The case portrays Dr. Tamara Stenn, a researcher and social entrepreneur wrestling with a market entry decision in December 2020. Stenn spent three years in Bolivia researching the quinoa farming industry as a Fulbright scholar. Upon her return to the US in 2018 she founded a co-operative, A Perfect Seed (APS) with Bolivian farmers and US-based academics in order to import exclusive Royal Bolivian quinoa varieties into the US market. Quinoa, considered a superfood, was already widely available in the US market but most of the sales were of the cheaper Peruvian variety farmed with industrial means. Stenn saw an opportunity to appeal to the most sophisticated US consumer that valued the authenticity and cultural nuances of foods. However, in late 2020 Stenn found herself with limited sales, opportunistic in nature, and needed to decide on what market to focus on as she was re-applying to the Start Co-op accelerator in Boston, MA. The case includes the social entrepreneur and APS' backgrounds, challenges faced, elaborates on the quinoa industry, and discusses different market options. This case is written to be used in undergraduate courses related to marketing, entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship. Additionally, it could also be used in development economics courses, as the students need to grapple with market-driven conditions, brought about by economic development projects and global trade, that impact the wellbeing of native producers.
In May 2019, project managers with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika) in Patna, India, met to consider their role in creating farmer producer companies (FPCs) that helped poor agricultural producers access markets and receive fair prices for their produce, mainly litchi fruit. The creation of such producer companies was not a spontaneous process but often required a catalyst to harness community-based networks. While Jeevika, a project supported by the Government of Bihar and the World Bank, had been successful in alleviating poverty among those at the base of the economic pyramid, the project managers were now reflecting on the way forward for the producer company. Their overarching aim was a comprehensive understanding of the effects of their efforts on the community and the key variables affecting the sustainability of their efforts. They were aware that they could not support the community indefinitely, and they needed to consider how best to empower the producers to do this work on their own once Jeevika was no longer available. What new capabilities would farmers need to develop over time? How would the relationships between farmers and other stakeholders change when support from Jeevika was reduced or removed?
In May 2019, project managers with the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (Jeevika) in Patna, India, met to consider their role in creating farmer producer companies (FPCs) that helped poor agricultural producers access markets and receive fair prices for their produce, mainly litchi fruit. The creation of such producer companies was not a spontaneous process but often required a catalyst to harness community-based networks. While Jeevika, a project supported by the Government of Bihar and the World Bank, had been successful in alleviating poverty among those at the base of the economic pyramid, the project managers were now reflecting on the way forward for the producer company. Their overarching aim was a comprehensive understanding of the effects of their efforts on the community and the key variables affecting the sustainability of their efforts. They were aware that they could not support the community indefinitely, and they needed to consider how best to empower the producers to do this work on their own once Jeevika was no longer available. What new capabilities would farmers need to develop over time? How would the relationships between farmers and other stakeholders change when support from Jeevika was reduced or removed?
The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) is a not-for-profit non-governmental organization (NGO) headquartered at Bengaluru, India. Since its inception in 2000, TAPF has been working to provide fresh and nutritious meals to children on every single school day and in 2019 catered to about 1.76 million children from 15,024 schools across 12 states in India daily. TAPF's Vrindavan kitchen (TAPF VRN), located in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, has been operational since 2004, and now caters to about 140,000 children in 2,032 schools daily. The uniqueness of this kitchen is that it has both rice and roti (chapati) based meals, making it different and more complex to manage than their other kitchens, most of whom are either only rice or only roti based. The case describes the complete range of activities: procurement, pre-processing, cooking, and finally packaging and dispatch, at this kitchen. The richness of the data helps to generate discussions around the material planning, procurement, and production planning activities at this kitchen.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF), a Bangalore-based Indian non-governmental organization, is hailed globally for running the world's largest school meal programme. It has grown from serving five schools in Bangalore in June 2000 (1,500 children) a day to its current operations of 19 locations in nine Indian states, providing lunch meals to approximately 1.5 million school children every day. This case looks at the operations of one of its larger kitchens, which is located at Vasanthapura in Bangalore. It describes the complete range of activities: procurement, pre-processing, cooking, and finally packaging and dispatch, at this center. The case is rich in data and helps generate discussions around the material planning, procurement, and production planning activities at this kitchen.