the developed world are pursuing. Pressured by the cost advantages of Dragon multinationals from Asia, India and Brazil, MNCs search for new ways to provide value and at the same time utilize their existing knowledge. The Grundfos LIFELINK case shows some of the important consequences and challenges that multinational organizations are facing, once such business models needs to be integrated in the current MNC activities.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The learning outcomes of this study are to assess the shared value model and elaborate on new multi-stakeholder approaches to business, where the stakeholders include the founders, investors, partners, employees, clients and the surrounding community; to consider the synergies between community development, environmental stewardship, sustainable business practices and the long-term health of organisations and communities, considering these as the new fundamentals of business; to examine the interconnectedness of vision, strategy, purpose and leadership in creating and evolving the shared value model; to explore the relationship between shared value practices and collective well-being, and a specific reference to nurturing transformative experiences through nature, personal development and community upliftment is made; and to assess Grootbos’ ability to translate their purpose and value proposition into a strategy and sustainable vision with a possibility of Grootbos achieving global impact through its evolving model, beyond the founder.

This case study explores the evolution of Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and Foundation, a luxury hospitality lodge and award-winning ecotourism destination, from humble beginnings in the Western Cape of South Africa to a global example of conservation, community, commerce sustainability and transformative experiences. The establishing of Grootbos and its growth and widespread recognition can be attributed to the vision and inspirational leadership of its founder, Michael Lutzeyer. Although much success has been achieved in conservation, community upliftment and individual development of community members within their region, Lutzeyer’s and ultimately, Grootbos’ vision extended well beyond South Africa and aspired to elevate their floral kingdom and model of development and conservation to a global platform of awareness. Although a shared value vision and strategy had transformed the business, placing Grootbos as a leader in transforming their industry and sparking an evolution in the shared value model itself through the interjection of transformative experiences, the larger question remained: How can Grootbos extend the impact, towards people and planetary well-being, beyond the scope of their individual place-based business and their industry? And in terms of the dilemma Lutzeyer and the management team at Grootbos faced: How will this vision and global ambition continue through succession, beyond Luzeyer’s personal drive at the helm?

Experienced leaders within a graduate degree program, executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) or executive education in the areas of leadership development, strategy, shared value and international business.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS4: Environmental management.

Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Social Sector.

The case can be used in undergraduate, graduate and executive education courses in entrepreneurship and strategic management. It is a perfect fit for executive sessions at incubation centers for not-for-profit (NPO) start-up social enterprises. The case is aimed at early-phase social entrepreneurs and those interested in the field.

Anthill Creations (hereafter referred to as Anthill) is a NPO organization engaged in building low-cost sustainable playscapes for underprivileged children. Their mission is to “Bring Back play” in the lives of millions of children of marginalized communities by building sustainable playscapes. It is an effort that contributes toward the objectives of clause 1.2 (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, 2020), on “Early Childhood Care and Education” (ECCE) in the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India as released on July 30, 2020. The ECCE clause emphasizes the importance of “learning through play”; and recognizes it to be central to quality early childhood pedagogy and education. Anthill has been working on the same philosophy since its inception in 2016. They have successfully built 300 playscapes across 18 states of the country and impacted the lives of more than 200,000 children. The playscapes are built using upcycled waste material, such as scrap tires, waste cable and oil drums; further, they use local resources and contextual designs and built them by mobilizing community participation. The playscape play elements provide for unstructured free play for children and encourage them to use their imagination to invent new games.

Pooja Rai – the founder and CEO of Anthill Creations, an architect by discipline started the NPO immediately after her graduation. It was her “calling” in life that pushed her to quit a corporate job in the early stages of her career and instead pursue a career in the social sector. The case details her methodical approach in pursuing her intuitive response to a social need, the way she adopts a lean start-up framework to set-up Anthill, her frustrations, personal resilience and ability to balance different stakeholder interests as she treads the difficult journey of building the awareness of inculcating play as a pedagogy in the early years of childhood development.

The case provides data on the large proportion of the marginalized population in India and the abysmal conditions of the Indian Government schools. The objectives of clause 1.2 on ECCE in NEP 2020 show the Indian Government’s good intent. And yet with the prevailing conditions, the policy’s ambitious target of universalization of ECCE by 2030 (Chanda, 2020), seems a mammoth task, even for the Indian Government.

On the other hand, Anthill as a small NPO of young dedicated individuals is invested and experimental in their approach; they have a tested model but financial dependency limits their activities. The ECCE clause is a sign of new hope for NPOs such as Anthill who want to reach out to millions of Indian children from marginalized communities. What could be a compatible, perhaps complementary or even skillful pathway to integrate Anthill’s tested model of building sustainable playscapes with the Indian Government’s good intentions of universalization of ECCE by 2030? How could Anthill “scale” for a systemic “impact”? Should not the NPOs, early childhood development researchers, funders and government authorities study collaboratively instead of the present siloed approach so as to bring about a systemic change in the thinking lenses about “play” to be an integral part of early childhood development? Rai ponders on the above questions.

To explain the importance of one’s purpose (calling) in life and how the authors can identify with it.

To explain how an intuitive response to social need can be complemented with a methodical approach to social entrepreneurship.

To discuss the importance of business model canvas from the social sector lens.

To explain the important elements in sustaining small start-up social organizations.

To discuss and evaluate the options an early-stage social enterprise can engage into “scale” for “impact.”

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Brand strategy, marketing strategy, service marketing, hospitality management and international marketing strategy.

Post-graduate-level students; practitioners from the hospitality sector, brand management, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the arts and culture field may also benefit from the case.

Jumeirah Group is a luxury hospitality company that is implementing a global brand strategy after developing a strong-regional reputation. Jumeirah's strong cultural alignment to its Dubai heritage in the form of its hallmarks and communication tag line “Stay Different” is being translated into events, activities, sponsorship and more importantly in terms of service to create a symbolic and experiential brand strategy. For Alice Royton, the Director of Branding for Jumeirah Group, the dilemma was how to maintain the thrust forwards as a top luxury brand and keep brand synergy especially as Jumeirah was increasing its portfolio and the competitive arena heats up in the international market place.

Creation of stakeholder value, brand strategy looking at various brand levels, using arts and culture as part of CSR initiative; communication strategy, emotional touch points and moment of truth as part of interactive service strategy; CRM and loyalty.

Teaching notes.

Social Entrepreneurship/management of non-profit organizations (and non-government organizations).

Undergraduate/MBA/Executive MBA.

PUKAR is a niche non-government organization (NGO) working on a unique concept of “Right to Research”. It has several themes aimed at democratizing research and broadening access to knowledge among the disenfranchised or the weakly institutionalized groups. The resulting output is disseminated through media such as lectures, Web site, books and newsletters, thus initiating local, national and global debates about future of these groups. PUKAR conceptualizes all projects around this philosophy, which are supported by few specialized funding organizations. Funding organizations, on the other hand, are trying to support many causes aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens of various countries. Thus, PUKAR's growth is constrained by limited funds. Nevertheless, PUKAR has been able to create transformation in the lives of youth who carry out these projects. PUKAR, therefore, faces a continuous challenge of conceptualizing proposals that are meaningful and impactful for the society and to stay true to its core philosophy.

The expected learning outcomes include: to understand the nature of challenges (both strategic and operational) faced by a niche NGO; to analyze how the strategy of an NGO evolves with time; to analyze the impediments of growth for a niche NGO; and to analyze the strategic options for growth and sustenance of an NGO.

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Services marketing, hotel management, branding, and promotion management.

Undergraduate business and management; MBA/MA management courses.

Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts had become a leading player in the luxury resorts and spa market in Asia. As part of its growth strategy, Banyan Tree had launched new brands and brand extensions that included resorts, spas, retail outlets, and even museum shops. Now, the company had to contemplate how to manage its brand portfolio and expand its business while preserving the distinctive identity and strong brand image of Banyan Tree, its flagship brand.

This case illustrates how a powerful service brand can be built even with little advertising. It also exemplifies how pro-environmental business practices can co-exist with a firm's profit objectives. Set in a service context, the case may be used in discussions on services marketing, hotel management, branding, and promotion management.

Teaching notes