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 Study
Search 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 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.

ENGRO Social investments

As part of its enduring commitment to improve the quality of life for its
stakeholders, especially neighboring communities, ECPL contributed over Rs. 40
million under its social investments portfolio in 2008. This section describes
Engro’s major initiatives in 2008:

1. Sahara Welfare Society Projects

Registered 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 School
Through 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’ Program

Under 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 the
katcha 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 Project

The 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 River
Dolphin 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 Master
Field Trainers from four local fishing communities.
 Case Study 2
Coca-Cola's Corporate Social Responsibility in India

Publication Year : 2008

Authors: Ananthi R & Doris Rajakumari John

Industry: Beverages
Region:India
Case Code: CSR0046C
Teaching Note: Available
Structured 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