The case opens in March 2008 with Andrés González, the entrepreneurial mind behind Empleados Ya (EY), concerned about the financial situation of his new venture. González and Salvador Sáez, both faculty members at one of Chile's most distinguished business schools, had formed EY with startup capital of just US$ 10,000. In a nation were unemployment was historically high the partners aimed to achieve a dual purpose, namely to make a profit (i.e. create economic value) while making a contribution to solve a pervasive social problem (i.e. create social value). Chile had a longstanding headhunting industry geared towards highly qualified professionals, but labor brokerage for the low-skilled employment sector had been managed by the government through a network of municipal employment offices (Municipal Labor Intermediation Offices, henceforth OMIL). These offices, however, were inefficient in brokering employment and companies did not use them to fill vacancies. González felt that the lack of information available about the job market was one of the causes of unemployment in low-skilled sectors: Job seekers did not know where to find work, and large companies did not trust the OMIL offices to find good workers. This left a niche open for a trustworthy intermediary service to match companies with potential candidates from the low-skills sector. The case outlines the challenges facing EY to stay afloat after three years of operation. Its leaders had formed a partnership with an international labor brokerage organization that had not produced the desired results. While Sáez is willing to cut his losses and close up shop, Gonzalez is not. Still, given EY's unsatisfactory financial results, González has to make some important decisions in order to make the business profitable.

Provides an overview of the Coca-Cola System in Chile and focuses on the Coca-Cola Chile Foundation (CCFCH), a nonprofit organization dedicated to education. Created in 1992 with donations from Coca-Cola de Chile S.A. (CCCH) and the bottling companies Embotelladora Andina S.A., Coca-Cola Embonor S.A., and Coca-Cola Polar S.A., the foundation now faces an expansion dilemma in its most important program, the TAVEC Laboratories. Under this program, CCFCH donated interactive scientific laboratories to public schools as a way to help them teach physics, chemistry, and biology. Each donation cost approximately $60,000. In December 2004, Eduardo Romo, corporate relations manager of CCCH and general manager of CCFCH, was reviewing a proposal to simplify the laboratories, reducing their cost and, thus, allowing more of them to be implemented in schools throughout Chile. Focuses on this decision and an analysis of the pros and cons of the proposal and the overall role of the social initiative for the Coca-Cola System in Chile.