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Teaching objective 1: Students are able to identify and apply characteristics of a social entrepreneur, and social enterprise, as defined by Dees (2001). Teaching objective 2: Students are able to identify and apply the four tensions identified by Smith, Gonin and Besharov (2013) that manifest in social enterprises. Teaching objective 3: Students are able to apply Institutional Theory to social entrepreneurship. Students are able to explain legitimacy and the influence of context on the social enterprise. Teaching objective 4: Students through using the Change Canvas, are able to distinguish between profit and purpose characteristics of the organisation; and are able to make recommendations based on the process they have followed.

Kovin Naidoo is the CEO Of a multi-national social enterprise, Australia-based The Brien Holden Institute. The case explores Naidoo's journey as a social entrepreneur, and the partnership forged with Brien Holden as they built their multinational social enterprise. Naidoo is catapulted to the position of CEO after the sudden death of his friend, and is trying to balance the competing pressures of profit and purpose. The case introduces the foundational characteristics of social entrepreneurship, before exploring Institutional Theory and the Change Canvas as a tool for managing tensions between profit and purpose.

This case study is aimed at students of entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, corporate social investment, development studies, innovative health-care systems, sustainable livelihoods and asset-based development. It is written at an Honours / Masters level and is therefore also appropriate for use in customised or short programmes.

Videos (including a TedX by Naidoo), Web materials and a book chapter are included in the supplementary materials list.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The case can be used in strategic management, international business or ethics courses. In strategic management courses, students will be able to identify political relationships as sources of a firm’s competitive advantage. Students will also understand the role of ethics in the firm’s competitive advantage. In international business courses, the students will be able to analyze the role that corruption and bribery play in the analysis of a country’s institutions. Students will also understand how corruption in a host country influences a firms’ decision to internationalize. Finally, students will understand the challenges that firms face when serving customers in other countries. In ethics courses, students will understand the nature of state/business corruption, i.e. the abuse of public office for private gain and the concept of state capture, i.e. managers controlling the political system for their advantage. Students will be able to analyze the decision of whether to collaborate with unethical partners or customers.

Bell Pottinger Private (BPP) was a British public relations (PR) firm with a successful but questionable reputation of helping famous critical figures and despots improve their public image. In 2016, Lord Tim Bell and the other leaders of BPP were asked to create a PR campaign for the Gupta family. The Guptas were a group of businessmen headed by three brothers who migrated from India to South Africa in the early 1990s. By the 2010s, they had built a business empire allegedly thanks to a corrupt relationship with the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma and his family. The press and prosecutors were increasing their investigations on these relations. The case has two parts, which address two separate challenges and can be taught as standalone cases or in a sequence in two sessions.

MBA and Executive Education.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 5: International business.

AGL Energy operates in one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world. Demand is volatile with high customer churn rates and supply procurement is real time with huge price variability. These characteristics make supply chain management difficult and the case study describes how information is used to match supply with demand.

This study enables to critique the development of a sustainability strategy brand; integrated reports, sustainability reports, usage of safe internet and online learning skills to reduce inequalities and increase stakeholders’ values.

Digi Telecommunications (Digi) has been publishing annual sustainability reporting in line with Global Reporting Initiatives since 2009. Albern Murty, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digi, the largest player in the mobile telecommunications industry in Malaysia by the number of subscribers, decided to establish a responsible business brand known as Yellow Heart in 2018 to better serve their stakeholders demand. There was a low stakeholder understanding of Digi’s sustainability efforts and societal impacts. Digi’s Sustainability department aspired to make Yellow Heart the best industry practice for continuous improvements by making Responsible Business commitment one of the main pillars of the company’s strategy and vision. Yellow Heart was linked to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)10 on reducing inequalities by focusing on Digital Inclusion and Resilience to increase safe access opportunities, provide marginalized communities with opportunities to pursue interests in digital learning pathways and create a more sustainable digital future for all. The case study illustrates the sustainability management at Digi and the planned migration from sustainability reporting to integrated reporting to build trust in the business with all the stakeholders. The case dilemma involves the challenges that Philip Ling Oon Hun, the Head of the Sustainability, faced in deciding the SDGs to focus on and measuring and reporting their outcomes to contribute to the greater good, not only in pure business terms but also to society at large.

This case is appropriate for undergraduate or graduate-level programs in Accounting, Corporate Governance and Strategy Implementation.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Amongst others, these are that students should be able to: identify key components of corporate entrepreneurship; assess the role of technology innovation in terms of creating a competitive advantage; appreciate how an entrepreneurial orientation is related to innovation and growth; and make an informed decision regarding key success factors in influencing growth and sustainability.

TymeBank became the first fully branchless, digital bank in South Africa when it launched in February 2019. Since then, the bank’s customer base had grown beyond expectation, but the market had also become more competitive, as new digital banks opened for business and traditional banks expanded their range of digital offerings. The case situates the chief executive officer, Tauriq Keeran, in November 2019, considering how whether the bank was doing enough to grow, in the face of this competition.

Master’s level business students, as well as entrepreneurship, innovation and digital business at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

The learning outcomes are as follows: first, identify the characteristics of born-global SMEs, and how these characteristics facilitate their global expansion shortly after the company’s inception. Second, demonstrate that companies work with limited resources, typically and notably newly established companies, and that these resources should be allocated according to a carefully determined strategy. The resources focussed on in this case pertain to marketing. Third, examine entrepreneurial marketing and its various manifestations. An understanding of how this type of marketing is used by companies for international expansion is expected. Fourth, assess the role of digital marketing and how social media forms an important part of digital marketing. Particular attention is paid to the use of digital marketing, notably social media, in international expansion. Fifth, develop critical thinking skills with respect to strategic business decisions, such as whether to expand a business into foreign markets or to consolidate locally; and how best to penetrate foreign markets, given the nuances and complexities specific to these markets.

This teaching case is about The Duchess, a recently developed and launched virgin alcohol-free and sugar-free gin and tonic beverage. The adult soft drink was originally launched in South Africa, and just 18 months later became available in international markets (the UK and Belgium). The founders and protagonists of the case, Johannes le Roux and Inus Smuts, face the dilemmas of creating a competitive local brand while also looking to access new markets and internationalise as a born-global firm.

The target audience for this case comprises students enrolled in tertiary business education programmes who have already had some sort of work experience and hands-on exposure to real-world business. MBA and EMBA students, as well as those enrolled in post-graduate studies specific to marketing, international commerce and entrepreneurship, would be suitable candidates.

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 8: Marketing

The case was written from secondary materials.

This case is designed to support learning objectives in a Human Relations class of a university management course. The case explores how the UK Metropolitan police, working with the Girls’ Network, piloted a reverse mentoring programme for six months in 2021. Three senior officers were mentored by a trio of teenage girls from disadvantaged London boroughs. The aim of the programme was to address falling trust in the police by creating more understanding and empathy in the mentees for the issues facing the communities where the mentors lived, and to give the mentors more confidence from the experience of representing their communities. Each mentor–mentee pair focused on a specific policing issue that was relevant to the mentor’s neighbourhood: knife crime, domestic abuse or social inequality. Through the process, the senior Met police officers gained a deeper understanding of the challenges in the communities they served. Now that the pilot had been completed, the Met faced a decision point. Should the programme be spread further through the Met?Through reading and discussing the case, students are expected to explore the importance of empathy in the workplace and how reverse mentoring, when having the right support and overall intent, could be used in organisations.

This case is appropriate for university management courses. This case has a difficulty level appropriate for undergraduate and postgraduate courses. This case could be incorporated into a unit on human behaviour, leadership or coaching.

After completion of the case study, students will be able to identify and discuss ways in which informal financing of the kind discussed in the case study can provide new or different opportunities for access to alternative financing schemes; assess the role of“social capital” in micro and small business development and to understand and apply the role of social capital for female entrepreneurs in the Global South; critically analyse and reflect on the new role of digital technologies in challenging traditional patriarchal social norms and exclusion and ultimately be able to evaluate the role of digital technologies in terms of its practical implications for female entrepreneurs; and understand the role played by socio-cultural and historical contexts in female-owned/managed businesses within informal sectors of the economy. Furthermore, the students should be able to discuss how these contexts provide opportunities or challenges for actionable/robust/relevant business plans for female entrepreneurs.

This case study aims to create a platform for classroom conversations around: context of entrepreneurship in informal economies, challenges of accessing finance, women entrepreneurship, opportunities of digital entrepreneurship and resource acquisition and social capital. Overall, this case study intends to inspire and cultivate additional voices to advance authentic understanding of informal business practices in the financial sector that go beyond traditional formal western settings. This case study is based on a true story relating to the “sou-sou” financing system – an informal financing scheme – originating from West Africa which has been transported to other parts of the world including Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and other parts of Africa. The characters involve Maria, the main protagonist; Eunice, from LAC; and Fidelia from West Africa. With first-hand information from Eunice and Fidelia, Maria learnt about the ideological principles and the offerings of flexibility, trust, mutual benefits and kinship of the sou-sou system and was inspired to integrate digital technologies as a sustainable game changer for accessing microfinance. This case study draws on the contextual understanding of the economy in the Global South as well as the gender-based aspects of entrepreneurship as key aspects of women entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship. The sou-sou system is presented as a practical solution to the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the Global South to access finances, and the integration of digital technologies is considered instrumental not only in reinforcing the traditional system but also in transforming the entrepreneurial prospects for these women.

This teaching activity is aimed at postgraduate students in Master of Management and Master of Business Administration programmes. It can also be used for short executive courses, specialised PhD seminars and advanced bachelor programmes. This case study could be taught in the field of entrepreneurship in areas related to technology, gender, women entrepreneurship and financing in the context of the Global South.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Crisis management.

Graduate and MBA.

This case analyzes the event of disappearing flight MH370 belonging to Malaysia Airlines which attracted worldwide attention from a third-party perspective. This case describes clearly the entire process of the crisis, mainly focusing on the decisions made and action taken by the Malaysian Government, and then illustrates the assessment and diagnosis of the crisis.

This case not only provides a sample for the teaching of strategic and crisis management but also supplies effective guidance for the measures a nation can take regarding a huge crisis.

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

To examine and create an ideal pathway model that can implement aiming to change the current improper practices in managing municipal solid waste (MSW) to sustainable practices. To acquire a better understanding of public participation and community culture helps in achieving the aim of reducing the amount of waste generation, sending less waste to landfill sites and encouraging the reuse and recycling of materials instead. To help students whom the awareness in the community regarding the importance of protecting the environment and acting in a civilization way has increased. To improve the MSW sustainability practices and enhance the waste sustainability practices together with energy and material conservation. To have more extensive knowledge and awareness of issues in waste management and some of the dilemmas managers of strategic and operations face.

Abu Dhabi’s center of waste management is known as Tadweer is a governmental entity under the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. Tadweer is responsible for managing every MSWs includes collecting, transferring, segregating, treating, recycling, reusing and tracking all kinds of wastes. CEO of Tadweer Dr Salem Alkabi called his team that manages various departments such as strategy, operations, projects and licensing. The meeting was to discuss Tadweer’s future directing and strategy for mismanagement of solid waste dumping into landfills in Abu Dhabi. Dumping in landfills is the main challenge Tadweer faced. Mr. Abdulrahman Albloushi’s strategy and business development executive director of Tadweer highlighted to Alkaabi how Tadweer could improve the waste management practices to make it more sustainable. Furthermore, assisting the center gets more benefit from the waste s instead of losing this valuable waste into landfills. Consequently, Mr. Abdulrahman must grapple with some difficult questions: how much the effectiveness in collecting waste from where it generated and removing it out-of-sight?

This case study is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and executive MBA students of business management programs, especially for waste management, environmental management and strategic management courses.

Teaching Notes are available upon request.

CSS 4: Environmental management.