Case Study On Study On Socially Responsible Marketing
Case Study On Study On Socially Responsible Marketing
Period : 2002-2009
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;
» Examine the revenue model of BWB's business and evaluate its sustainability.
Keywords:
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.
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...
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."...
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 IV: The Acceptance Guidelines of Better World Books for Donating
Materials
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.
» Explore ways to make the Teach India initiative could be made sustainable
Introduction 1
Earlier Campaigns 3
Results 8
Looking Ahead 11
Exhibits 12
Keywords:
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
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...
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
ENGRO Businesses
Engro 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.