Planet Abled is a woman-led, for-profit social venture based in New Delhi, India, offering customized tours around India and South Asia for people of all disabilities. Planet Abled was formed in 2016 by its chief executive officer, Neha Arora—herself a daughter of two disabled parents. Planet Abled’s start-up story explains how social ventures can repurpose traditional travel to reveal and reverse multiple types of stigmas (public, cultural, social, and structural) as well as defy and defend against the self-stigmatization of the one billion disabled people in the world (15 per cent of the global population).<br><br>Part A of the case presents the real-time conundrum of continuity of mission in the time of COVID-19 given the complete cessation of travel following the declaration of the pandemic and the lack of economic assistance from the Indian government. Part B describes real-time experiments Planet Abled undertook in a concerted and creative team effort to survive against all odds in the first year of the global pandemic—a period of unprecedented hardship for the global tourism industry. Part C jumps forward to discuss how Arora’s mid-2022 epiphany culminated in an early 2023 tipping point for Planet Abled and the global tourism industry. The three-part Planet Abled case series invites learners to drive system change by engaging them in real-time dilemmas about diversity and inclusion in the specific context of disability rights.
Planet Abled is a woman-led, for-profit social venture based in New Delhi, India, offering customized tours around India and South Asia for people of all disabilities. Planet Abled was formed in 2016 by its chief executive officer, Neha Arora-herself a daughter of two disabled parents. Planet Abled's start-up story explains how social ventures can repurpose traditional travel to reveal and reverse multiple types of stigmas (public, cultural, social, and structural) as well as defy and defend against the self-stigmatization of the one billion disabled people in the world (15 per cent of the global population).<br><br>Part A of the case presents the real-time conundrum of continuity of mission in the time of COVID-19 given the complete cessation of travel following the declaration of the pandemic and the lack of economic assistance from the Indian government. Part B describes real-time experiments Planet Abled undertook in a concerted and creative team effort to survive against all odds in the first year of the global pandemic-a period of unprecedented hardship for the global tourism industry. Part C jumps forward to discuss how Arora's mid-2022 epiphany culminated in an early 2023 tipping point for Planet Abled and the global tourism industry. The three-part Planet Abled case series invites learners to drive system change by engaging them in real-time dilemmas about diversity and inclusion in the specific context of disability rights.
The case features a non-profit organization in crisis: a local cancer-support centre faces many constraints but has few options. The organization is committed to improving the lives of families affected by cancer by providing free services to its members and funding its small full-time staff through donations. However, its compassionate mission and its financial viability appear to be at odds, with every additional program sinking the small non-profit further into a long-term financial shortfall and additional financial constraints curtailing its growth. As Wellspring London’s main provider gets ready to cut the organization loose, students must overcome the either-or dilemma and develop an integrative-thinking solution. Also available is the supplement case Wellspring: The YMCA Proposal (B), 9B13M132.
In February 2014, a McKinsey Global Institute report proposed tracking an empowerment line that could enable India's citizens to get out of poverty by providing the resources they needed to build better lives. This prompted Ela Bhatt, founder of the India-based Self-Employed Women's Association, to take stock of her initiative to empower women working in India's informal sector. Since 1972, her organization has been widely acclaimed as a global first mover and active champion of grassroots development. Quickly approaching two million members in India and six neighbouring countries, and inspiring similar efforts in South Africa, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso, it exemplifies a unique form of positively deviant organizing by speaking to the centrality of human beings at work. Given resources, support and encouragement, its many members have used their own human agency even in the direst of circumstances to better their lives in ways most meaningful to them, for instance, by creating childcare, health care, banking, farming and education cooperatives. However, as she reaches retirement and contemplates the future, Bhatt wonders if the new generation of Indian leaders will take up the Gandhian socially minded path or follow the commercial careers opening up in the country's multinational sector.
Leading up to the completion of a successful partnership between Hewlett-Packard Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, the two individuals who championed the program contemplate their separate and joint next steps: should their organizations renew or exit the partnership? Together, they had designed and delivered a world-first program, Living Planet @ Work, which had enrolled more than 500 companies, large and small, whose employees had already raised more than $1 million in charitable donations through workplace giving. The program was helping corporate Canada harness the collective desire and power of their employees for the good of business and the future of the planet. The two champions had a short window to go global and scale up the positive impact of the program.
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the not-for-profit sector in Ontario was forced to shift from a provider of social needs to a creator of social opportunities for communities doubly hit by rising unemployment and falling social supports. The Ontario Trillium Foundation moved to fund innovative, collaborative programs involving not-for-profit organizations, businesses and governments in creating viable social enterprises. Ottawa, London and Sarnia were three communities faced with different, but still difficult economic times, and each had responded to the crisis by proposing alternative models of social transition. In 2013, representatives from the not-for-profit sector in these cities joined with the Richard Ivey School of Business to present a proposal that promised they would work collaboratively, learn from each other, document the entire process and develop tools to prepare and guide many others. Would the Trillium Foundation support such a creative and ambitious project? See supplemental cases 9B14M046B.
In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the not-for-profit sector in Ontario was forced to shift from a provider of social needs to a creator of social opportunities for communities doubly hit by rising unemployment and falling social supports. The Ontario Trillium Foundation moved to fund innovative, collaborative programs involving not-for-profit organizations, businesses and governments in creating viable social enterprises. Ottawa, London and Sarnia were three communities faced with different, but still difficult economic times, and each had responded to the crisis by proposing alternative models of social transition. In 2013, representatives from the not-for-profit sector in these cities joined with the Richard Ivey School of Business to present a proposal that promised they would work collaboratively, learn from each other, document the entire process and develop tools to prepare and guide many others. Would the Trillium Foundation support such a creative and ambitious project?
<p style="color: rgb(197, 183, 131);"><strong> AWARD WINNER - Responsible Leadership category, 2014 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition</strong></p><br>In February 2014, a McKinsey Global Institute report proposed tracking an empowerment line that could enable India’s citizens to get out of poverty by providing the resources they needed to build better lives. This prompted Ela Bhatt, founder of the India-based Self-Employed Women’s Association, to take stock of her initiative to empower women working in India's informal sector. Since 1972, her organization has been widely acclaimed as a global first mover and active champion of grassroots development. Quickly approaching two million members in India and six neighbouring countries, and inspiring similar efforts in South Africa, Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso, it exemplifies a unique form of positively deviant organizing by speaking to the centrality of human beings at work. Given resources, support and encouragement, its many members have used their own human agency even in the direst of circumstances to better their lives in ways most meaningful to them, for instance, by creating childcare, health care, banking, farming and education cooperatives. However, as she reaches retirement and contemplates the future, Bhatt wonders if the new generation of Indian leaders will take up the Gandhian socially minded path or follow the commercial careers opening up in the country’s multinational sector. Also see B case 9B14C019.
NPI is a Shanghai-based social venture that actively promotes social innovation and cultivates social entrepreneurs by granting crucial support to start-up and small- to medium-sized grassroots non-profit and non-governmental organizations. The company was founded in 2006 when the Chinese government had loosened its restrictions on private donations to charitable causes and cautiously welcomed private non-profit organizations to enter the social welfare sector. Its founder’s ability to enlist support not only from national and local government officials but also from foundations and other grassroots not-for-profit organizations has led to its success in the areas of incubation of start-up social enterprises, venture philosophy, resource integration, capacity building, showcasing, outreach and social innovation. However, in 2013, NPI is threatened by a combination of rapid growth, mushrooming projects and limited means to attract and retain professional staff. The founder is faced with devising a three-year strategic transformation of NPI at a critical tipping point for social enterprise in China.
AWARD WINNING CASE: European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition 2014 — Corporate Social Responsibility category. <br><br>Leading up to the completion of a successful partnership between Hewlett-Packard Canada and World Wildlife Fund Canada, the two individuals who championed the program contemplate their separate and joint next steps: should their organizations renew or exit the partnership? Together, they had designed and delivered a world-first program, Living Planet @ Work, which had enrolled more than 500 companies, large and small, whose employees had already raised more than $1 million in charitable donations through workplace giving. The program was helping corporate Canada harness the collective desire and power of their employees for the good of business and the future of the planet. The two champions had a short window to go global and scale up the positive impact of the program.