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Case Studies
The following case studies addressing sustainability topics were authored by students and faculty while at Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Distributed solar energy in Brazil: Fabio Rosa's approach to social entrepreneurship 
Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
Approximately 25 million people in Brazil do not have access to electricity. Fabio Rosa, a local social entrepreneur, is aiming to fill this need through innovative distributed solar energy systems.
A development bank's success with micro-finance: Banco do Nordeste's CrediAmigo
Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
An estimated 15.7 million people in Brazil work in the informal economy as micro-entrepreneurs, outnumbering formal sector entrepreneurs by more than three to one. Of these informal micro-entrepreneurs, 93% run profitable businesses. However, 84% of these micro-entrepreneurs do not have access to credit.
In November 1996 at a meeting in Fortaleza, the World Bank and Banco do Nordeste, a development bank formed to support growth in northeastern Brazil, decided to initiate a collaborative process to jointly implement a local development program based on the idea of micro-credit.
Self-sustaining micro-finance programs to help Brazil's poor: ABN AMRO Real Microcredito
Yerina Mugica and Ted London (2004)
An estimated 15.7 million people in Brazil work in the informal economy as micro-entrepreneurs, outnumbering formal sector entrepreneurs by more than three to one. Of these informal micro-entrepreneurs 93% run profitable businesses, 84% of whom do not have access to credit. It is estimated that 50% of these micro-entrepreneurs would apply for a micro-credit loan if they had access to banking services. This figure represents a potential of US$ 3.7 billion per year in loans.
Recognizing a potential market and seeing a service that could both help the community and be self-sustaining, ABN AMRO's Brazilian subsidiary Banco ABN AMRO Real launched Real Microcredito in July 2002, in partnership with ACCION, a non-governmental organization specializing in micro-credit worldwide.
Vodacom's Community Cell Phones
Jennifer Reck and Brad Wood (2003)
Vodacom Community Services, a program of Vodacom, South Africa's largest cellular phone company, is a successful example of how business and government can work together to achieve significant social and economic goals.
PRODEM FFP's Multilingual Smart ATMs for Microfinance
Roberto Hernandez and Yerina Mugica (2003)
PRODEM FFP is a private financial fund that has developed a strong competitive advantage in serving the bottom-of-the-pyramid market in Bolivia by developing solutions based on proprietary technology that lowers costs, better meets existing customers' needs, and makes its services accessible to new customers.
Sustainable Development for Rural Connectivity: The N-Logue Model
Joy Howard, Chris Simms and Erik Simanis (2001)
n-Logue has created a for-profit business model to tap into the latent demand for connectivity in rural India. This case study describes the business model and identifies key strengths and challenges.
The Monsanto Company: Quest for Sustainability Case Study and Teaching Note
Erik Simanis and Stuart Hart (2000)
Explores the strategic drivers and implications of Monsanto's sustainability-driven transition from a chemical concern to a life sciences entity. The case can be employed in a strategy course or a specialized elective on strategic environmental management and sustainable development, and in either one or two class sessions. It allows for discussion along four primary axes:
1) the strengths and weaknesses of Monsanto's sustainability-driven corporate strategy, both in terms of developing and industrialized economies;
2) views on sustainable agriculture and emerging drivers;
3) the escalating importance of broad-based stakeholder engagement and the growing power of civil society; and
4) the process by which a strategic vision is conceived, communicated, and institutionalized.
Expanding the Playing Field: Nike's World Shoe Project
Heather McDonald, Ted London, and Stuart Hart (1998)
In 1998, Nike began the development of the World Shoe, a footwear line designed exclusively for emerging markets. This case documents Nike's attempt to enter the footwear market in China, as led by Tom Hartge, Director of Emerging Market Footwear. It provides students a view of the many strategic and internal challenges faced by multinational companies attempting to create a foothold in emerging markets, and investigates the sustainability issues surrounding market entry into the bottom of the pyramid.
Weyerhauser Company: The Next 100 Years
Mark Milstein and Stuart Hart (1998)
The Weyerhaeuser Company was the world's largest private owner of standing softwood timber, North America's largest producer of softwood lumber, and the world's largest supplier of softwood pulp. Weyerhaeuser Company: The Next 100 Years focuses on the company's development since the turn of the century into a leading upstream producer of pulp and paper products, and the strategic challenges it faced as it tried to implement sustainable forestry. Discussion provides substantial insight into the connections between the company's model of sustainable forestry, its core competence, and its competitive strategy.
Deja Shoe
Paul Hardy and Stuart Hart (1996)
Deja Shoe's founder and new management team wanted to develop a business strategy based on pro-environment principles that would enable the firm to out-compete established industry players Nike and Timberland. The case explores mainstream and niche markets, alternative materials and manufacturing operations, and acquiring start-up capital as key facets of the company's environmental strategy. It is a teaching tool for entrepreneurship, corporate strategy, and environmental strategy/sustainable development.
McDonald's
Susan Svodoba and Stuart Hart (1995)
In this corporate strategy collection, Cases (A) and (B) focus on the work of a joint task force developed by the McDonald's Corporation and the Environmental Defense Fund to address McDonald's solid waste management strategy and whether to replace polystyrene packaging with paper wrap. Case C examines the company's reaction to public concern about the sustainability of beef. Each case has extensive exhibits and appendices. The collection includes notes on life-cycle analysis and solid waste issues as well as a teaching note.
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