Case Details:

Case Code : BECG105

Themes: Corporate Social Responsibility

Period : 2002-2009

Pub Date : 2009

Organization : Better World Books

Industry : Retailing

Countries : US

Abstract:

The case examines the business model of Better World Books (BWB), the US based online bookseller. Founded in 2002, the company collected old and new books from individuals, booksellers, recyclers, libraries and colleges. Apart from donations, libraries and colleges also sold old books to BWB. BWB either donated the collected books to the organizations promoting literacy or sold them online.

BWB's business model reflected its commitment to the triple bottom line approach. The company made efforts to achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability. It directly donated books and gave financial support to literacy initiatives worldwide. Moreover, a percentage of each sale was given separately to the individuals, libraries, or colleges as well as literacy partners chosen by them.

By donating and selling used books, BWB helped to keep away millions of pounds of paper waste from landfills. The books that did not sell were recycled. BWB also had a Carbon Neutral Shopping Cart, through which, the company collected two to five cents on the cost of each book from every customer at the 'Checkout' link on its website. The collected money was used to buy carbon offset to compensate the environmental impact of shipping by the company and its literacy partners. In the financial year 2008, BWB earned revenues of US$ 21 million and had a revenue target of US$ 31 million in fiscal 2009.

Issues:

» Analyze the business model of BWB, a 'for profit' social venture;

» Understand how BWB's business model contributes to its commitment to the triple bottom line approach;

» Study how BWB minimizes the environmental impact of its operations.

» Examine the revenue model of BWB's business and evaluate its sustainability.

Keywords:

Better World Books, Business Model, Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs, Campus Collection Program, Library Discards & Donations program, Promoting Literacy, Commission Junction, Triple Bottom Line Approach, Social Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, Economic Sustainability, B Impact Report, US Environment Protection Agency, Wastewise Program, BookCrossing.com, Carbon Neutral Shopping Cart, Carbonfund.org Foundation, Incentive Stock Option, Social Entrepreneurship

On May 06, 2009, Better World Books (BWB), the US-based 'for-profit' social venture, won BusinessWeek's3 "America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs" award. BusinessWeek considered 'for profit' companies which had been in operation for at least one year for the award. It asked its readers to vote for those businesses that were making money as well as bringing about societal change. About 12,000 BusinessWeek readers cast their votes for 25 finalist companies and BWB got the first place with 36 percent of the votes. According to BusinessWeek , "With 36% of the vote, online bookseller Better World Books led the pack. The 200-person company makes money selling books it gets for free from a network of individuals and institutions across the country."

BWB also figured at the 12th position in Time magazine's list of '25 Responsibility Pioneers' who were changing the world, published in September 2009 (Refer to Exhibit I for Time Magazine's List of Responsibility Pioneers in 2009).

Founded in 2002, BWB, an online bookseller, collected old and new books from individuals, libraries, and colleges and sold them online.

It directly donated books and gave financial support to literacy initiatives worldwide. In addition, a percentage of each sale was given separately to individuals, libraries, or colleges as well as literacy partners chosen by them.

According to Dustin Holland (Holland), Vice President of Acquisitions, BWB, "It's a no cost program. This is definitely a win-win situation for libraries and literacy. Libraries can earn some extra funds by discarding old or gift books, and they're helping promote literacy at the same time."

The Online Bookseller

BWB was started in 2002 by three friends - Xavier Helgesen (Helgesen), Chris Kreece Fuchs (Fuchs), and Jeff Kurtzman (Kurtzman) - all students of the University of Notre Dame . After completing their graduation, they decided to sell their books to get some extra money...

The Business Model

BWB did not advertise in the media about collecting and selling books; awareness about its business model was mainly spread through word of mouth. According to Helgesen, "Every time a customer is flabbergasted, they are going to tell people, and that endorsement won't cost us a dime."...

Profit With Purpose: A Triple Bottom Line Approach

Since its inception, BWB showed its commitment to the triple bottom line approach. The company made efforts to achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability. It measured its performance in three areas - people, planet, and profit...

The Challenges

Notwithstanding BWB's success over the years, analysts were skeptical about whether the company would be able to sustain its growth and socially responsible business model in the long run. As of late 2009, BWB had plans to expand overseas, develop a book-publishing division, and offer a book-rental service from its website...

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Time Magazine's List of Responsibility Pioneers (2009)

Exhibit II: Better World Books' Mission and Core Values

Exhibit III: Logo of Better World Books

Exhibit IV: The Acceptance Guidelines of Better World Books for Donating Materials

Exhibit V: Better World Book's Collection Bin

Exhibit VI: Home Page of Better World Books

Exhibit VII: BWB's Different Shipping Service

Exhibit VIII: Visual of a Warehouse of Better World Books

Exhibit IX: Home Page of Better World Book's Blog

2nd case study

This case is about The Times of India's (ToI) social marketing initiatives. Though TOI was one of the largest circulated newspapers in the world, it was criticized for promoting 'yellow journalism'. In order to build its brand image, TOI adopted a social marketing strategy and projected itself as an agent of social change by launching a series of social campaigns highlighting social issues. One of them was 'Teach India'.

The 'Teach India' campaign was launched on July 6, 2008, with the objective of providing education to the unprivileged children in India and eradicating illiteracy. The campaign was inspired by TOI's earlier initiative 'Lead India' launched in August 2007.

According to the feedback received from the 'Lead India' campaign, India would not be able to lead unless its populace was literate and that there was a need for citizens to come forward and contribute to the cause. It was for this purpose that the Teach India campaign was launched. The campaign was divided into two phases. The first phase invited citizens of the country to volunteer with a non-government organization (NGO) in their locality and spend two hours a week teaching underprivileged children. The second phase, which started at the end of 2008, selected students from top educational institutes all over the country who were willing to dedicate two years to teaching the underprivileged.

To execute the campaign, TOI tied up with select NGOs in the field of education in multiple cities across India. Corporations, schools, and social organizations also lent their support to the campaign. The campaign was promoted through print, television, online, outdoor and on-ground events. While the campaign won some of the most prestigious advertising awards, experts remained divided in their opinion on whether TOI had adopted a genuine approach to initiating social changes in India or whether it was just a marketing gimmick to enhance the brand image of the Times Group

Issues:

» Understand various issues and challenges is social marketing.

» Study the social marketing campaigns launched by ToI and analyze whether ToI was successful in achieving the objectives of its campaigns.

» Understand the role of cause-related marketing in enhancing brand image.

» Explore ways to make the Teach India initiative could be made sustainable

Contents: Page No.

Introduction 1

About Times of India 2

Earlier Campaigns 3

The 'Teach India' Campaign 6

Results 8

Great Social Marketing or Just a Marketing Gimmick? 9

Looking Ahead 11

Exhibits 12

Keywords:

Social marketing, 'Lead India' Campaign, 'Teach India' campaign, Digital marketing, Integrated viral campaign, Brand awareness, Corporate social responsibility, Marketing gimmick, Times of India, Newspaper industry, India

Introduction

On December 16, 2009, leading Indian English daily The Times of India's (TOI) 'Teach India Let's Learn to Teach' (Teach India) campaign won the prestigious Grand Effie4 award for the Best Integrated Campaign of the Year. The award was given to JWT India for successfully executing the campaign. On selecting the campaign for the award, a jury member said that it was "a truly outstanding campaign that drove a real sea change in social attitudes, 'Teach India' won the Grand Effie convincingly due to its boldness and creativity, delivering real cultural relevance and, above all, outstanding business results."6 Launched on July 6, 2008, by the Times Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) wing of The Times of India group, in association with United Nations Volunteers7 (UNV), the Teach India campaign was a social initiative whose objective was to build the nation by improving literacy and providing education to the unprivileged children in India.

The idea behind the campaign was to bring together people who wanted to teach and those who wanted to learn. The campaign invited educated Indians to serve as volunteers and teach underprivileged children...

Excerpts

About Times of India

The TOI is a reputed English-language daily newspaper in India. It was launched on November 3, 1838, in Mumbai by a British syndicate as 'Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce'. In 1859, the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce was merged with the Bombay Standard and Chronicle of Western India to form the Bombay Times & Standard...

Earlier Campaigns

During the mid-1990s, TOI was criticized for promoting 'yellow journalism' by sensationalizing news, exaggerating news events, promoting its own brands, plagiarism, etc. Critics charged that in a bid to improve its circulation, TOI was concentrating on efforts like introducing colored pages, celebrity articles, and film-related news rather than taking care of the deteriorating quality of its content...

The 'Teach India' Campaign

Although the idea to launch the campaign was initiated in 2007, it took four months for TOI to develop the Teach India program. The campaign was launched on July 6, 2008. It was divided into two phases...

Results

According to the Times Group, the 'Teach India' campaign created a lot of buzz and within three weeks of the program being launched in July 2008, a total of 88,710 people had responded. Of these, 55,035 applied for the program...

Great Social Marketing or Just a Marketing Gimmick?

Experts remained divided in their opinions regarding the 'Teach India' campaign. Some social activists commended the campaign for its noble cause and opined that TOI had adopted a genuine approach in initiating social changes in India which was more than just a marketing campaign. A volunteer of Teach India Joshua Immanuel, said, the "Teach India campaign had already brought many changes...

Looking Ahead

The success of the Teach India campaign in 2008 led to its revival in 2009. The registration process for the second phase of the campaign began in December 2008 and continued till February 2009.

The Teach For India program planned to cover smaller cities like Lucknow, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad, other than major metro cities. Starting with Mumbai and Pune, Teach For India recruited outstanding college graduates and young professionals, from all academic majors and careers, to teach for two years in under-resourced schools...

Exhibits

Exhibit I: Subsidiary Companies of Times Group

Exhibit II: World's Top Ten English Dailies (in terms of net sales)

Exhibit III: India vs. India Anthem

Exhibit IV: A Print Ad of Lead India Campaign

Exhibit V: A Print Ad of 'Teach India'

Exhibit VI: A Billboard Ad of Teach India Campaign

Exhibit VII: Schedule of 'Teach for India' Campaign

Case Study 1 Practical StudySearch for oil by Pak Stanvac, an Esso/Mobil joint venture in 1957, led to the discovery of Mari gas field situated near Daharki -- a small town in upper Sindh province. Esso was the first to study this development in detail and propose the establishment of a urea plant in that area.The proposal was approved by the government in 1964, which led to a fertilizer plant agreement signed in December that year. Subsequently in 1965, the Esso Pakistan Fertilizer Company Limited was incorporated, with 75% of the shares owned by Esso and 25% by the general public. The construction of a urea plant commenced at Daharki the following year with the annual capacity of 173,000 tons and production commenced in 1968. At US $ 43 million, it was the single largest foreign investment by an MNC in the country.A full-fledged marketing organization was established which undertook agronomic programs to educate the farmers of Pakistan. As the nation’s first fertilizer brand, Engro (then Esso) helped modernize traditional farming practices to boost farm yields, directly impacting the quality of life not only for farmers and their families, but for the community at large. As a result of these efforts, consumption of fertilizers increased in Pakistan, paving the way for the Company’s branded urea called "Engro", an acronym for "Energy for Growth".Vision to be the premier Pakistani enterprise with a global reach, passionately pursuing value creation for all stakeholders.

ENGRO BusinessesEngro Chemical Pakistan Limited (ECPL)The Company’s current manufacturing base includes urea name plate capacity of 975,000 tons per annum and blended fertilizer (NPK) capacity of 160,000 tons per year. A premier brand and nationwide presence ensure sellout production. Additionally, the company imports and sells phosphatic fertilizers for balanced fertility and improved farm yields. Engro’s share of Pakistan’s phosphates market mirrors or exceeds its urea market share.Expansion plans include a new urea plant of 1.3 million tons annual capacity, also at Daharki. The US$ 1 billion project is well underway and on track for commercial production in mid 2010. This addition will increase Engro’s urea market share to 35% from 19% at present.

Engro Foods Limited (EFL)Engro Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary had its first full year of operations in 2007. The Company continued expanding with additions to brand portfolio, milk production and distribution capacities.The portfolio now includes four impressive brands; Olper's milk, Olper’s cream,Olwell and Tarang. Olper’s market share peaked at 17% during 2007.EFL operates two dairy processing factories located in Sukkur, and Sahiwal. The company’s milk collection network now boasts over 700 village milk collectors and 400 milk collection centers. Covering 2400 villages across Pakistan, the activities of the Company touch the lives of almost 51,000 farmers.Engro Energy Limited (EEL)This wholly owned subsidiary is setting up an Independent Power Plant near Qadirpur in Sindh; Targeting 2009 for commercial operations, the power project will have a net output of 217 MW. The plant will utilize low heating value permeate gas from Qadirpur gas field which is currently being flared. Engro Eximp (Pvt.) Limited (EEPL) Engro Eximp (Pvt.) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary in the trading business of fertilizer imports.

ENGRO Social investmentsAs part of its enduring commitment to improve the quality of life for itsstakeholders, especially neighboring communities, ECPL contributed over Rs. 40 million under its social investments portfolio in 2008. This section describesEngro’s major initiatives in 2008:

1. Sahara Welfare Society ProjectsRegistered under the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies Ordinance 1961, Sahara Welfare Society – located in an office adjacent to the Daharki plant - is a nonprofit organization managed by Engro employees and financed through employee and company contributions.a. Sahara Community SchoolThrough Engro’s support, the Sahara Community School was established in 2002. The school educates 247 children from nursery through class 5, of which 108 are girls and 139 boys, taught by 17 teachers. To maintain quality, the school keeps a good teacher-student ratio with the annual intake of students being restricted to 30 children in each class.In addition to regular classes, the school also holds non-formal classes where a five-year primary curriculum is covered in three years. The non-formal classes, which started in August 2006, are meant for overage children who cannot be

admitted to regular classes. Currently two batches, consisting of 46 and 42 children respectively, are benefiting from this program.

2. Katcha Schools’ ProgramUnder this program, Engro is supporting eleven primary schools in different villages of the katcha (river line belt) area along the Indus since 2001.Currently, 1,224 students are enrolled in these schools. The following table provides a snapshot of the program.Engro’s support ensures provision of free education for all children enrolled at these katcha schools. Engro’s contributes furniture, text books, stationary items, and other teaching and learning materials for the students, teachers, and the schools. In addition, twenty four teachers at the eleven katcha schools are employed on Sahara’s payroll through Engro’s financial support to address teacher shortages. Regular teachers’ training for thekatcha school teachers is provided through TARC. The following chart presents a snapshot of number of teachers and students at various katcha schools. It is important to mention that these schools serve as the first and only access to education for the children in these deprived communities which suffer from extremely poor social and economic development conditions.These areas - based in an ecologically fragile area prone to frequent flooding in rainy seasons – lack basic health, education and infrastructure facilities, and have traditionally suffered from high crime rates. Local communities support the formation of these schools and are appreciative of Engro’s efforts to provide education for their children.

Indus River Dolphin Conservation ProjectThe Indus River Dolphin is an endangered species and the only species out of four known freshwater dolphin species in the world to be completely blind. In 2006, Engro became the major sponsor for the Indus RiverDolphin Conservation Project, with WWF Pakistan as the implementing partner. In 2008, the fully equipped multimedia “Indus Dolphin Conservation and Information Centre”, established in Sukkur, through significant contribution from Engro, organized presentations for visitors, in an effort to promote awareness about the conservation of dolphins and dolphin habitats. Other activities which were organized through the project in 2008 included boat safaris, awareness raising workshops, an Open Day on Environmental Awareness, a Speech Competition as well as an Awareness Walk in 2008. Students, teachers, NGO representatives, local communities, Taluka Municipal Officers and the general public participated in

these outreach activities. Project support also led to the hiring of four community watch guards in Sukkur and Guddu last year for dolphin watch and rescue activities and for raising community awareness for protection and conservation of dolphins. In addition, background work was also completed last year for the establishment of Fisher Sustainability Schools (FSS) to reduce threats to the dolphins’ survival by introducing sustainable fishing practices to the local fishing communities. The background work included socioeconomic survey of eighteen fishermen communities, development of a relevant FSS curriculum, and training of four MasterField Trainers from four local fishing communities.

Case Study 2Coca-Cola's Corporate Social Responsibility in India

Publication Year : 2008

Authors: Ananthi R & Doris Rajakumari JohnIndustry: Beverages Region:India

Case Code: CSR0046C Teaching Note: AvailableStructured Assignment: Available

Abstract: With the accelerating pace of globalisation and increasing competition, it becomes inevitable for companies to have clearly defined business practices with a sound focus on public interest. In India, the world's largest beverage maker Coca-Cola Inc. (Coke) was engaged in a number of community-focused CSR initiatives. These initiatives were further accelerated since 2003 following the various allegations and issues such as presence of pesticide residues in its beverages and water resource contamination issues that the soft drink giant faced in India. To address these issues and to rebuild its tarnished brand image in India, Coke engaged itself in a number of environment-focused CSR initiatives, like executing the eKO management system in 2003, under which it preserved local water resources. It also adopted measures to reduce water consumption in its production processes. This case facilitates discussion on whether Coke used CSR as a tool for its sustainability in India or only as a green washing effort to counter its allegations. The case also helps to emphasise the need for adopting ethical values in the business practices of multinationals operating in India.

Pedagogical Objectives:

To discuss the challenges faced by Coke in India

To analyse measures taken by Coke to address these challenges

To examine the rationale behind Coke's corporate social measures in India

To scrutinize whether MNCs in developing countries use CSR initiatives as a tool for its sustainability or only as a green washing effort?

To bring out a business model that integrates CSR initiatives in the value charter of a company.

Keywords : Corporate Social Responsibility, Coke in India, Pesticide Issue, Water allegations issue, Environment Issues, Coke's bottling plants, Carbonated Beverages, CSD, Corporate Social Responsibility Case Study, eKO System, Water conservation, Community and Environment focused CSR, Drivers for CSR in business practices, Sustainability, Coke's CSR initiatives, Green washing