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Ms. Cindi Bigelow, COO and third generation in her family to head the R.C. Bigelow Tea Company, located in Fairfield, CT, believed one strategy to move her business forward would be to attract a younger audience for her product line. Hot tea appeals primarily to women 45+ who typically drink the beverage for its soothing effects. A test market, designed to make hot tea more appealing to a college-age audience, was conducted at a nearby university by a Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team drawn from the chapter's membership. Key words: Target audience, market segmentation, demographics, market research, promotion mix, advertising, copy development, media selection.

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The case is suitable for graduate (MSc, MBA) and advanced undergraduate (BSc, BAs) students and applicable for course material focusing on social entrepreneurship, social ventures, strategic management, sustainable development and emerging markets.

This case explores Nuru International, a non-profit enterprise established in 2008 with the mission to “end extreme poverty throughout the world”. Jake Harriman, the founder and CEO of NURU, together with his team are on the onset of diversifying crop offerings among Kenyan farmers in an attempt to alleviate challenges stemming from severe climatic changes and low-crop quality. As 2014 is the first year for Kenyan farmers to grow alternative crops, the Nuru team faces the challenging task of convincing farmers to embrace diversification. Additionally, as part of its proof of concept philosophy, Nuru is establishing operations in Ethiopia. There, Nuru has to identify best marketable crops and promote these among Ethiopian farmers while empowering and engaging local leaders in the process. Finally, the team is looking for financing opportunities for Nuru's entrepreneurial mission. Their funding opportunities come from the private markets, the philanthropic market and the impact investing space. They are carefully analyzing these options and looking for alternatives in capital markets. Pondering on Nuru's rewarding experience with KIVA, a Web-based lending platform, the team wonders if crowdfunding may be a viable option to finance Nuru's operations in Ethiopia. They are interested in equity crowdfunding but are not sure what might be the associated opportunities and risks. They, therefore, need to assess the merits of the practice and decide on how compelling it is for Nuru's expansion plans to Ethiopia.

The case aims to help students comprehend the role of hybrid organizational designs in meeting broad societal issues such as extreme poverty; evaluate collective impact initiatives in addressing strategic and behavioral changes for organizations operating in contexts of extreme poverty where partnerships are the key for success; assess diverse capital steams for social entrepreneurs and understand how these relate to the stages of evolution of a social venture; and elaborate on crowdfunding as a nascent source of capital for social enterprises.

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

TASER International, Inc. is one of the world's leading less-lethal weapons manufacturers and distributors. The case begins with a dramatic moment as the President and CEO of TASER International become aware of a highly critical article in Barron's. The article questions the legitimacy of their high stock price and casts doubt on their continued ability to grow. The case presents the company's counterarguments to the critical Barron's article, and asks for alternatives for TASER's next move into the relatively untapped consumer market with a new consumer-oriented product, the TASER X26^C. The case resulted from lengthy in-person, email, and phone interviews with TASER's President, Tom Smith. In addition, the company and its products have been well publicized in the national business press and in the local newspapers. Further, product details and other information on TASERs and other less-lethal weapons has been published in numerous police and military sources. Finally, TASER International's website has been a rich source of supplemental information to support the writing of the case.

Learning outcomes are as follows: understand venture philanthropy in India; discuss in what ways venture philanthropy is different from charity; identify the aims of venture philanthropy and the strategy adopted to achieve those objectives; analyze the role of the unique structuring of a venture philanthropy working in tandem with the government to achieve its objectives; identify the nature and source of dilemmas of disengagement from a project by the venture philanthropist; and understand the role of antecedents and outcomes on how a firm views its social impact initiative (in the Indian context).

The Faizal and Shabana Foundation (F&SF) made one of the largest philanthropic investments in Kerala, India for the redevelopment of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School for Girls, Nadakkavu. The foundation applied a strategic approach to their philanthropic investment making it a unique case of venture philanthropy. The uniqueness of this case lies in the fact that, this is one among those rare cases where venture philanthropy has been successfully implemented within a government educational context. This case highlights how a private philanthropic organization went about executing a project and faced several challenges of scaling up the redevelopment model to other government schools. The other salient aspect is that this case delves into the dilemma faced by a philanthropist of either using the existing model for scaling up or adopting a totally different model.

Undergraduate and postgraduate business management courses.

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

CSS: 11: Strategy.

There is little published information available in the area of youth programs and social entrepreneurship in underrepresented communities. However, there are many idealistic entrepreneurs in the community; the case describes the experience of one such individual. Case analysis and the Instructor’s Manual are based on standard theories and techniques in organizational environmental and strategy analysis, as well as information and approaches regarding nonprofit functioning.

This case was prepared from primary sources, based on interviews with the founder. The name of the organization was disguised but the location and the founder’s name were not.

Growing up in a rough neighborhood, Darnell found refuge in an after-school program, which he credited for several positive values. As an adult, he felt a strong desire to give back to the community he had grown up, and still lived in. Thus, was launched MoveAhead, a fitness-based after-school program similar to the one he had participated in. However, as was common for many social entrepreneurs, Darnell struggled to overcome severe lack of capital and to deal with operational issues. Now, MoveAhead had reached a critical and existentially important point, when a strategic decision had to be made.

This is a decision case. It discusses the difficulties faced by a social entrepreneur who had a strong drive and conviction but little capital. The case describes a strategic turning point for one such organization. It can be used in business and management courses at the undergraduate level. It would also be relevant to a course on (social) entrepreneurship. The level and analysis required of students and discussion questions used can be adjusted depending on whether the course is introductory or more advanced, such as strategy.

The case introduces students to aspects of operations management (OM) and management theory and provides examples of the real-world challenges facing a practitioner. It requires students to think about the operational manager’s responsibilities and how organisational context influences choices and possibly even fit within an organisation.

In this case, a factory lead protagonist presents her OM challenges and choices within a for-purpose, rather than for-profit, a social enterprise in South Africa. The context presented unusual constraints that required thoughtful adaptation and judicious choices. The case introduces students to aspects of OM and management theory and provides examples of the real-world challenges facing a practitioner. It requires students to think about the operational manager’s responsibilities and how organisational context influences choices and possibly even fit within an organisation.

The case is aimed at postgraduate business students studying OM.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

Social entrepreneurship.

Undergraduate or Honours students interested in Social Enterprise.

The case describes the challenges face by Mafalda Soto, a Spanish pharmacist, who together with two albino Tanzanian colleagues, has patented and produced the first solar lotion for the albino population made in Africa. The social organization, KiliSun, and its main product have had a remarkable success in Tanzania and have received funds from BASF and the Tanzanian government for production and distribution until 2016. However, Mafalda could not help but think about how to make a viable project out of her social innovation. For how long could she keep her collaborators on board? Where will she get the funds from? What role should she give the Tanzanian government? After all, her dream was to help albinos beyond Tanzania. It was Christmas eve, and that night, Mafalda went to bed naively asking Santa to help her make possible that every albino could one day have access to her sun lotion. This way, they also, could get closer to the sun.

How to finance the growth of the organization; how to design a business model that helps social enterprises become self-sustaining; how to measure social impact; and how to craft and choose strategic alliances.

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

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Enterprise, Strategy

This case study documents the history of e-commerce adoption and usage in a fabric and garment manufacturing firm operating in an African country. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied to understanding the achievement of e-commerce benefits through the complex interrelationships between firm-level, national and global resources.

The case study presents a summary of e-commerce capabilities in the firm, the key resources developed and actions taken to deploy e-commerce capabilities and the notable benefits obtained through these e-commerce capabilities. The study shows that, first, the ability to access information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure matters in developing countries, but managerial capabilities matter more. Managerial capabilities enable firms to find external resources (both in-country and globally) to substitute for internal resource deficiencies. Second, intangible social resources – trust, reputation and credibility – play a critical role in determining whether the e-commerce strategies of firms are successful or not.

An understanding of how managerial capabilities influence the creation of e-commerce capabilities and the achievement of e-commerce benefits, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to understanding how a firm's strategic orientation, resource portfolio and the nature of its target market differentiate the extent of integration or adoption and usage of e-commerce in the firm.

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

Cipla-Medpro acquisition: the pre- and post-merger story.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to develop a deeper understanding of the pre- and post-merger factors that should be considered in an M&A transaction; to develop an appreciation of the human capital and organisation cultural aspects involved in cross-country M&A’s; to develop an understanding of the role of leaders and an integration team to make an M&A realise the intended value; and to develop a sensitivity for doing an M&A in a developing country like South Africa.

This case study creates opportunities for discussing both pre-merger and post-merger dynamics to create a sensitivity that multiple factors contribute to a successful merger and acquisition strategic move. It is intended for classroom discussion only and does not represent correct or incorrect handling of the situation.

The complexity is MBA level. This case is primarily focussed on M&A’s as part of a course in Strategic Management (MBA level) but can also be considered for a course on Strategic HRM.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS: 11 Strategy.

This case is to familiarize students with the peculiarities of social enterprises (SEs). They would be able to recognize that SEs are hybrid organizations that merge a social purpose with the managerial logics of business ventures. Because of this dual nature, social entrepreneurs need to balance their social aim and the financial viability of the project when analyzing different ways to grow the business, as well as understand and address internal tensions that arise because they have to deal with diverse stakeholders. At the end of the analysis, students would have clear that social and commercial ventures respond to different logics, and therefore, require different managerial models.

Andrea Meoño was the founder of Hope Home, a center for early childhood education in San José, Costa Rica. The goal of the center was to provide education and daily care to children of disadvantaged families, especially single mothers for whom it was a real challenge to maintain a permanent job to sustain their children, and at the same time, provide them with adequate care and attention. After five years of operating the center, Andrea had to figure out the best way to grow her business, ensuring financial sustainability while keeping true to her original purpose of helping vulnerable mothers by providing their children with excellent educational opportunities.

Master’s and Master of Business Administration students taking a course on social entrepreneurship.

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

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship