The Refill Shoppe: A Certified B Corp on the Quest for Growth to End Plastic Pollution

2020 ◽  
pp. 251512742097919
Author(s):  
Maria Ballesteros-Sola ◽  
Loretta Davidson ◽  
Edward Farrell ◽  
Crystal Hermida

The Refill Shoppe, located in Ventura (California), is a certified B Corp zero-waste social enterprise selling personal care and cleaning supplies in refillable containers. The founder, Michelle Stevens, grew up on a boat and became aware, at an early age, of how plastic pollution impacted the oceans and marine life. In 2010, her love for the Earth motivated her to start this social enterprise, The Refill Shoppe, to reduce plastic consumption and bring awareness to this environmental issue. Eight years later, her original vision had turned into a successful business selling not only in her Ventura storefront but also online. However, in late 2018, Stevens wrestled with the idea of growth and expansion to scale her impact. The case introduces students to the plastic pollution issue and the common dilemma for social entrepreneurs of impact scaling and growth. Through Stevens’ experience, students learn about the advantages and disadvantages of different growth approaches. The case is based on both secondary and primary data (in-depth interviews with the protagonist and observations). The case can be used in both social and commercial entrepreneurship courses at the undergraduate level.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
William Durbin

<p>How we live our lives here in New Zealand affects others who are distant from us. We live in a world with many networks across space, which connect people with radically different lifestyles. These connections create an avenue to respond to the poverty of these ‘distant others’. One such network of connections is the coffee industry. Ethical consumption and social entrepreneurship within the coffee industry are a means to address development issues, and ultimately poverty. This research will look into coffee social enterprises, and how they can be included in a post-development theoretical framework. In particular, it will discuss the motivations of social entrepreneurs involved in the coffee companies interviewed.  Post-development provides a theoretical framework for this research of coffee social enterprises. It provides a critique to mainstream development, and has questioned how development is done, as well as its very validity. In doing so, it has encouraged new ways of ‘doing development’. One example of this is Sally Matthews’ three responses the wealthy can have to poverty: first, re-thinking of the development discourse in light of post-development; secondly, supporting popular initiatives; and thirdly, solidarity with distant others here at home.  This is an appreciative inquiry into different coffee companies, using qualitative ethnographic methods. Seven in-depth interviews have been conducted with managers, past owners or head roasters, as well as one with an expert on social enterprise.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Pattinson

This case focuses on how social entrepreneurs use business model thinking to create successful business models for sustainable social enterprise. It explores how the Hextol Foundation, an independent charitable company whose aim is to improve the quality of life of young people who are learning disabled, or who have mental ill health, uses business model thinking as part of a decision-making process to develop a sustainable social enterprise business model. The case provides a detailed account of the unique challenges presented to entrepreneurs who are driven by social purpose rather than solely by the need to generate a profit. The case is also useful in highlighting how business model thinking is used by entrepreneurs to identify, evaluate and pursue a range of strategic options. It advances our understanding of business model thinking and business model innovation in the context of a social enterprise.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
florintiana elinsa carda

The purpose of this research are: (1) To find out how the community ofMakassarvidgram utilize YouTube as a media of communication; (2) To find outwhat are the strengths and weaknesses youtube as a media ofcommunication for the community of Makassarvidgram. This research wasconducted for approximately thr ee months, ie May-July 2016 which was held inthe city of Makassar. The population of this research is Makassar vidgramcommunity. The respondents of this research are determined at random on somecommunity members joined in Makassar vidgram. This type of research uses aqualitative method by using the theory of New Media as a research platform.Mechanical depth interviews with informants to collect primary data. Secondary datais done by observation, library research both from books and Internet sitesthat are relevant to the focus of the problem. The results showed that theuse youtube as a means of communication for CommunitiesMakassarvidgram categorized quite helpfull. The response of the informantsregarding the advantages and disadvantages are more to the excess one, that will make youtube looks very priceless, effective and efficientas a communication media for this community.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
William Durbin

<p>How we live our lives here in New Zealand affects others who are distant from us. We live in a world with many networks across space, which connect people with radically different lifestyles. These connections create an avenue to respond to the poverty of these ‘distant others’. One such network of connections is the coffee industry. Ethical consumption and social entrepreneurship within the coffee industry are a means to address development issues, and ultimately poverty. This research will look into coffee social enterprises, and how they can be included in a post-development theoretical framework. In particular, it will discuss the motivations of social entrepreneurs involved in the coffee companies interviewed.  Post-development provides a theoretical framework for this research of coffee social enterprises. It provides a critique to mainstream development, and has questioned how development is done, as well as its very validity. In doing so, it has encouraged new ways of ‘doing development’. One example of this is Sally Matthews’ three responses the wealthy can have to poverty: first, re-thinking of the development discourse in light of post-development; secondly, supporting popular initiatives; and thirdly, solidarity with distant others here at home.  This is an appreciative inquiry into different coffee companies, using qualitative ethnographic methods. Seven in-depth interviews have been conducted with managers, past owners or head roasters, as well as one with an expert on social enterprise.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-141
Author(s):  
Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru ◽  
Samuel A. Omolawal ◽  
Rasheed A. Okunola

Corruption is a phenomenon that manifests in various types and forms especially among operators of Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs). Many actions of the operators which constitute corrupt practices often tend to be overlooked in spite of their grave consequences for the success SMEs in Nigeria. The fight against corruption in Nigeria is more concentrated in the formal sector. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate various forms in which corrupt practices are carried out among Small and Micro Enterprises in Ibadan, Nigeria. Business owners, their employees, apprentices and consumers constituted the study population. Primary data were collected using questionnaire administered on 200 business owners, 150 employees and 150 apprentices randomly chosen in five business districts in Ibadan; and the conduct of 10 in-depth interviews with purposively selected participants. Quantitative data were analysed at uni-variate level using simple percentages and frequencies while qualitative data were content analysed. Findings from the study revealed that corrupt practices were rampant among actors in SMEs and the common types of corrupt practices included stealing (60%), deception of customers (78.4%), tax evasion (62%), sale of fake products (76%), sale of expired products (65.2%), tampering with measurement scales (69.6%), bribery (82.4%), and poor service delivery (73%). The study concludes that the level of corruption in SMEs calls for concern and government should extend the fight against corruption to the informal sector in Nigeria.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 393-398
Author(s):  
Andreas Ahrens ◽  
Olaf Bassus ◽  
Jeļena Zaščerinska

AbstractUniversity as a social enterprise has become the dominant response to the challenge of bringing up an engineer as a first-rate technical expert who acts as a social agent, rather than just a technician, with a “broad understanding of the social and philosophical context in which he will work” [3]. Aim of the research is to analyze student engineers' Enterprise 3.0 application in engineering curriculum. The meaning of the key concepts of university as a social enterprise, engineering curriculum and Enterprise 3.0 is studied. Explorative research has been used. The empirical study was conducted at Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia, in 2011. Descriptive statistics was implemented for primary data analysis. The findings of the research allow drawing the conclusions on the favourable context of Enterprise 3.0 application in engineering curriculum as the student engineers' knowledge and attitude towards Enterprise 3.0 application are positive. Direction of further research are proposed.


1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 1187-1198 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Mance ◽  
A. R. O'Donnell

This paper discusses the derivation of environmental quality standards for coastal waters and the difficulties of using such standards for controlling industrial discharges. Attention is focused on the common List II substances, copper, chromium, lead, nickel, zinc and arsenic - and their effects on marine life. The adequacy of existing toxicity data is discussed and it is concluded that long exposure tests are required to provide information on sublethal effects. Such data are currently limited. It is also important that consideration be given to the effects that reducing salinities and increasing temperatures have in increasing the toxicity of these substances. The complexity of interpreting the results of laboratory toxicity data to coastal waters is discussed with reference to a study of the impact of an industrial discharge.


Author(s):  
Sarah E. Murray

This book gives a compositional, truth‐conditional, crosslinguistic semantics for evidentials set in a theory of the semantics for sentential mood. Central to this semantics is a proposal about a distinction between what propositional content is at‐issue, roughly primary or proffered, and what content is not‐at‐issue. Evidentials contribute not‐at‐issue content, more specifically what I will call a not‐at‐issue restriction. In addition, evidentials can affect the level of commitment a sentence makes to the main proposition, contributed by sentential mood. Building on recent work in the formal semantics of evidentials and related phenomena, the proposed semantics does not appeal to separate dimensions of illocutionary meaning. Instead, I argue that all sentences make three contributions: at‐issue content, not‐at‐issue content, and an illocutionary relation. At‐issue content is presented, made available for subsequent anaphora, but is not directly added to the common ground. Not‐at‐issue content directly updates the common ground. The illocutionary relation uses the at‐issue content to impose structure on the common ground, which, depending on the clause type (e.g., declarative, interrogative), can trigger further updates. Empirical support for this proposal comes from Cheyenne (Algonquian, primary data from the author’s fieldwork), English, and a wide variety of languages that have been discussed in the literature on evidentials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bechir Fridhi

AbstractThis article aims to understand the extent to which social entrepreneurship (SE) contributes to the construction of a collective dimension linked to social innovation (SI). We aim to propose new ideas that can deliver insights into the SE phenomenon. This research is also distinct from entrepreneurial ecosystems as its development already requires some successful entrepreneurial action and to do it, the structuring and consolidation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem constitutes a real challenge for the development of SI.This work has been based on a participant observation of eight major events dedicated to social entrepreneurship or the shared economy. In-depth interviews with Tunisian social entrepreneurs were also conducted in order to enrich our corpus. The results show the necessary cooperation of social entrepreneurs for a sustainable and responsible social innovation. Indeed, the analysis emphasizes that the viability and sustainability of a social innovation rests essentially on a collective construction, beyond common social values.


Author(s):  
Viviana García Pinzón ◽  
Jorge Mantilla

Abstract Based on the conceptualizations of organized crime as both an enterprise and a form of governance, borderland as a spatial category, and borders as institutions, this paper looks at the politics of bordering practices by organized crime in the Colombian-Venezuelan borderlands. It posits that contrary to the common assumptions about transnational organized crime, criminal organizations not only blur or erode the border but rather enforce it to their own benefit. In doing so, these groups set norms to regulate socio-spatial practices, informal and illegal economies, and migration flows, creating overlapping social orders and, lastly, (re)shaping the borderland. Theoretically, the analysis brings together insights from political geography, border studies, and organized crime literature, while empirically, it draws on direct observation, criminal justice data, and in-depth interviews.


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