Agenda

• 7:15-7:55: Discussion: for-profit or nonprofit?
• discuss examples in small groups & present to class
• class discussion of reading
• 7:55-8:10: presentation from Travis: Triple Bottom Line & metrics
• 8:10-8:20: reflection activity
• 8:20-9:00: trip update
• needs: housing & driving
• itinerary
• paperwork

Class Notes

Summaries of Social-E Companies with Varying Legalistic Structures

Cadbury Chocolates:
Social mission: promoting worker rights and promoting temperance
Business model: for profit, employee housing/ care, profits integral to improving conditions, workers should share in the increased profit
Factors for success: family, core leadership
Tradeoffs: business first but profit and social mission were not incompatible

Salvation Army:
Social mission: started out just concentrating on Christian evangelism, but moved into social justice and social mission field.
Factor for success/ business model: creating match-stick company that manufactured safe matches; salvation army concentrate on social mission so sell off for-profit enterprises once they have served their purposes.
a) Had a for profit bank that funded the nonprofit side

Goodwill:
Business model: offer cheap retail; online auction sights, 2000 retail stores.
Factors for success: received donations so not production costs; Name value of the brand.
Tradeoffs: no real tradeoff between profit and social mission.

Springboard forward
Social mission: Helping those from low income job move into more profitable entry level positions.
Business Model: Seeking out companies and offering to train their employees to give them more skills for a nominal fee.
Factors for success: services help both the corporations and the workers- can satisfy all parties.
Tradeoffs between social mission and profit: Couldn’t continue under a for profit business model; b/c costs of offering services are so expensive, can’t help as many people.

Evergreen Lodge:
Social mission: operate lodges in Yosemite and employ teens from low-income teens.
Main mission: for profit, providing quality lodging
Trade-offs: none exist

Wolfe’s Neck Farm Natural Meats Market promotion
Business Model: Move to nonprofit to for-profit
Factors for success: luck, large meat market demand.
Tradeoffs: more expensive to raise beef; Essentially not profitable
Discussion:

Assessing claim 1: A purely profit mission is served best with a for profit legal structure.
Objections: companies are often a combination of for profit and nonprofit so difficult to make distinction.

Assessing claim 2: The business model should be true to the mission and should not threaten or sacrifice the social vision.

Assessing claim 3: Complex companies require tight control and few leaders to be effectively managed.

Travis’ Report on Triple Bottom-Line Economics
John Eckleton contends that even though technology is improving, society is not much better off as a whole.
How can we create a better more egalitarian economic system?
1) sustainability
2) transparency and accountability
3) life cycle technology
4) partnerships
5) faster scales that won’t hurt the next generation.
6) to make everything work more synergistically

Examples
Proctor and Gamble: outsourcing.
IBM: open sourcing its nonprofitable code
Microsoft: working with community colleges

Metrics for social progress:
a) measuring reputation of companies e.g. ebay
b) UK requiring companies to report on environmental risks
c) Global accountability reporting Mid-quarter Reflection exercises:

ASB trip logistics:
Check Google calendar.
Tentative logistics:
M-Sat: On campus housing (Columbae)
TWTH (SF or Berkeley)
F (on beach; camping)
-Kitchen access; cooking food
Need at least three drivers, volunteers for cooking, and camping equipment

Assignment

• Complete mid-quarter survey
• Twelve questions over two surveys
  
• Survey 1: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=gBxswXknFpFl3SkjdMTPhQ_3d_3d
  Survey 2: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=mkbpXLu_2fFHEGahyfmhhABQ_3d_3d
  
  
• Readings:
• Brainstorming handout from ME377, "Experiences in Design Thinking". File attached to this page (scroll down to find it.)
  
• Post a note about 2 things you found unexpected, and why, at 2/12/08 reading questions