Abstract

The case “Marc Koska – A Social Entrepreneur on a Mission to ‘Auto-Disable’ a Hidden Medical Crisis,” documents the gritty journey undertaken by Marc Koska (Koska) to ensure a world where all unsafe medical injections were eliminated. The case starts out by documenting the early life of Koska and the extensive research that he undertook to learn about syringe reuse in the medical field that led to contamination and consequently disease transmission. The innovation process Koska used to develop the “K1” Auto-Disable Syringe (ADS) that had a lower manufacturing cost than a typical ADS and was reasonably priced, is explained in detail. Later, the case discusses in depth the challenges Koska faced in getting the “K1” syringe adopted by the medical community. The case in particular describes Koska’s efforts to get international relief organizations and government authorities to adopt the “K1” through extensive lobbying, mainly through his nonprofit SafePoint Trust UK (SPT). By the mid-2010s, Koska claimed to have sold almost two billion units of the “K1” ADS, thereby saving billions of lives. Koska continued his endeavor to eliminate unsafe injections and in the mid-2010s, he launched a unique low-cost prefilled injector. He then embarked on another journey to popularize his new product by entering into partnerships and distributing licenses. Koska has another challenge on his hands in trying to replace the traditional syringes with his prefilled injector for all injection purposes. Do you think he will eventually succeed?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the characteristics of a responsible leader
• Analyze the antecedents for the emergence of social entrepreneurship
• Scrutinize the challenges faced by a social entrepreneur
• Devise an appropriate communication strategy for a social enterprise
• Develop strategies to scale a social enterprise

Keywords

Entrepreneur; Responsible Leader; Responsible Business; Pricing Models; Low-Cost Manufacturing; Social Entrepreneurship; Five Stages of Social Entrepreneurship; Antecedents of Social Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship Challenges; New product Development Process; Constant Innovation; Key Stakeholders; Communication Strategy of a Non-profit; Lobbying; Scaling Strategies