個案資料

O’Desi Meals was a food and beverage start-up based in Dublin, Ireland that aimed to deliver high-quality, healthy, home-cooked Indian food meals at affordable prices to customers who wanted delivery without compromise on taste or health. A second and more important objective that had driven the founding of the venture was to empower the population of underprivileged homeless individuals in Dublin. In March 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically affected projected estimates for O’Desi Meals operations and revenues. Demand for meals and its subscription-based sales increased exponentially. The substantial increase in orders and popularity strategically challenged the venture’s sustainability. To address this challenge, O’Desi Meals adopted two strategies: one short-term, to ensure sustainability (i.e., revenue generation); and one long-term, to ensure growth. Could O’Desi Meals become a successful and socially responsible authentic Indian meals provider by applying these two strategies?

This case study is designed for postgraduate-level students in marketing, brand management, and operations management courses that cover corporate entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, small business management, or corporate social responsibility. Students should have prior knowledge of basic management concepts required for internal and external capability analysis, competitor analysis, and business growth analysis, such Porter’s Five Forces model, the Ansoff matrix, the BCG matrix, and the SWOT framework. They should also be familiar with brand evaluation tools such as the marketing mix for start-ups in the food and beverage sector. The case study aims to develop critical analytical thinking among students and build their understanding of business growth strategy and brand development through social entrepreneurial approaches. Specifically, after completion of this case, students will be able to<ul><li>recognize the need for a social entrepreneurship approach for a start-up to create social value and address social issues;</li><li>understand the characteristics and traits of a corporate social entrepreneur;</li><li>critically reflect on the applicability of the dabbawala model in developing a robust logistics system with limited operational costs;</li><li>analyze a start-up’s internal and external capabilities to ensure the combined approach of the dabbawala model and the social entrepreneurship model; and</li><li>use marketing concepts to contemplate other growth strategies for future development.</li></ul>

• entrepreneurship
• corporate social responsibility
• socially-responsible brand
• strategizing growth
• start-up
• COVID-19
• homelessness
• restaurant
• subscription