Take a look at entrepreneurship-related case studies from the Fowler Center for Business as an Agent of World Benefit at Case Western Reserve University.
Waste Concern
Company: Waste Concern
Publisher: Stanford
Call Number: SI-71
Year Published: 2006
Iftekhar Enayetullah and Maqsood Sinha, co-founders of Waste Concern in Bangladesh, had earned an international reputation for their innovative approach to dealing with the vast quantities of waste that threatened to overwhelm the overcrowded city of Dhaka. Having just been recognized by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship as "outstanding social entrepreneurs," the two were eager to take Waste Concern to the next level. Their ambitions included scaling up their waste processing operations, introducing new technology, and creating a new trading business selling credits for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions under the framework develop by the Kyoto Protocol.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
To take decisions consistent with Kyoto-protocol related projects.
Website where case study can be found
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=73291&R=SI71-PDF-ENG&co…
Viridity Energy: The Challenge and Opportunity of Promoting Clean Energy Solutions
Company: Viridity Energy, Inc.
Publisher: Ivey
Call Number: 9B12M035
Year Published: 2012
Viridity Energy, a smart grid company, is engaged in sustainability for two reasons. On one hand, it finds profitable opportunities by helping its customers cut energy bills. And on the other hand, it’s getting credit for that environmental responsibility. This case highlights the challenges and opportunities of smart grid companies to promote clean energy solutions, especially the challenge of doing less harm to include progressively greater eco-effectiveness in competitive markets.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
Viridity Energy, a smart grid company, is engaged in sustainability for two reasons. On one hand, it finds profitable opportunities by helping its customers cut energy bills. And on the other hand, it’s getting credit for that environmental responsibility. This case highlights the challenges and opportunities of smart grid companies to promote clean energy solutions, especially the challenge of doing less harm to include progressively greater eco-effectiveness in competitive markets.
Website where case study can be found
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/viridity-energy-the-challenge-and-oppor…
Building a Sustainable Venture: TMI's Earth Brick Machine
Company: The Mountain Institute
Publisher: Oikos
Call Number: N/A
Year Published: 2005
The Mountain Institute (TMI), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organisation, received a patent for a machine that makes environmentally friendly bricks from dirt, allowing for low cost construction of housing and other structures. TMI saw this technology not only as an environmental win but also as a tool for economic development in emerging economies, and as a vehicle for serving the housing needs of the poor at the base of the economic pyramid.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
Should TMI start a for profit business selling its brick making machine?
Website where case study can be found
https://oikos-international.org/publications/building-a-sustainable-venture-fro…
Sustainability at Tetra Pak: Recycling Post-Consumer Cartons
Company: Tetra Pak
Publisher: Ivey
Call Number: 9B12M069
Year Published: 2012
Tetra Pack India aimed to uphold its image of an environmentally responsible company by meeting its goals for recycling post consumer cartons (PCC). While Tetra Pack’s ‘Renew’, ‘Reduce’, ‘Recycle’, ‘be Responsible’ philosophy succeeded in other regions of the world, the particular geographical, socioeconomic and political climate in India posed various challenges. Tetra Pak India’s team redefined its strategy by forging partnerships and alliances with non-governmental organizations, scrap dealers, rag-pickers, commercial establishments and organizations that champion the cause of the environment.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
With ever-changing mindsets, increasing regulations and growing customer expectations, how can Tetra Pak face the future challenges to ensure that its success from the PCC recycling initiative can be sustained and scaled up?
Website where case study can be found
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/sustainability-at-tetra-pak-recycling-p…
TerraMai: Reclaimed Woods from Around the World
Company: TerraMai
Publisher: Stanford
Call Number: E-192
Year Published: 2005
This case follows the business ventures of former river guides Erika Carpenter and Richard McFarland in the early days of the reclaimed wood industry. Reclaimed wood suppliers mill wood from deconstructed structures--material that typically is burned, sent to landfills, or otherwise wasted--and sell the products to consumers. Beginning in 2003, the partners embarked on an ambitious growth plan with the goal of becoming the No.1 reclaimed wood supplier.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
How to address challenges to the successful partnership?
Website where case study can be found
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=65361&R=E192-PDF-ENG&co…
Tennant Company: Can “Chemical-Free” Be a Pathway to Competitive Advantage?
Company: Tennant
Publisher: Ivey
Call Number: 9B12M020
Year Published: 2012
The case of Tennant Company is one that describes a floor-cleaning company that differentiated itself by introducing chemical-free cleaning equipment. Not only did it strategically evolve as an environmentally responsible sustainable business, it also used that same principle to its competitive advantage. By marketing its products as equally effective in performance, competitive in price and “greener” on the environment, the revamp was a success to all involved parties.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
Is a proven ecological innovation without any customer or financial trades-off enough of a business proposition to meet customers’ expectations, investors’ ambitions, and the company’s goals? And if so, where do you draw the line in making superior environmental performance the basis for competitive advantage?
Website where case study can be found
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/tennant-company-can-chemicalfree-be-a-p…
Sensible Life Products (A and B)
Company: Sensible Life Products
Publisher: Ivey
Call Number: 9B09M057 & 9B09M058
Year Published: 2007
An entrepreneur and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sensible Life Products has developed a revolutionary botanical disinfectant called Benefect, the flagship product of his company. This new product is unique among disinfectant products in that it is non-toxic, unlike the majority of conventional disinfectants containing harmful chemicals, such as ammonia, alcohol and chlorine. As a result of the unique properties of the product, the CEO has received numerous offers to purchase or license the technology and is faced with the decision regarding which offer, if any, he should accept.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
Which offer from outside companies to accept?
Website where case study can be found
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/global-search/Sensible%20Life%20Products%20?c__…
The SEKEM Initiative
Company: SEKEM
Publisher: IESE Business School
Call Number: 0-304-072
Year Published: 2004
Sekem was founded by Ibrahim Abouleish, an Egyptian who had been living, studying and working in Austria prior to his return to Egypt in 1977, the year he established Sekem. In 2003 it consisted of three main parts: the Sekem group of companies, the Egyptian Society for Cultural Development and the Cooperative of Sekem Employees, together employing more than 2,000 people. This case portrays the complex set of circumstances that frames Sekem's decisions to further grow and develop the initiative along its historical path of holistic development in the social, economic and cultural spheres.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
To initiate holistic development able to create economic, social and cultural value in a sustainable manner.
Website where case study can be found
Towards a Sustainable Model and Ecological Integrity in South Africa
Company: Londolozi - KNP
Publisher: Harvard
Call Number: 9-709-001
Year Published: 2008
The Londolozi game viewing reserve in South Africa became a defining icon of ecotourism during the 1990s and early 2000s--that is, a tourist business promoting ecological land management and, at the same time, local economic development. The Sabi Sand Game reserve (within which Londolozi was located) was initially created by the government to provide hunters with an area in which to hunt wildlife. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the farms within the Sabi Sand Game reserve converted their functions from hunting to wildlife viewing, and the fence was taken down.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
The new challenge for the farms while transforming into wildlife viewing became land management and local economic development.
Website where case study can be found
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=46698&R=709001-PDF-ENG&…
La Vaca Independiente: Should a Social Enterprise Adopt a For-Profit Business Model?
Company: La Vaca Independiente
Publisher: Ivey
Call Number: 9B13C033
Year Published: 2022
This case presents a social enterprise considering whether a for-profit model might be an effective way to scale its impact. Mexico City-based La Vaca Independiente (The Independent Cow) was founded to bring art to underprivileged children. The founder observed that many global problems are caused by humanity’s increasing state of isolation, with individuals disconnected from the planet and from each other. La Vaca focused exclusively on a program called Developing Intelligence through Art (DIA). Using artwork as a stimulus for thought and discussion, DIA provided individuals with opportunities to develop meaning in their lives. She believed, based on evidence that companies lose annual revenue due to the effects of isolationism on their employees, that she and her team could pursue a for-profit business model in order to expose La Vaca to markets and opportunities inaccessible to a charitable organization.
What is the dilemma or tough decisions?
What was La Vaca's value proposition? Was it to expand the original DIA model, which had already proven to be successful, or should it attempt to expand into markets other than education? Would it be better to stay true to its original model at a small scale or to branch out and risk the integrity of the program? What internal changes might they need to make in order to become profitable?
Website where case study can be found
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/la-vaca-independiente-should-a-social-e…