Innovation+for+social+good+I

** Innovation for Social Good I - Doing Well By Doing Good **
Thursday, April 14, 2011 <>

===**Topic overview: ** === In today's class we will begin to explore how the concepts and approaches to product and service innovation that we have covered so far can be applied not only to the design and development of innovative products and services but also to the development of social institutions and services. We will do so by exploring a case study on how the Danone company adapted and introduced their Danimals yogurt product to serve the poor in South Africa. As we will see, this was not a purely altruistic effort on Danone's part, nor was it completely profit-driven.

**Preparation for class:**
In order for a case study class to be effective and productive, students must come well prepared. This includes not only reading the case, but also having analyzed it in sufficient detail to discuss it, to make recommendations based on the material provided in the case, and to take a position and recommend actions to the participants/actors in the case. In preparation for the in-class case discussion, consider the following questions in your case analysis:


 * Why did Danone want to pursue a market of people with very little money to spend? How did they justify the investment required to serve this market?
 * What did Danone need to do differently in the South African market than they had done in Europe and North America?
 * How did Danone adapt their products, production, distribution, marketing and other operations?
 * Were they successful in doing so?
 * Would you argue that Danone was successful as an innovator in this case? Where did they struggle?
 * Was Danone well structured to undertake the adaptation and innovation required to succeed in this market? Why or why not?
 * As a Danone shareholder who now knows what you know about the company's experience in South Africa, would you encourage management of the company to pursue growth in other developing markets? Why or why not? What advice would you offer to a general manager trying to bring a new Danone product to other developing markets?

Reference materials:
We will be using the case sudy "Danimal in South Africa: Management innovation at the bottom of the pyramid" written by Verity Hawarden and Helena Barnard in 2010. The case is published by the Ivey School of Business and distributed through Harvard Business School Publishing and is available for purchase at:

@http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=2682226&R=910M99-PDF-ENG

Hard copies of the case have been distributed in class.