The case, and its accompanying pedagogical material, offers a unique perspective on CSR-based transformational entrepreneurship, looking at a startup company with a strong ethical purpose and objective, in this case the transformation of the cocoa supply chain towards a child-labor free, fair-trade, organic agriculture-based sourcing. The case follows the history of Tony's Chocolonely, a Dutch producer of premium chocolate bars with a strong responsible footprint. It follows the footsteps of its founder, Teun van de Keuken (a.k.a. Tony) from journalist to social activist and ultimately entrepreneur with a strong sense of purpose and defined impact objectives. The 12-year journey led Tony's Chocolonely chocolate bars to claim the number three spot in the Netherlands's chocolate markets, with the products also sold in many other countries around the globe. Learning objective: Scaling up, growth with purpose, social and environmental responsibility, CSR, child labor, materialities, mixed motives firms, ethics, transformational entrepreneurship, social ventures, impact investment, leading change, standard setting, ESG criteria, work-life balance.

Umicore's CEO Marc Grynberg had been appointed chief executive officer in the last quarter of 2008 in the early stages of a global economic crisis, an ominous start of sorts. As a member of the executive committee, he had been part of the core team that transformed the company from a stagnant mining company - Union Minière - into a true global leader - Umicore Group - in the emerging global circular economy. As a result, the company was named the most sustainable company in the world in the 2013 annual Corporate Knights rankings. This was no small feat for a company that was born in 1805 as Vieille-Montagne. Umicore's complete transformation was effected in less than a decade. The copper and zinc businesses were spun-off and listed separately, leading to the adoption of a radically new business model. The old mining-refining approach to developing material solutions was replaced by a leading-edge recycling-based model that relied on chemistry and metallurgy. By adopting the new business model, the company had become a leader in terms of innovation and sustainability. It now needed to reformulate its strategy to reap the fruits of the heavy investments. Grynberg and his team were also increasingly challenged to demonstrate how the company could monetize its non-financial performance with key stakeholders. Can sustainability really create value? If so, through what mechanisms? Learning objective: Monetizing the circular economy, managing sustainability, stakeholder management, responsible management, change leadership, innovation.

Golf over the years emerged as a global, cash-driven property development industry with nearly 4.4 million registered players in Europe alone in 2014. It developed as a business relying on a dense network of small- and medium-sized enterprises steeped in tradition. The combination of high growth and low brand value led to the golf industry lagging significantly behind other industries in terms of sustainability and social and environmental responsibility. With the downturn of 2008, things started to change, reluctantly at first then more proactively. Sustainability emerged as a hot topic on greens around the world. Bert Stadhouders knew more about it than anyone else. Freshly appointed in January 2014 as project manager for the Sustainable Golf Project, he was himself a dedicated golfer and a sustainability specialist. He had witnessed firsthand the disdain with which the sport was treating its sustainability footprint, as if oblivious to the CSR higher callings. In fact, beyond its green image and vocabulary, the game generated massive environmental and social challenges. Bert wondered how he could help drive sustainability to the top of the agenda in a reluctant industry steeped in conventions and history. Were the economic difficulties of the time a bounty or a boon for sustainability as a cause? To address sustainability on a global scale in golf, how could he factor in the huge differences between upcoming markets in Asia and more mature markets in Europe and the United States?

For Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM since 2007, rapid changes were normal as major trends were playing out. Global population swelled, the balance of wealth shifted, often increasing disparities and inequalities, while human beings remained hooked on using more resources than the planet could handle or replace. As early as 2010, DSM formulated a strategy to build on its strength in Life and Materials Sciences, capitalizing on what it saw as the most promising global megatrends, notably health & wellness, global shifts and energy & climate change. At DSM, sustainability went way beyond complying with laws and regulations: It was a key driver for innovation and a core value for the firm. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007 and the ensuing recession, cost concerns came back to the forefront, pushing the sustainability agenda to the back. The sense of urgency on environmental and social issues was gone, so how could you convince people a totally different approach to doing business was needed? Could sustainability really be turned into an effective driver for innovation and ultimately improve a company's profitability? Were the three bottom lines - financial, social and environmental - really mutually self-reinforcing, instead of mutually exclusive? Proving the case to some still-reluctant financial investors could prove difficult. For DSM, the ultimate challenge to its broad-based sustainability agenda was quite clear: Could a case be made for sustainability as a key driver of value creation over the long term? Learning objectives: Sustainability as driver of innovation and growth, CSR in action, corporate venturing, sustainability strategies, growth management, portfolio management.

Peer Swinkels (36) took a moment in 2011 to reflect on the achievements and the challenges that lay ahead for the 330-year-old family brewery. Peer was responsible for the commercial activities of the company. Together with his fellow board members, he was quite aware that his predecessors had left behind a beer company that excelled in manufacturing but lacked the brand traction to really hit the big league. The challenge for the seventh generation was clearly to leverage its exceptional brewing skills to create an equally strong brand using the unique family values and culture nurtured since the company was created back in 1680. Bavaria stood for fierce independence and a high degree of entrepreneurship, mixing legacy with innovation. Despite its long history, Bavaria regarded itself as a fresh young company, as epitomized by its internal motto ("Let's try") and the branding pay-off of the Bavaria brand ("Done!"). In the last few years, Bavaria had made significant progress in (re-)positioning the brand. It had successfully revitalized it in its Dutch home market with a new brand design, and was now rolling it out on a global scale. It launched award-winning innovations such as alcohol-free white beers. Its innovative guerilla marketing activities at the World Soccer Championships in South Africa won applauses and recognition all over the world. Should the company roll out the same aggressive product and marketing tactics in its 120 markets? Would it be possible to pull off a new guerilla marketing campaign around the 2012 European Soccer Championships in Poland and Ukraine? What other channels should it consider to reinforce the brand and match its product innovation prowess? Learning objectives: Guerilla marketing, growth management, family business.

The man was on a mission. With just two years to go before stepping down from the direction of the enterprise, he had his hands full. Not only did he want to ensure that he would leave his ancestors' distinguished house in capable hands but also that the values the firm espoused would flourish. The legacies had to go beyond family and values though: Miguel Torres wanted to convince his family, employees and the rest of the wine industry that climate change was already impacting the business. Environmental responsibility had to become part of the Torres family legacies. And that was still not obvious to most. When he chose global warming as the topic of his keynote address to Rioja wine producers in 2009, the reception was lukewarm. Winemaking peers questioned his priorities. After all, there was a global crisis going on and wine sales were down more than 10%. Why worry about long-term climate issues when there were more urgent short-term challenges to tackle? Was climate change even real? But Miguel Torres had a long-term perspective: "In the wine business one needs to think 15 years ahead. Forget weather statistics: facts are telling. In less than four decades, harvesting of the grapes in the Penedès region had to be brought forward more than 10 days on average." To preserve quality, Torres had already adjusted its viticulture practices, planting vines at a higher density per hectare and on higher ground to reduce the impact of increasing temperatures. Climate change was happening and it was impacting the business today. Something had to be done. Another concern for Miguel Torres was how to successfully transition the business to the fifth generation. How could he ensure the preservation of the family values? How could he make the firm attractive for the best non-family managers? How could he nurture the "youngsters" after his retirement?

September 2007. For both founding fathers of the Happy Shrimp Farm, it had been a hectic three years. What started as a simple market research on co-siting for the Rotterdam Port Authority (RPA) in April 2004 had rapidly developed into an international multi-million euro business proposition that literally took over their lives. Their research had identified interesting business opportunities. RPA agreed to support them on a case-by-case basis, starting with the Happy Shrimp Farm. Initial challenges included getting a residual energy contract to heat the shrimp production ponds and external funding for the venture. Construction started in September 2006. With its energy recycling and urban revival themes, Happy Shrimp generated extensive press coverage. Greiner and Curtessi were already looking ahead: Could the concept be replicated in Germany and Canada? Could it be applied to seaweed production as well? How sustainable was sustainability as a business concept? Happy Shrimp International needed to take shape fast. Could they manage all this growth? And handling the multiple stakeholders was still a headache... Learning objectives: Managing multiple stakeholders in a sustainable project development. Understanding the economic drivers of cradle-to-cradle, recycling projects. Discuss sustainability as a business model.

Describes the founding of a fair trade coffee company. Asks participants to develop a business plan for the introduction of fairly traded Mexican coffee into the Dutch market.