E-Newsletter from
Vol 1, Issue 04, Nov 2019
Back to Newsletter
Leadership & Entrepreneurship
Grofers was named Onenumber when it was launched and the name was then changed to Grofers in December 2013. The case describes Grofers’ journey post its launch in January 2014. It discusses the release of its mobile application in 2014, how it tied up with local kiranawalas the same year for the delivery of groceries at customers’ homes, the way it revolutionized the market with 90-minute delivery of products, again in 2014, and its expansion into 26 Indian cities by 2014-2015. The case study also describes the problems faced by the company which included losses amounting to Rs 2.25 billion in FY2016, a fragmented supply chain, diseconomies of scale, and dislocation of activities and eventual shutting down of its operations in 9 cities. The case then describes how Grofers improved its supply chain by establishing company warehouses in 2016 and how it changed its delivery slot from 90 minutes to 24 hours the same year. However, it faced difficulties with losses mounting to Rs 2.68 billion at the close of FY2017. Grofers recorded revenues of Rs 10 billion in FY2018, amidst losses of Rs 2.58 billion. Grofers was facing stiff competition from new and existing players in the industry such as Bigbasket.com in the highly competitive online grocery market in India.
Grofers’ Growing Ambition in Online Grocery Market in India
Sulabh International (Sulabh), a not-for profit social organization, was founded by social entrepreneur Bindeshwar Pathak (Pathak) with the aim of finding a solution to the sanitation problem and emancipating human scavengers who had the inhuman task of cleaning bucket toilets in the villages of India and carrying night soil on their heads for disposal. Fired by a desire to liberate scavengers from the inhuman task of scavenging, Pathak started Sulabh in 1970 to deal with two pressing challenges in India – poor hygiene and discrimination. After much research, he designed the two pit pour-flush compost toilet known as Sulabh Shauchalaya (meaning Latrines made Easy) as a replacement for bucket toilets used across most of the villages in India. By early 2019, Sulabh was maintaining 9000 pay-and-use toilets and had rehabilitated more than 1 million scavengers. Sulabh had set up 1.5 million individual toilets and 60 million government toilets had been constructed based on the Sulabh design. While Sulabh’s business model was widely hailed as sustainable and also replicated around the world, the pay-and-use model still faced challenges.
Sulabh International: Providing Sustainable Sanitation Solutions
Kheyti’s greenhouse-in-a-box (GIB) provided an additional and assured source of income to the small farmers who were affected by the vagaries of nature. Kheyti’s GIB used 90% less water, and produced seven times more agri-outputs. The case starts off with the prestigious award received by Kheyti in the MassChallenge Israel contest in 2017. The case further looks at the impact of water scarcity on the agri-outputs of small farmers and the role of innovative agritech startups such as Kheyti in solving the problem. Kheyti’s (GIB) model is presented and further details are provided as to how its unique model of providing bundled services such as input linkage, loan linkage, advisory services, and market access services along with the GIB paved the way for sustainable development and for freeing the small farmers from the recurring cycle of poverty in which they found themselves due to frequent crop failures. The successful testing of its GIB model with 150 farmers in 15 villages in Telangana state, India, further led to 500 more farmers adopting the agritech innovation. By the year 2025, Kheyti aimed to sign up 100,000 farmers for its GIB, and create an impact on the sustainable use of water resources.
Kheyti’s Greenhouse-in-a-Box – Protecting Farmers from the Vagaries of Nature
Swiggy, the online food delivery company used technology to power its delivery model. Swiggy was the brainchild of two engineers who were staying away from home and were struggling to get good food delivered at their doorstep. The duo worked on the idea of hassle-free food delivery, giving rise to Swiggy in 2014. Swiggy initially started taking online orders from customers in the Koramangala locality in Bengaluru which housed some of the best restaurants in the city. It gradually expanded across Bengaluru and other Indian cities like Delhi, Pune, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and more. It launched its mobile application in May 2015. The case describes how Swiggy created a system that connected all the three partners in the delivery model – Delivery Executives (DEs), customers, and restaurant partners – seamlessly. The case also discusses the challenges Swiggy encountered when it began scaling up in 2016 and the initiatives such as just in time assignment, next order assignment, and batching that it took to overcome the challenges. The case concludes with Swiggy’s plans for the future such as diversifying into medicines and grocery and the use of artificial intelligence technology (AI) for further scaling up and expansion.
Swiggy’s Delivery Model
charity: water (CW), a non-profit organization provided clean water to those lacking access to it. CW operated in 26 countries including several transition and conflict societies in the developing world and provided safe water by implementing diverse types of water projects, including wells. It focused on the raising of finances and collaborated with local organizations which executed the projects. This collaboration extended to taking inputs from the respective community members and partnering with the local and regional governments. The case highlights the three tenets to which CW adhered. The first tenet was that 100 percent of the public donations would be deployed in the execution of water projects. This routing of all public donations to the field was enabled by a group of wealthy individuals and families whose donations financed the organization’s overheads and salaries. The second tenet was that CW provided proof to each donor of how the donated amount was spent – the proof was in the form of photos and GPS coordinates on Google Maps of the water projects. The third tenet was that the organization employed technology-enabled storytelling to raise its profile and build its brand. It also innovatively engaged with its donors online, the result being that 70 percent of its donations were generated online. The organization’s efforts provided over 8.4 million people in Africa, Latin America, and Asia access to safe and clean water. Critics felt that other charitable organizations could emulate its innovative practices in online engagement and compete effectively for the same donations. Some key challenges before the organization were how to sustain the interest of its donors and raise the kind of mammoth resources required to reach out to every person in need of clean water.
charity: water – Bringing Clean Water to the World’s Needy
Established in 2014, Avani Eco was spearheaded by Kevin Kumala (Kumala), an Indonesian social entrepreneur with a background in biology and business management. Kumala’s concern for plastic pollution and its increasing negative impact on the country drove him to look for a solution. He came up with a groundbreaking innovation with a root vegetable, cassava, to combat the plastic pollution. Avani manufactured a compostable bioplastic made from cassava starch, and also made a full range of sustainable food packaging and hospitality products from renewable resources. Its bioplastic bags gained special attention as the company claimed that the bags dissolved in water and were safe for aquatic animals and even humans. However, Avani Eco faced certain challenges. As the company did not focus much on marketing its products, not many were aware of its existence. Lack of awareness about the product made it tough for Avani to limit and replace the use of traditional plastic. Also, bioplastic was more expensive than conventional plastics, so the cost of Avani bags was higher than that of the usual plastic bags. There was a possibility that this would limit the sales of the Avani Eco bags. The company was also struggling to scale up due to lack of funding. The case highlights Indonesia’s fight against plastic, the journey of Avani Eco, its products, and the company’s future plans to compete with traditional plastic and emerge as a ‘green’ replacement. s
Finding a Green Solution to Plastic: Kevin Kumala’s Cassava Bags
Unsubscribe
|
Visit icmrindia.org
Case Research Center, IBS Hyderabad
Reach us at: casehelpdesk@ibsindia.org
© Case Research Center IBS Hyderabad, 2019
