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Case study
Publication date: 19 January 2018

Prince Baah Annor

Agricultural Trade, Farm Management, Economics of Food Safety

Abstract

Subject area

Agricultural Trade, Farm Management, Economics of Food Safety

Study level/applicability

Both undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics.

Case overview

The pineapple production sector plays a very significant role in the Ghanaian horticultural industry. Production and export of fresh pineapple has been Ghana’s most developed high-value supply chain. However, the introduction of the GlobalGAP food safety standard in 2007 resulted in a fall in smallholder farmers’ participation in exportable pineapple production and subsequently led to declining trends in pineapple exports. The Ghanaian horticultural industry received quite a number of interventions over the years aimed at revitalizing the horticultural export sector and enhancing international competitiveness. However, the pineapple export sub-sector is still constrained with production and market access challenges meaning the sector struggles to survive.

Expected learning outcomes

The GlobalGAP standard compliance case is an appropriate way of explaining how smallholder farmers make informed decisions concerning the adoption of new farm practices. The case presents a careful evaluation of technical, institutional and socio-economic factors influencing a farmer’s decision to comply or not to comply with the GlobalGAP standard. Students should be able to apply farm management decision-making concepts and tools such as profit maximization and binary choice modelling techniques to explain a farmers’ final decisions on GlobalGAP standard compliance. This case should enable students to appreciate key factors constraining agricultural export trade performance in developing countries. The case should also contribute to students’ understanding of smallholder farmers’ decisions on food safety standards compliance, particularly GlobalGAP, and the challenges associated with the entire compliance process. Moreover, this case should provide students with possible policy considerations geared towards making food safety standards compliance easier, effective and sustainable in developing countries so as to enhance market access while ensuring food quality and safety along high-value food supply chains.

Supplementary materials

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

Subject code

CSS 7 Management Science

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Mohanbir Sawhney and Saumya

In early 2017, after launching its successful “Greenhouse-in-a-Box” pilot project in India with fifteen smallholder farmers, Kheyti, a non-profit agricultural technology (AgTech…

Abstract

In early 2017, after launching its successful “Greenhouse-in-a-Box” pilot project in India with fifteen smallholder farmers, Kheyti, a non-profit agricultural technology (AgTech) social enterprise, was struggling with several decisions in developing and growing its business. Kheyti was launched in 2015 to help smallholder farmers battle poverty and income variability by providing affordable technologies bundled with services. Over eighteen months, the team had developed a low-cost and modular greenhouse product to which it added financing, inputs, training, and market linkages to create a comprehensive “full-stack” solution for small farmers. The pilot project was a success in many ways, but Saumya, Kheyti's co-founder and head of product, was concerned that it revealed shortcomings that could severely affect the viability and scalability of Kheyti's solution.

Saumya had some important decisions to make. Should Kheyti redesign the product from scratch, or find other ways to reduce the cost for early adopters? Should it rely on upfront revenues from sales of the greenhouse, or consider developing an innovative financing or contract farming model? Kheyti's dwindling cash reserves meant that these decisions were urgent and critical. The path chosen now would determine whether the startup would move beyond the pilot stage and achieve its vision of serving 1 million farmers by 2025.

Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Jeanne Brett, Katherine Nelson and Nicole Tilzer

One Acre Fund (OAF) was founded by Andrew Youn in 2005 for the purpose of helping to solve the chronic hunger problem in Africa. The idea is to provide the resources (seed…

Abstract

One Acre Fund (OAF) was founded by Andrew Youn in 2005 for the purpose of helping to solve the chronic hunger problem in Africa. The idea is to provide the resources (seed, fertilizer, and education) necessary for African farm families to feed themselves when their land holdings are one acre or less. The business model of OAF is that of a cooperative: OAF buys resources like seeds and fertilizer in bulk at reduced prices and distributes them to small farmers who otherwise could not afford them. This case concerns the negotiation that OAF's manager of external relations and research, Moises Postigo, conducted to buy fertilizer in the last quarter of 2007. The case provides an opportunity for students to analyze a real-world deal-making negotiation in a developing economy. A number of aspects of the context of the negotiation and the negotiation process itself make for good class discussion. Postigo did a good job preparing for the negotiation, making the case one that emphasizes proper use of negotiation planning and sensitive understanding of the negotiation environment. Some of the elements that make for good discussion include the following: OAF was a new organization, unknown to the five major providers of fertilizer in Kenya. The negotiations were entirely conducted by cell phone. Negotiations went through stages of request for a bid, discussion with multiple bidders, selection of a provider, and negotiation. There were multiple issues, including price delivery and form of payment. Postigo was negotiating in the shadow of the possibility that the Kenyan government would start selling subsidized fertilizer to small farmers.

Analyze the fundamentals of a real-world negotiation; Consider cultural implications for negotiation strategy; Consider negotiation strategy decisions particular to the context: commodity purchase, developing country, etc. Understand how the economic and political context affects negotiations; Understand the importance of relationships in negotiations.

Details

Kellogg School of Management Cases, vol. no.
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2474-6568
Published by: Kellogg School of Management

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Monica C. Diochon and Yogesh Ghore

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

Abstract

Subject area

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

Study level/applicability

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

Case overview

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.

Expected learning outcomes

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.

Supplementary materials

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

Subject code

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Abstract

Subject area

Social enterprise.

Study level/applicability

This case study can be used on modules on social enterprise (SE) and international business for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

Case overview

Arusha Women Entrepreneur (AWE) is a SE established in 2008 in Tanzania that employs low-income women from peri-urban Arusha and provides technical and management skills training to smallholder farmers. AWE has created a value supply chain from the production and marketing of aflatoxin-free, natural peanut butter, having a strong vision of delivering social and development benefits for smallholder peanut farmers and unemployed women.

Expected learning outcomes

This case is the basis for class discussion rather than for illustrating either effective or ineffective handling of a business. From this case, students will learn about the emergence and development of SEs and the challenges they encounter to grow.

Supplementary materials

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

Subject code

CSS: 3: Entrepreneurship.

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 6 no. 4
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 20 January 2017

Jamie Jones and Grace Augustine

One Acre Fund (1AF) is a nonprofit organization in rural western Kenya that helps farmers lift themselves out of poverty by providing a bundle of products and services that…

Abstract

One Acre Fund (1AF) is a nonprofit organization in rural western Kenya that helps farmers lift themselves out of poverty by providing a bundle of products and services that support farmers with quality inputs, training on farming techniques, access to credit, and assistance in achieving optimal prices. Since the organization's founding nearly a decade ago, it has grown to serve over 180,000 farm families annually as of July 2014. This high level of penetration into rural Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania makes 1AF a potential distribution channel for rolling out new products and technologies that could benefit farmers and their families. The organization prides itself on its innovative culture, and always strives to offer new products and methods to its farmers. In 2011 1AF realized that it needed to formalize its innovation process to ensure it was confident in new products before rolling them out across its entire farmer network. It therefore created a robust, multistep evaluation framework to assess new innovations on four criteria: impact, adoptability, simplicity, and operability.

After reading and analyzing the case, students will be able to:

  • Articulate the importance of understanding the user's needs and perspective throughout the innovation process

  • Identify key factors for a successful product launch into an existing channel

  • Employ an assessment framework to analyze the viability of a potential innovation

  • Design a test pilot for evaluating the launch of new innovations within an organization

Articulate the importance of understanding the user's needs and perspective throughout the innovation process

Identify key factors for a successful product launch into an existing channel

Employ an assessment framework to analyze the viability of a potential innovation

Design a test pilot for evaluating the launch of new innovations within an organization

Abstract

Subject area

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Study level/applicability

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.

Case overview

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.

Expected learning outcomes

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.

Supplementary materials

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

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 4 no. 8
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 3 January 2017

Vijaya L. Narapareddy, Nancy Sampson and S.R. Vishwanath

International Development Enterprises (iDE), a non-profit organization, won numerous awards for its poverty alleviation efforts through the sale of low-cost irrigation…

Abstract

Synopsis

International Development Enterprises (iDE), a non-profit organization, won numerous awards for its poverty alleviation efforts through the sale of low-cost irrigation technologies to the Base of Pyramid (BoP) farmers around the world. This case discusses iDE’s entry into Nicaragua and the challenges this global social enterprise faced in bringing drip irrigation and other water technologies to the rural subsistence coffee farmers in Nicaragua. It presents the tough decisions it faced in 2012 regarding the future of its for-profit social business, iDEal Tecnologias, in Nicaragua. This case captures the tension in hybrid social enterprises.

Research methodology

This case was developed through the following primary sources as well as some secondary sources. Primary: discussions with iDE’s CEO Doerksen, Urs Heierli (Coordinator of iDE’s operations in Nicaragua), and Skype conversations with iDEal Tec’s Country Director, Nadja Kränzlin. Secondary: documents provided by the company and other publicly available sources.

Relevant courses and levels

This case is intended for use in undergraduate, graduate, and executive courses in: social entrepreneurship, non-profit management, and managing sustainable businesses. It may also be used in the sustainability module of courses in international business/management/marketing, and business strategy and policy. It would be best to position this case toward the middle or latter half of the course as it is an integrative case that challenges students to evaluate the sustainability of a social enterprise from multiple perspectives.

Theoretical bases

The theoretical bases for this case are: defining and implementing a sustainable strategy in hybrid social enterprises. Serving BoP customers with a vision of enabling prosperity.

Details

The CASE Journal, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 1544-9106

Keywords

Case study
Publication date: 12 January 2022

Jaco Maritz and Mark Peters

The teaching objectives of the case are as follows: to develop an understanding of the scope and complexity of strategy and marketing; to examine what is meant by purpose…

Abstract

Learning outcomes

The teaching objectives of the case are as follows: to develop an understanding of the scope and complexity of strategy and marketing; to examine what is meant by purpose, direction, objectives and consider how these might be set and used; to help students think and act in a strategic way; to give faculty the opportunity to illustrate the strategist’s and marketer’s toolbox, namely, tools and frameworks, such as Porters 5 Forces – The attractiveness of the industry, Porter’s Generic Marketing Strategies, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats analysis, the 4P’s – with a focus on product and distribution. The case is intended for use in MBA and Executive education courses in strategy, marketing and leadership. The case offers relevant experiences and instructive lessons in formulating and implementing business strategies. The case highlights the importance of contextual leadership intelligence and competence in enabling entrepreneurial business activities.

Case overview/synopsis

Tomato Jos (Nigeria) is a large tomato processing business in Kaduna, Nigeria. Nigeria is the second-largest producer of tomatoes in Africa, with Egypt as the largest. The country ranks 14th overall as a world producer. In Africa, and specifically Nigeria, there is a strong push to support small-scale farmers as a source of employment creation, as well as meeting the needs of food security. The CEO, Mira Mehata, is an ex-pat graduate from the USA with strong Agri sector experience. The business has received extensive support from the Kaduna Government as the business has secondary objectives to assist small-scale farmers in the region. Farmers need consistent off takers and reasonable set prices to see a return on their investment and Tomato Jos plays that role of being the middle-man. This results in less wasted produce – the bane of farmers globally. The price for fresh tomatoes is about three times that of processed tomatoes IE in paste or sauce – so that is an added challenge for farmers to see the value in processed tomatoes. The business currently has a 2% Market Share in Nigeria with a target of 10% over the next five years. The business so far has invested three billion Naira and plans a further five billion Naira over the next few years. The business is seen as a high-profile success story with a supportive eco-system with a push from both the Nigerian Government and some major private sector players example Dangote.

Complexity academic level

The case is intended for use in MBA and Executive education courses in Strategy, Marketing and Leadership.

Supplementary materials

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

Subject code

CCS 11: Strategy.

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

Abstract

Subject area

Operations and Logistics.

Study level/applicability

Senior undergraduate students and postgraduate students specialising in agricultural economics/agribusiness/supply chain management and can also be used for executive training for supply chain managers and corporate social responsibility (CSR) managers of food companies.

Case overview

This case presents an industry leading company – Nestlé’s sustainable initiative in its dairy supply chain in China. The case begins with the background of China’s dairy industry, followed by an introduction of the case company. The case then moves on to the comparison of Nestlé’s fresh milk supply chain operation before and after 2008 and different approaches to help the dairy suppliers’ transformation. The focus is on Nestlé’s innovative industry collaboration platform, the Dairy Farming Institute.

Expected learning outcomes

This case allows students to explore the following theoretical frameworks: sustainable supply chain management; supply chain leadership, supply chain learning and supply chain structure. By analysing this case, students should be able to gain an understanding of how multinational corporations (MNCs) play a supply chain leadership role in supply chain learning of sustainable supply chain initiatives.

Supplementary materials

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

Subject code

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

Details

Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Case Study
ISSN: 2045-0621

Keywords

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