Determination against all odds? A story from Waste4Change
Publication date: 15 November 2022
Abstract
Learning outcomes
This case aims to help students achieve the following learning objectives: ■ to apply the Emergence of Social Enterprise in Europe (Emergence des Enterprises Sociales en Europe – EMES) Network definitional framework to the case, and in doing so, have a useful framework to define social enterprises in emerging markets; ■ to identify the factors that can play important role in making strategic decisions in social enterprises; ■ to evaluate the sustainability of a social enterprise; and ■ to address the unique funding and financial challenges faced by social enterprises.
Case overview/synopsis
This case study discusses the dilemmas related to business expansion faced by Waste4Change (W4C), a waste management organization based in Bekasi, Jakarta, Indonesia. W4C was founded in 2014 by a group of young men who shared the idealism of changing the world by doing the right things. This principally involved protecting the environment and educating communities while maintaining economic profitability. However, idealism can sometimes create dilemmas within decision-making as an organization attempts to prevent market logic from dictating its direction. This case examines two different types of decision: the problem of securing a waste management contract when a permit had not been granted by the local government; and the problem of selecting the appropriate funding sources to enable the organization to grow. The first decision occurred in the context of a dilemma in 2017 when W4C expanded their waste management services to several regions in Indonesia but without having succeeded in securing a permit from the local government to provide such services. Attempts to provide such services without a formal legal permit would have been considered a violation of the law, even though the clients needed them (be it residents or companies) and the nature of the service in question had a positive connotation (i.e. maintaining the cleanliness of the city through waste management).The second decision concerned W4C’s plan to go public around 10 years from now. The CEO, Mohamad Bijaksana Junerosano, also known as Sano, has been considering this option since 2020 in a bid to grow the social enterprise. W4C differed from other startups; however, in the sense that while many startups will approach a plan to go public as an exit strategy, Sano wanted to preserve the idealism that had been a cornerstone of the enterprise since its inception. In other words, for W4C, going public was not just a means to an end.
Complexity academic level
Undergraduate as well as graduate courses that focus on sustainability, accounting, financing and strategy.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only.
Subject code
CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge cooperation and permission given by W4C to explore the contributions of social enterprise in waste management and the funding provided for this study by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of Indonesia. Also, authors would like to acknowledge the guidance provided by the editor and two anonymous reviewers; and last but not least, the instructors at the Indonesia Case Writing Workshops 2021.Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making. The authors may have disguised names; financial and other recognizable information to protect confidentiality.
Citation
Adhariani, D. and Dewi, M.K. (2022), "Determination against all odds? A story from Waste4Change", , Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-12-2021-0405
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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