reCharkha: Scaling Production and Staying Sustainable

內容大綱
In April 2022, Amita Deshpande, a co-founder of reCharkha EcoSocial Private Limited (reCharkha), was reflecting on the future of her social enterprise during a return flight from a sustainable-development conference. For seven years, the Pune, India–based start-up had utilized labour-intensive upcycling to tackle critical issues such as plastic pollution, environmental degradation, and rural unemployment. Despite receiving accolades for her company’s work, Deshpande now faced a pressing challenge: how to scale the enterprise financially while remaining true to its social mission of environmental conservation and rural empowerment. Rising competition and high production costs limited reCharkha’s ability to expand into new markets. Thus, Deshpande needed to explore strategic options to enhance revenue, reduce costs, and increase market reach without compromising on the core values of sustainability and community impact. Balancing these competing priorities, Deshpande contemplated the start-up’s next steps to ensure its long-term growth and mission-driven success.
學習目標
The case is intended for graduate courses on social entrepreneurship, sustainability, and sustainable businesses, and discusses concepts including social enterprises, sustainability, business models, and the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Identify the characteristics of a social enterprise.</li><li>Understand the concepts of sustainability and the UN SDGs.</li><li>Evaluate the approaches a social enterprise can take to scale its operations and achieve its social goals, ensuring financial viability and growth.</li><li>Pinpoint the factors hindering the growth of a social enterprise.</li><li>Learn how social enterprises evolve and thrive and how to make trade-offs between social and financial missions.</li></ul>
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