Refugee Labor Market Integration – An Impact Investment Case Study

Abstract

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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Rethinking The Economic System

Does additional growth in the industrialised countries trigger increasing happiness? What societal and environmental impact results of our constant pursuit of growth? Is share economy just a fashionable trend or could it lead to more sustainable society? These and other intriguing questions have resonated in oikos Leipzig.

The academic year 2012/2013 is slowly coming to its end and oikos Leipzig could look back at some fruitful and inspirational events. Besides the regular movie nights, reading circles and talks on sustainability issues, Leipzig organised two major events, the two-day de-growth conference in fall 2012 and three “action weeks” on share economy in May and June this year.

The conference titled “Values, prosperity, well-being – (How) do we want to grow?” was held on November 29th and 30th and discussed questions such as “Is infinite growth in a physically finite world ever possible?”, “Does additional growth in the industrialized countries trigger increasing happiness?” and “What societal and environmental impacts result of our constant pursuit of growth?”. The two-day event was filled with lectures, panel discussions and workshops showing that commitment towards a sustainable development path exists on the political, corporate as well as societal level.

The next major project concerned the topic of share economy, a global trend that has recently been catalysed by new digital technologies. Initiatives such as car-sharing, community gardens or couch-surfing are just a few of various examples for this movement. In order to sensitise as many people as possible for this topic and to present (local) initiatives that already incorporated the sharing aspect in their activities, oikos Leipzig planned three action weeks on share economy from May 24th to June 17th. Furthermore, we also wanted to explore whether share economy can only be seen as a temporary trend or whether it has the potential to lead to a more sustainable society in the long-run.

Three weeks project was kicked by a “dinner hopping” called auf Haxe Leipzig that was organized in cooperation with Auf Haxe, a young Berlin start-up initiative establishing special, delicious and fun dinners in Germany. The main concept of auf Haxe is to build teams of two taking part in the dinner event with three courses (starter, main course, dessert), each of which is prepared and served in a different apartment of the team members. In the course of the evening, every team has eaten in three different houses and has met 12 different people. After dinner, the 45 participating teams (and many more sharing interested people) came together at our oikos party which was a great success and a good starting point for the interesting and inspiring following action weeks. In fact, everyone had so much fun, so that many more auf Haxe Leipzig are to come!

share_economy_leipzig_websiteThe next event was a movie night where we showed the movie “One couch at a time” by Alexandra Liss, a movie about the couchsurfing movement and the connection to the concept of share economy. A readers’ circle with the broad topic share economy followed. Different articles were read and discussed that shed light on the concept of share economy in a positive but also critical way. Our fourth event was the workshop day, which we planned in cooperation with the trade school Halle (TAAK Halle). Based on the trade school movement, the aim was to create a platform were people could meet and exchange their knowledge. Our participants could choose among nine fun and interesting workshops, from “laughing yoga” to “lamps from sandwich paper DIY” and “creativity techniques”!

We continued with a somewhat “different” bike tour through Leipzig where we visited various local initiatives that already implement the concept of share economy in their everyday work and actions. These included a self-repair café, nextbike (bikesharing company) and a community garden, among others.

The final action week was dominated by lectures. First, we were introduced to share economy from a scientific perspective by Maike Gossen from the Institute for Ecological Economy Research, Berlin. This more theoretical approach was followed by an evening with talks about share economy from a practical perspective. Representatives from Airbnb (an online platform where people can rent out their living spaces), from VisionBakery (the second-largest crowdfunding website in Germany) and from mamikreisel (an online platform where babyclothes can be bought, exchanged or sold), discussed the advantages and challenges of the share economy movement for their businesses. Similar to our kick-off event, we ended our action weeks with a lively and entertaining BBQ and swap party.

Both the de-growth conference and the action weeks on share economy sparked some lively and in-depth discussions, resulted in interesting cooperation and new ties with other initiatives in Leipzig and Germany and helped to further integrate oikos Leipzig as an association to be reckoned with. The overall feed-back was very positive, most events were well attended and even resulted in motivated and enthusiastic oikos Leipzig members and supporters.

We are therefore eagerly looking forward to the up-coming academic year, for which oikos Leipzig has already planned interesting new events through which to move the sustainability discussion forward!

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posted July 19, 2013

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Alumni Debates: Panel Discussion on Growth and Sustainability

First Alumni Debate: Panel Discussion on Growth and Sustainability

The oikos alumni met on 19 September 2013 for an apéro and panel discussion on growth and sustainability. The event took place in Zurich at LGT Venture Philanthropy. Three alumni led the discussion:  Jan Amrit Poser (Bank J. Safra Sarasin); Irmi Seidl (Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL) and Christian Busch (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs)

More info: https://oikos-international.org/programmes/conferences/alumni-debates/alumni-debate-panel-discussion-on-growth-and-sustainability/

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posted July 18, 2013

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Winter School

The 10th oikos Winter School is organized by students of the Witten/Herdecke University, Germany. This year’s central question is Green Economy or Post-Growth Society? – How can economics and businesses shift towards a more sustainable future and which way could be the most promising to do so?

We will discuss this year’s central question by thinking, debating and creating new ideas concerning the current energy supply situation, social entrepreneurship and the financial market.

The oikos Winter School 2014 will be held from February 21st till March 2nd 2014 in Germany. If you are enthusiastic about working with international peers as well as debating with our amazing speakers, you can apply starting august 4th(cet)! The early-bird application period (250€ participation fee instead of 300€) closes September 15th.

Register for the next oikos Winter School 2014 in Witten.

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oikos International

posted July 18, 2013

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Tropical Salvage: From Recession to Expansion

Case Abstract

Tim O’Brien, Founder of Tropical Salvage, was ready to launch a growth strategy for his company.  He had spent ten years building the sourcing, production and marketing capabilities of Tropical Salvage.  And he had worked successful with a not-for-profit partner to establish the Jepara Forest Conservancy to further the social and environmental missions that had provided the primary motivation for the company.

O’Brien had many key business decisions to make to actualize his growth strategy, including how to finance a new branded retail store, the best ways to build brand awareness of the products, and whether or not to extend the product offerings. The inspiration for Tropical Salvage came to O’Brien during a week of trekking in Indonesia in 1998. O’Brien had encountered stunning biodiversity juxtaposed with wasteful exploitation of natural resources and underutilization of craft traditions. As his travels continued he noticed old wooden structures being replaced by more secure structures built from concrete and rebar. In many instances no plan existed to re-use the old beams, boards and poles. The idea for Tropical Salvage struck – salvaging wood from deconstructed buildings can be a significant source of raw material for hardwood furniture production.
O’Brien started Tropical Salvage based on a conviction that “a reasonable and promising market-oriented strategy can contribute to positive change in a part of the world beset by extraordinary challenges.” Tropical Salvage uses only salvaged, or rediscovered, wood to build its line of furniture. The company uses a variety of wood salvage strategies – including demolishing old buildings, bridges and boats, recovering logs from rivers and lakes, mining entombed trees from the ground and taking trees from diseased plantation timber.  Salvaged wood is cut into lumber, treated for insects and kiln-dried.  From the kiln, woodcrafters construct the furniture. The product catalog includes roughly 150 different models and the company also builds one-of-a-kind custom pieces and furnishings built to commercial specifications. Tropical Salvage’s products are sold in its own warehouse as well as through retail partnerships in the US and Canada.
Although O’Brien is convinced he needs to expand through branded retail, he is aware of some significant challenges. First, there is an abundance of quality salvageable wood in Indonesia but as Tropical Salvage seeks additional sources it will need to ensure efficient salvage and transport processes to maintain the high margins that are important to its expansion efforts. Second, Tropical Salvage lacks a formal computer-based system to track and control its incoming and outgoing inventory. This approach may be strained with the introduction of one or more branded retail locations.  Third, increased demand for its furniture is necessary in order for Tropical Salvage to expand its operations.  O’Brien considers marketing to be his greatest challenge. And, finally, O’Brien needs to determine how to finance the expansion – through retained earnings, debt financing or venture capital. Each option presents different pros and cons and he needs to weigh each before moving forward.
This case study provides students with the opportunity to analyze a social enterprise operating in an intensely competitive global industry.  Background is provided on the competencies of the company, the competitive dynamics in the industry and the challenges and opportunities presented by O’Brien’s intended approach to growing his business.  Students will be tasked with looking at many facets of the business – sourcing, operations, marketing, distribution and finance – to derive recommended actions.

Authors: R. Scott Marshall, Lisa Peifer, Erin Ferrigno
Institution: Portland State University, USA
Competition Year2011
Place3rd place
TrackSocial Entrepreneurship
Key WordsSocial Enterprise, International Operations, Growth Strategy, Hardwood Furniture
CoursesStrategy, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, International Strategy
Target AudienceMBA, Senior Undergraduate 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@oikosinternational.org.
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posted June 30, 2011

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Exiting in a State of Grace: Can Death be Sustainable?

Case Abstract

By August 2007, Deborah Cairns and Fran Reilly had been in business just a year and their alternative, family-directed funeral business had already won a regional sustainable business award. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, State of Grace offered clients socially and environmentally friendly alternatives including involving families where possible in keeping the deceased at home without embalming, and the use of natural products including eco-caskets.
Deborah and Fran appreciated there were plenty of challenges in providing more socially responsible, natural alternatives to traditional funerals and current modes of burial and cremation. Now their fledgling business is gaining momentum, the two women were trying to find the balance between how much and how fast to grow the business, and at the same time meet their family commitments and stay true to their sustainability values. There is an underlying issue surrounding their prioritisation of whom and what needed sustaining most.

Authors: Eva Collins, Kate Kearins, Helen Tregidga
Institution: University of Waikato, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Competition Year2008
PlaceFinalist
TrackCorporate Sustinabiity
Key WordsGreen burials, Start-ups, Sustainable business, Sustainability, New Zealand, Socially responsible funerals, Environmentally friendly funerals, Alternative funerals, Family-directed funerals
Permission RightsThis case was published in: Collins, E., Kearins, K. & Tregidga, H. (2009). Exiting in a State of Grace: Can Death Be Sustainable? International Journal of Sustainable Strategic Management, 1(3): 258-284.
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posted June 30, 2008

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Scojo Foundation: A vision for Growth at the Base of the Pyramid

Case abstract

 
Scojo Foundation uses a market-based approach to sell affordable reading glasses to the poor. While it had been another successful year for Scojo, Jordan Kassalow, Chairman and Co-Founder of Scojo Foundation, knew that the next 12 months would be critical in fulfilling the vision of the organisation he and Scott Berrie had founded five years before. There were a number of decisions he and his team would have to make before the board meeting the following month.

What distribution channel or combination of distribution channels would allow them to scale their business and societal impact most effectively? Should the emphasis of their mission be placed on increasing access to reading glasses or on developing entrepreneurs? This could have important implications for their choice of scaling strategy. And how could they best measure and maximise their societal impact? In the forefront of his mind, Jordan kept the goal of becoming a self-financing scalable enterprise that was not dependent on donations. How could he best manage the goals of societal impact and financial sustainability?

 

Authors: Ted London, Mary Christiansen
Institution: University of Michigan, USA
Competition Year2008
Place1st place
TrackCorporate Sustainability
Key WordsSocial Enterprise, Foundation, Reading, Glasses, Scaling up, Growth, Societal impact
Permission RightsThis case can be purchased from the GlobaLens website
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oikos International

posted June 30, 2008

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