Cases June 5, 2018

Sustainability International’s Alliance with ConsenSys – Leveraging Technology for Social Impact

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Social entrepreneur Chinyere Nnadi (Nnadi), Co-founder & CEO of Sustainability International (SI), had started his non-profit organisation to provide innovative solutions using technology to alleviate poverty in Africa. Since childhood Nnadi had beheld adversity in Nigeria that had been grappling with oil pollution due to decades of oil drilling and spills in the Niger Delta.  Nnadi observed that the environmental damages in Nigeria had resulted in the loss of livelihoods of farmers and fishermen, causing appalling public health hazards and mass unemployment. To end this misfortune, Nnadi’s SI team launched various projects ranging from infrastructure developments to providing education to girls and creating healthcare awareness. SI had also partnered with various government agencies, companies and NGOs and was using breakthrough technologies such as BIOCLEAN™ Biotechnology to restore the oil-contaminated sites. When Nnadi observed that widespread systematic corruption and distrusts among locals in Nigeria could hamper his initiatives, he started focusing more on utilising breakthrough technologies in his projects.  Towards this end, Nnadi’s SI collaborated with ‘Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition’, an initiative of the US based ConsenSys in mid-2017 to cleanup the Niger Delta and eventually improve the socio-economic condition of Nigeria. Would Nnadi be able to realise his dream of  alleviating corruption, poverty and improve the socio-economic condition of the region? Would SI be able to ‘solve the 20th century problems with 21st century solutions’ in Africa?

AuthorsShwetha Kumari
InstitutionAmity Research Centers, Bangalore, India
Competition Year2018
PlaceRunner Up
TrackSocial Entrepreneurship
Key WordsChinyere Nnadi, Africa’s Socio-economic condition, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Social entrepreneurship, Blockchain for Social impact , Oil pollution, BIOCLEAN, ConsenSys, Shell companies and NGOs, Environment and Economy, Oil spills and loss of livelihoods , One Farm, Virtual Reality Storytelling, Podcast Series – "Transitions, Development infrastructure
CoursesEthics and Social Responsibility
Target AudienceBusiness Management Students
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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Cases

Preserve: Growing a Sustainable Consumer Goods Company

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This case presents the startup and growth of Preserve, a sustainability-driven business and B Corp, in the circular economy. The company has grown over the years as a housewares and personal care consumer goods company in the retail industry with a closed loop business model on #5 plastics. With this operational model, Preserve managed to create social and commercial value by attaining strategic growth while meeting its social mission. To serve dual-purpose (social and commercial), Preserve helped its partners achieve sustainability goals, but these investments did not necessarily add to the financial bottom line and short-term growth of the company. The case focuses on the meaning of “growth” as the strategic intent for a sustainability-driven business. It explores to what extent a purpose-driven business like Preserve could meet the challenge of simultaneously being a social value leading business and keeping financial sustainability with the current business model.

The case examines Preserve’s founding mission and organizational values, and it discusses the tradeoff between social mission and economic goals any growth-driven sustainable company would face. It puts into perspective the importance of stakeholder collaboration and communication for sustainability and growth. The case introduces the framework of SEERS – Social, Environmental, Economic Responsibility and Sustainability – for evaluating Preserve’s sustainability strategy. The SEERS framework contains four elements: (1) identifying purpose and strategic intent, (2) engaging stakeholders, (3) developing metrics, and (4) implementing cascading innovations. It provides opportunities for considering strategic decision-making with respect to economic and social value generation and social responsibility.

AuthorsSinan Erzurumlu
InstitutionBabson College, USA
Competition Year2018
PlaceSecond Prize
TrackSocial Entrepreneurship
Key WordsSustainability, circular economy, closed loop, recycling, social and commercial value, blended value, Benefit corporation, B corporation, SEERS, corporate responsibility, start-up, entrepreneurship, operations management, household products, leadership, strategy
CoursesCorporate Strategy, Leadership and Strategic Management, Social Entrepreneurship, Social Innovations, Operations Management, Organizational Behavior, Sustainability, Business and the Environment, and Corporate Social Responsibility
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergrads, Executive Education
Permission rightsThis case will be published at the Case Centre shortly. You find an inspection copy for download below.
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Cases

Jaipur Rugs –Empowering Communities at the Bottom of the Pyramid through Social Innovation

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This case discusses how social innovator Nand Kishore Chaudhary (NKC) revolutionized the concept of the traditional carpet industry in India and empowered 40,000+ rural artisans by providing them with a sustainable livelihood.  In 1978, NKC started a small social enterprise under the name Jaipur Carpets (later on renamed Jaipur Rugs). The startup worked with poor artisans and trained and educated them. It offered Doorstep Entrepreneurship under which the artisans received all the raw materials required and wove carpets from their homes. Jaipur Rugs also offered services like healthcare, programs of financial inclusion, and leadership training. Apart from this, its biggest achievement was eliminating the middlemen and providing a sustainable livelihood to communities at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP).

However, NKC’s journey was not without its challenges. Among some sections of society in India, it is considered taboo to interact with people belonging to the lower castes and NKC faced hatred and resistance from his family and society for working with so-called untouchable castes. Further, retaining artisans in the job of carpet weaving and attracting others were becoming tough tasks when these weavers starting migrating to other places in search of better job offers. Another challenge was to scale up the operations of Jaipur Rugs globally. Analysts wondered how NKC could make Jaipur Rugs sustainable in the long run.  What could he do to preserve the dying art of weaving?

AuthorsSyeda Maseeha Qumer & Geeta Singh
InstitutionICFAI Business School, Hyderabad, India
Competition Year2018
PlaceFirst Prize
TrackSocial Entrepreneurship
Key WordsSocial Entrepreneurship; Social innovation; Social Innovator
CoursesSocial Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs
Permission rightsThis case will be published at the Case Centre shortly. You find an inspection copy for download below.
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posted June 5, 2018

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Events March 2, 2018

Workshop: Green Tech Challenge & Entrepreneurship

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As part of oikos Green Week 2018, join our workshop in collaboration with Green Tech Challenge and learn about entrepreneurship. Get experience on real life challenges start-ups face when maneuvering in a sustainable field and get the chance to try out your own skills when creating ideas on how to solve the problems from real life cases.

The case will be revealed soon! Register with the link above!

OIKOS GREEN WEEK 2018:
Do you want to learn about sustainability, network with companies and develop skills you can use for your future career? Then join CBS Green Week 2018 on March 13th-15th!

CBS Green Week is back with plenty of interesting lectures, engaging workshops and entertaining social events – all related to sustainability!

Come and learn about what prominent companies like Ørsted, Accenture and Rambøll as well as ambitious start-ups do to address the sustainable challenges the world is facing. Through lectures, workshops, a networking fair, a green tasting and many more events you will be introduced to the challenges concerning sustainability and the many solutions the business world can offer. Some of the companies you will have the chance to meet include Accenture, Rambøll, Ernst & Young, Voluntas, Siemens, Nimb and many more.

Show up, get curious and network with interesting companies in order to gain knowledge about sustainability. And last but not least: get a view of how businesses can lead the way towards a more sustainable future.

The future of business lies in sustainability!

Read more information here.

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posted March 2, 2018

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Cases June 19, 2017

Dharani: Nurturing the earth, fostering farmers’ livelihoods

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Timbaktu Collective is a non-profit organization in southern India, working for the sustainable development of rural communities with an emphasis on ecological principles and social harmony. One of the core areas of its work is with small farmers in the region who remained marginalized in a fiercely competitive market dominated by large players. Inspired by its success with organic farming and in collectivizing rural people Timbaktu Collective promoted a business enterprise for procuring, processing and marketing the organic produce of farmer-members in the district of Anantapuramu.

In 2008, Dharani Farming and Mutually Aided Co-operative Society Limited (Dharani) was started as a farmer owned, cooperative enterprise that procures and sells the members’ organic produce. This case discusses how Dharani not only developed external markets for small farmers’ organic produce but also articulated an ethical model of local production, distribution and consumption. For nearly a decade, Timbaktu Collective and Dharani have worked together to increase membership in the cooperative from only 70 in less than a dozen villages to 1800 in 35 villages in 2015. Dharani recorded net profit of over Rs 15 lakh in 2014-15, despite repeated droughts in 2014 and 2015. Besides financial benefits to members, land fertility had also improved substantially: acreage of certified organic land had grown from 80 acres in 2005 to 7500 acres in 2015. With a network of 246 retailers, bulk buyers and direct consumers, Dharani’s brand of products, “Timbaktu Organic” had also been firmly established in 40 towns and cities of South India

But Dharani’s operations had to expand significantly if they had to benefit all the farmer-members of the cooperative. For this Dharani has to (1) increase procurement of farmers’ organic produce from the current level of 300 tons to 1500 tons,  (2) increase value of the procurement from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore and (3) increase net profits from Rs 24 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. How could Dharani continue its growth as a business enterprise while remaining a socially responsible and ecologically sensitive, famer-owned cooperative?

AuthorsJoseph Satish V & C Shambu Prasad
InstitutionsUniversity of Hyderabad, India & Institute of Rural Management Anand, India
Competition Year2017
PlaceFirst Prize
TrackSustainable Entrepreneurship
Key WordsCSR, Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Performance, Social Performance
CoursesSustainable Finance, Strategic Management, Finance, Business Sustainability, Business and Society, or Environmental Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergrads
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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Cases

Refugee Labor Market Integration – An Impact Investment Case Study

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The dislocation of millions of people in various conflict zones of the Middle East and Africa is one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time. Given the complexity of the issue, various ways of solving the associated challenges have been implemented; reaching from emergency camps in conflict zones to innovative integration services in host countries. With overloaded government processes and too little funding, it is of utmost importance to fund and scale up effective integration services. Successful integration depends to a large extent on promoting the required abilities to build a self- sustained life. As such, labor market integration of refugees becomes of crucial importance first and foremost for themselves, yet successful integration also bears major upsides for the broader society.

One example of a successful integration service is SchlaU Schule, located in Munich, Germany. By providing young refugees with an education that is acknowledged on the German labor market, young refugees can integrate faster and build self-sustained lives through the improved facilitation of labor market integration. Today, organizations like SchlaU Schule often lack funding to operationalize and scale up their services. Hence, identifying successful services that generate social impact and implementing smart ways to allocate funding to those organizations, while generating financial returns, are urgent issues to be solved.

Students tackling this case will work at the intersection of social impact and financial return. Students are encouraged to design an impact investment case targeting refugee labor market integration that not only creates social impact, but also financial return for investors. Thus, entrepreneurial thinking is combined with rigorous financial modelling to align both financial and social returns in a meaningful way. The goal of the case is to allow students to think entrepreneurially, conceptualize financially viable and socially meaningful solutions, and identify ways to implement these in the real world.

AuthorMarc Haßler
InstitutionMaastricht University School of Business and Economics, The Netherlands
Competition Year2017
PlaceThird Prize
TrackSustainable Finance
Key WordsCSR, Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Performance, Social Performance
CoursesSustainable Finance, Strategic Management, Finance, Business Sustainability, Business and Society, or Environmental Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergraduates
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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posted June 19, 2017

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Cases

Coming to Fruition: Fresh Truck Aims to Increase Food Access in Boston

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Founded in 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, Fresh Truck is a mobile fresh produce market focused on increasing access to fresh produce and nutrition education in Boston’s low-income neighborhoods. Fresh Truck is a non-profit social enterprise that earns revenue through the sale of fresh produce in various Boston neighborhoods. It has become a key part of Boston’s food access ecosystem, which includes health care centers, the City of Boston, and other non-profit organizations. To date, Fresh Truck has attracted funding through a business plan competition, a Kickstarter campaign and grants that have helped to launch two trucks serving its mission. However, to expand, Fresh Truck faces a number of key management, logistical and operational challenges that affect its economic sustainability and thus its mission. These challenges relate to customer acquisition and retention, finding time to grow, inventory control, parking issues, and measuring impact. Josh Trautwein, co-founder and executive director of Fresh Truck, must make decisions to navigate these challenges and continue daily operations as he develops and executes a strategy for growing the enterprise and helping to solve food access issues in Boston. What should Josh do to chart a course through these challenges so that Fresh Truck can earn revenue and meet its social mission?

AuthorsNardia Haigh, Anya Weber & Jennie Msall
InstitutionUniversity of Massachusetts Boston, USA
Competition Year2017
PlaceSecond Prize
TrackSustainable Entrepreneurship
Key WordsCSR, Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Performance, Social Performance
CoursesSustainable Finance, Strategic Management, Finance, Business Sustainability, Business and Society, or Environmental Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergraduates
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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Cases

eVidyaloka: Digital Classrooms for Underprivileged

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eVidyaloka, founded by a techie and a Chartered Accountant who quit their promising careers to follow their heart, aims to disseminate education to the poorest of the poor of the Indian society. For a country with a population of 1.2 billion, where 1 out of 4 people is under the age of 14, the future depends highly on its ability to provide quality education to this young generation. The crisis in education sector ranges from resource crunch to quality of teaching itself. Venkat and Satish, the founders of eVidyaloka, created a model that would connect passionate volunteer-teachers across the world through live, interactive online classes for rural children via the digital classroom setups in the village schools. They are using cutting edge digital learning platform to bridge the gap between supply and demand of quality education in rural India. Digital Interactive learning techniques, that were previously available only to the privileged, were taken to the other end of the spectrum. Venkat and Satish are the torchbearers in this journey. eVidyaloka stakeholders included not just the students and the volunteer-teachers but also the school authorities, local government, local NGOs and many other well-wishers and volunteers who work to put together a platform to enable this form of learning.  However, off late eVidyaloka is struggling to maintain its initial momentum.

AuthorsAtul Kumar Singh, Vanishree Sattiraju
InstitutionXLRI Jamshedpur, India
Competition Year2017
PlaceRunner Up
TrackSustainable Entrepreneurship
Key WordsCSR, Socially Responsible Investing, Environmental Performance, Social Performance
CoursesSustainable Finance, Strategic Management, Finance, Business Sustainability, Business and Society, or Environmental Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergraduates
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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Cases

The venture Freitag: From recycled bags to sustainable fashion

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The Swiss venture Freitag, founded in 1993 by the two brothers Daniel and Markus Freitag, pioneered the idea of product upcycling by producing functional and fashionable bike messenger bags out of used truck tarpaulins. Relying on its unique raw material of recycled truck tarps, Freitag developed a coherent brand identity and gradually extended its product portfolio of bags and accessoires over the years. From 2009 to 2014 however, Freitag engaged in a development process of manufacturing sustainable clothing which meant nothing less than the entry into an entirely new product category and market. For Freitag, this step constituted a core strategic investment decision, which would have major consequences on its innovation, marketing and branding activities. Due to Freitag’s self-understanding as a sustainability-oriented and design-driven business venture, the challenge was to come up with a profitable clothing collection which would not only meet the venture’s high sustainability critieria but also its aspiration to produce functional and stylish fashion. Yet, the Freitag brothers still had to decide which customer segment they should primarily target with their new product offering. Should they primarily accommodate the needs of these customers which bought Freitag products because of their design and stlye or should they priortize the segment of sustainability-conscious consumers? Or should they even target the mass market with their new product? To reach a well-informed decision, the Freitag brothers had to develop a fine awareness for the peculiarities of Freitag’s brand identity and an in-depth understanding of the socio-ecological impact of sustainable fashion. As two professionally trained designers, Daniel and Markus felt committed to the idea of holistic design-thinking and therefore strived to approach these issues in an integrated fashion, from the procurement and design stage all the way down to the marketing and branding of their products.

AuthorReinhard von Wittken
InstitutionTUM School of Management (TU Munich)
Competition Year2017
PlaceFirst Prize
TrackCorporate Sustainability
Key WordsSustainability Fashion Entrepreneurship
CoursesSustainable Finance, Strategic Management, Finance, Business Sustainability, Business and Society, or Environmental Entrepreneurship
Target AudienceMBAs, Undergraduates
Permission rightsThis case is part of the oikos free case collection. Download a free online copy below. If you are a faculty member and you are interested in teaching this case, you can request a free teaching note by sending us an email to freecase@oikos-international.org.
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posted June 19, 2017

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News June 1, 2017

Faculty from University of Denver, Technical University of Munich, University of Hyderabad and Institute of Rural Management Anand win first prizes in oikos Case Writing Competition 2017

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We are proud to announce the winners of this year’s oikos Case Writing Competition 2017. Outstanding case submissions competed for prizes this year. In the Sustainable Finance track the the first prize goes to Vijaya Narapareddy Zinnoury from the University of Denver (USA). The first prize in the Social Entrepreneurship track is awarded to Joseph Satish V from the University of Hyderabad (India) and C Shambu Prasad from the Institute of Rural Management Anand (India). In the Corporate Sustainability track, the first prize goes to Reinhard von Wittken from Technical University of Munich (Germany).

Extended abstracts of our winning and runner-up cases will be available online in our oikos free case collection or at the Case Centre in June 2017. Inspection copies will soon be made available there as well. We will keep you posted.

You find all the prizes and runners-up below. Congratulations to the Winners of the oikos Case Writing Competition 2017!  

Winners of the 2017 Competition

Corporate Sustainability Track

Free Case!

1st Prize

The venture Freitag: From recycled bags to sustainable fashion by Reinhard von Wittken (TUM School of Management at Technical University of Munich, Germany)

2nd Prize

Uber and the Ethics of Sharing: Exploring the Societal Promises and Responsibilities of the Sharing Economy by Erin McCormick and N. Craig Smith (INSEAD)

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3rd Prize

Wind in the Sails: Managing Social Acceptance of Large Wind Energy Projects in Switzerland by Anna Ebers Broughel (University of St Gallen, Switzerland)

Runner-up

Enrich Not Exploit: Can New CSR Strategy Help Body Shop Regain  Glory? by Syeda Maseeha Qumer and Debapratim Purkayastha (both from ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad)

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Runner-up

Tongwei – Sustainability Entrepreneurship Through Market – Political Ambidexterity by Xyanwei Cao (XJTLU, China)

Social Entrepreneurship Track

Free Case!

1st Prize

Dharani: Nurturing the earth, fostering farmers’ livelihoods

by Joseph Satish V (Centre for Knowledge, Culture and Innovation Studies at University of Hyderabad, India) and C Shambu Prasad (Institute of Rural Management Anand, India).

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2nd Prize

Coming to Fruition: Fresh Truck Aims to Increase Food Access in Boston

by Nardia Haigh, Anya Weber, Jennie Msall (all from University of Massachusetts Boston, USA)

3rd Prize

Bridge International Academies by Manish Agarwal and D. Satish (IBS Hyderabad, IFHE University, India)

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Runner-up

eVidyaloka-Digital Classrooms for the Underprivileged by Atul Kumar Singh and Vanishree Sattiraju (XLRI Jamshedpur, India)

Runner-up

Ten Thousand Villages in Crisis: Can the Fair Trade Pioneer Survive and Flourish in an Economic Downturn? by Anna Kim (HEC Montréal, Canada) and Cécilia Renaud (CHUM, Canada)

Sustainable Finance Track

1st Prize

A Burrito Without Integrity: Is This Chipotle for Me? by Vijaya (Narapareddy) Zinnoury (Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, US)

2nd Prize

The Fall of SunEdison – A Solar Eclipse? by Alok Kavthankar and Indu Perepu (IBS Hyderabad, IFHE University, India)

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3rd Prize

Refugee Labor Market Integration – An Impact Investment Case Study by Marc Hassler (Maastricht University School of Business and Economics)

Participants in the oikos Case Writing Competition 2017 were again truly international: the finalists come from institutions all over the world. Winning cases were selected in a double-blind review process by the oikos judging committee comprised of distinguished scholars from all around the world including Alexander Wagner (University of Zurich, Switzerland), Bala Krishnamoorthy (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, India), Carlos Romero-Uscanga (EGADE, Mexico), Debapratim Purkayastha (IBS Hyderabad, India), Delphine Gibassier (Toulouse Business School, France), Ewald Kibler (Aalto University, Finland), Madhukar Shukla (XLRI Jamshedpur, India), Martin Kupp (ESCP, France), Minna Halme (Aalto University Business School, Finland), Moritz Loock (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland), Roger Spear (The Open University, UK), Saurabh Lall (Aspen Institute, USA), Stefan Schaltegger (Leuphana University, Germany), Tessa Hebb (Carleton University, Canada), Timo Busch (University of Hamburg, Germany) and other leading faculty.

We also want to make an especial acknowledgement of our three track chairs Dror Etzion, (McGill, Canada), Lars Hassel (School of Business Umea, Sweden) and Thomas Dyllick, (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland) who supported the organization and review of the oikos Case Writing Competition 2017. And finally we also want to recognize the important contribution of Stefano Ramelli and Carlos Vargas oikos PhD Fellows in Sustainable Finance at the University of Zurich, who made the oikos Case Writing Competition 2017 possible.

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posted June 1, 2017

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