Is it time to unleash a social enterprise internet business on the global multibillion dollar wedding industry? A case study.

Stephenson, Harriet ; Lockwood, Diane

CASE DESCRIPTION

The primary subject matter is the potential entry of a business with a social enterprise strategy into a highly competitive industry. It can be used to introduce business social enterprise, triple bottom line, and sustainability strategies and practices. Secondary issues include the use of business plan competitions for testing out an idea, securing initial funding, and developing vital networks. The case has a difficulty level of three to five and works well in the undergraduate policy or strategy capstone class or first-year MBA. It is designed to be taught in one to two class hours.

CASE SYNOPSIS

This case revisits a business plan that won first place in 1999 in its university's business plan competition. Subsequent to winning the award, the team had concluded the opportunity, as they had explored it, was a "too-little-too-late" Internet startup, and the team members were not in a position to want to pursue an online wedding information site at the height of the dot-com boom. Six years later, Bill, the would-have-been CEO of Wedding Information Site, received an e-mail from his instructor urging him to revise the strategic position of Wedding Information Site and secure an MBA team to enter the business plan competition again. The instructor proposes that a social enterprise component be added to the business strategy that would result in a significant impact for good (i.e., the "triple bottom line" of people, profits, and environment) on the $70 billion a year wedding industry in the United States alone. The key issue is how to position Wedding Information Site's social enterprise strategy and practices to become a competitive force, to secure initial financing, and ultimately to become a desirable buyout from an established competitor or to become a significant competitive force in the multibillion dollar industry. Venture capitalists are not traditionally known for looking first at social return, then financial return. However, this is potentially a very compelling investment opportunity for the right investor.

This case is a teaching tool to explore how to use social enterprise and the triple bottom line strategies and practices from the startup as a viable market entry strategy. This model can potentially change an industry and have a significant impact on people, profits, and environment while meeting the needs of various stakeholders, including shareholders. It is arguably the predominate model of the 21st century for doing business.

INSTRUCTORS' NOTES

Case Overview

The WeddingInfoSite.com won the University's grand prize business plan award in 1999, the first annual business plan competition. The team's members, however, were at career spots that did not lend themselves to engaging in any startup at that time. Also, at this time TheKnot.com was emerging as a serious force in that space, and it went public later that year. The Knot became profitable in 2003, seven years into its business, and has been in a strong growth mode ever since. The Knot has stayed the course with a clearly profitable "bottom line" approach focused on giving the best source of information for those getting married. The wedding related market is an estimated $70 to $150 billion market in the United States alone. China and Europe are also seeing a real surge in this market. In the emerging social enterprise/sustainable era of post 9/11, post dot-com, post Enron, post Martha Stewart, post Hurricane Katrina, it is conceivable that strategies not previously considered as being viable will be impacting entire industries and businesses from small to large. Indications are that there is increasing demand for value-oriented wedding/marriage starts. The average cost of a wedding at $26,000 means large segments of the population are spending increasingly large amounts of money for weddings. It also means large segments of the population are not able to participate, at least not in the way the wedding industry is now serving the market. Is there an opportunity now that was not there before? The WeddingInfoSite.com is revisited six years later by the original designated CEO, who is now ready for a career change but maybe not another business plan competition with an updated Wedding Information Site. Bill reviews an e-mail challenge from his instructor for Wedding Information Site to become a Ben & Jerry's of the wedding industry--a Ben & Jerry's social enterprise with a triple bottom line strategy. Wedding Information Site's tag line theme could be: "Quality weddings to meet your price and quality of life and planet concerns."

The detailed Instructor's Notes provide an opportunity for the instructor to get background materials on the areas of social enterprises, triple bottom line, and social responsibility to be able to incorporate into courses. It also includes a suggested student consulting assignment to the CEO of The Wedding Information Site which has been used successfully at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including classes with culturally and ethnically diverse student populations. A potential debate assignment is proposed to explore the pros and cons of business plan competitions. The international diversity of students and the age range of senior undergraduates to older MBA's, many who are considering marriage, allows for discussion of the potential global wedding market. Usually several students have used a service such as TheKnot.com or have been involved with someone else who was registered on one of the sites such as The Knot. Also included are social enterprise definitions and Web links for instructors to see how companies actually applied the concepts. It is timely to address values, ethics, and social responsibility. Hurricane Katrina is only the latest concern to cause people to question "abusive consumerism."

This works well for introducing concepts of triple bottom line, social enterprise, sustainability, social responsibility, values, social justice, and maximizing stakeholder returns. It is useful in entrepreneurship, strategy, and management courses. This case is about entering the U.S. market. Would this be applicable in any country? What role do business plan competitions play in introducing new ideas into the marketplace? Suggested case discussion questions and student exercises are included, followed by social enterprise background material, links for the instructor, and mini lectures.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND STUDENT LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1. Are "social enterprises," "triple bottom lines," "sustainable businesses," and "social return on investment" just academic discussions in the competitive world of bottomline focused U.S. businesses? Didn't the social responsibility and ethics era cover it all? Note to students, for definitions, the "Social Enterprise Lexicon" is useful: http://sealliance. org/resources_lexicon.cfm.

Social Enterprise Lexicon: http://se-alliance.org/resources_lexicon.cfm

For a quick primer on the triple bottom line in action, go to http://www.rolltronics.com/ ppl/tbl.html. There is a definitive article "The 'Triple Bottom Line': A Boardroom Guide" (Sauvante, 2001) plus a "Sustainability Whitepaper" (n.d.).

For additional background notes on social responsibility, triple bottom line, social enterprise, and sustainability, refer to J. Andriof and C. Marsden OBE (n.d.) "Corporate Citizenship: What It Is and How to Assess It?"

We have included a mini lecture based on Andriof and Marsden's article with some updates on trends and forces that are making a case for this being a required strategy for businesses to be competitive in the 21st century. It is necessary to consider impact on social, economic, and environmental stakeholders:

Mini Lecture--Background Notes on Corporate Social Citizenship, Social Responsibility, Triple Bottom Line, Social Enterprise, Sustainability. Corporate social citizenship is not a new idea. Its importance in the workplace has increased significantly in the last ten years in the United States and globally. We have gone from bottom line talk to including double and triple bottom lines in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. It is increasingly clear to the great majority of businesses in industrialized nations that for a business to truly succeed, it must prosper in the areas of profits, people, and planet. This is still a less clear recognition for nonprofits, who are moving into double bottom line areas with social entrepreneurship and efforts to generate income from business activity. The way a business chooses to conduct itself can have tremendous global impact. Negative examples of this are the Nestle Baby Food debacle of 1970; Nike Corporation's use of child labor, which came to be a public issue in 1996; and the Anderson/Enron debacle of 2002. The way a nonprofit chooses to conduct itself can have a tremendous global impact.

Good corporate citizenship can be defined as understanding and managing an organization's wider influences on society for the benefit of the organization, its constituents or stakeholders, and society as a whole (Andriof & Marsden, n.d.). Furthermore, organizational citizenship embraces an understanding that everything an organization does has some flow or effect either inside or outside the organization, from customers, volunteers, and employees to communities and the natural environment. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) encompasses the environment, the workplace, the community, and the marketplace which refer to triple bottom line concerns of economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social justice (Elkington, 1998). Within these four areas, companies are able to make a difference by conducting specific programs and actively becoming involved in monitoring and changing the effects of their operations (Andriof & Marsden, n.d.).

Aspects of responsible management include:

* Employees/volunteers are most productive when they do meaningful jobs at fair wages/relevant compensation, in a healthy environment, are empowered to have a say, are respected for their contributions, and have a good balance between work and family life.

* Organizations function best over the long run when the community they are in is healthy and has a below average crime rate, adequate education and health care, available skilled labor, and robust economic activity.

* Companies that treat the environment with respect in all aspects of their operations have reduced waste output, higher quality products and services, high resource efficiency, reduced costs of regulatory compliance, experience low incidence of litigation, and enjoy a high degree of loyalty from customers, business to business clients, staff, volunteers, and funding sources.

* Organizations must take a long-term view of their operations and make decisions, which consider a more holistic view of the constituents and world. Sometimes this means forgoing short-term profits in favor of longterm benefits.

* An organization's brand and reputation are becoming more and more important as consumers, investors [grantors, donors, funding agencies] [often] consider reputation and performance, contribution to social/human good, and care for the environment as important as price in making purchasing decisions (Andriof & Marsden, n.d.).

The Forces of Change Towards a Triple Bottom Line. What are the factors that make an organization want to change? Why in the last ten years have the pressures and business factors for change been more prominent than ever?

(1) 9/11--In a global CSR study by APCO Worldwide opinions of 419 elite panelists from ten countries in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific in 2004, it found the greatest forces perceived to drive change in social responsibilities of companies tend to be external media, government regulations, and lawsuits. Internal company stakeholders--employees, business partners, executives, and shareholders--were viewed as very important also.

(2) Deregulation, Globalization, and Internet--which has provided business and nonprofits with many opportunities previously denied to it. Among these opportunities has been the ability to compete in most of the world's markets; the ability to raise funds from numerous different and competing sources; and the opportunity to buy supplies from anywhere in the world and sell goods to anywhere in the world. The effects of these changes have included more competitive local markets and the squeezing out of the small business. For example, Wal-Mart has been blamed for the demise of countless local retailers. Other effects include cross-cultural business investments and transactions. Many factories are located so as to make use of cheap foreign labor. However, Article 29 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) provides that "Everyone has duties to the community ..." and that is a global community. Business for Social Responsibility (2005) is a global partner for responsible business leaders with more than 1,400 members and affiliated companies worldwide. "BSR helps businesses achieve commercial success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment" (http://www.BSR.org).

(3) Rapid Advances in Communication Technology--which has allowed information to be relayed around the globe almost instantaneously and with minimal costs. There are few areas of our global community that have not been affected by the changes that have occurred in communication technology and those that are still developing--e.g., the Internet and wireless technologies.

(4) The Rise in the Power of the Consumer--the combination of the forces described above has resulted in what many have termed 'the information age.' With access to instant, free information from a variety of sources; a multitude of service and product providers; a multitude of global investment opportunities; and, the unopposed spread of capitalism as the dominant economic structure; the rise in the power of the consumer has been unrestrained (Andriof & Marsden, n.d.).

(5) Availability of socially conscious investment funds--e.g., Domini funds. Sources of funds--investment options--social investors--need to consider revenue generating opportunities, especially if they further the mission of the organization.

(6) Evidence that "good marketing/management" pays off.

(7) Curriculum in business schools, beyond the grey pinstripes, business plan competitions that include a social enterprise, sustainable, or triple bottom line awards. Programs MBAs are engaging in such as the University of Washington's Challenge for Charity Auction partnering with Special Olympics, over four years volunteered over 5,200 hours and donated over $275,000 to Special Olympics.

(8) Other topics and headlines indicate a "movement" has begun from hybrid energy cars driven by higher gas prices and a carrot approach of government to allow credits of tax up to $2,000 for purchasing a car/truck that uses alternative energy sources.

(9) Growing awareness that working on a triple bottom line increases probability of an even better profit bottom line. The financial industry is watching. For example, in Who Cares Wins: Connecting Financial Markets to a Changing World: Recommendations by the financial industry to better integrate environmental, social, and governance issues in analysis, asset management, and securities brokerage (United Nations Global Compact & Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, 2004), institutions endorsing the report believe that

 Companies that perform better with regard to these issues can
 increase stakeholder value by, for example, properly managing risks,
 anticipating regulatory action, or accessing new markets while at
 the same time contributing to the sustainable development of the
 societies in which they operate. Moreover, the issues can have a
 strong impact on reputation and brands, an increasingly important
 part of company value.

 The report further clarifies roles of different market actors:
 companies, regulators, stock exchanges, investors, asset managers,
 brokers, analysts, accountants, financial advisors, and consultants.

(10) Natural disasters and future hypothetical disasters:

a. The December 26, 2004, India Ocean earthquake, Sumatra-Andaman earthquake generated a tsunami that killed more than 150,000 people.

b. Hurricane Katrina, August 25, 2005, thousands dead, New Orleans decimated, hundreds of thousands displaced in Gulf area.

c. Hypothetical future disasters (List of disasters, 2005):

i. Overpopulation

ii. Supervolcano

iii. Asteroid impact event

iv. Mega-tsunami such as recurrence of Cascadia Earthquake of Juan de Fuca Plate in Pacific Ocean (originally January 26, 1700)

v. Global warming

vi. Hypernova

(11) John Elkington's seven revolutions driving the triple bottom line challenge.

1. Markets will be driven by competition, largely through markets. As a result, business will shift from using competition as an excuse not to address the triple bottom line agenda to a new approach, using the triple bottom line as part of the business case for action and investment.

2. Values--the worldwide shift in human and societal values. The transition from 'hard' commercial values to 'softer' triple bottom line values.

3. Transparency already under way, is being fueled by growing international transparency and will accelerate. As a result, business will find its thinking, priorities, commitments, and activities under increasingly intense scrutiny worldwide.

4. Life-cycle Technology--'X-ray environment,' in which their value chains and product life-cycles will be exposed (often in excruciating detail) to wider scrutiny. New forms of 'X-ray environment' can switch on without warning, illuminating activities, processes, and companies way back down a value chain.

5. Partnerships--will dramatically accelerate the rate at which new forms of partnerships spring up between companies and between companies and other organizations.

6. Time, driven by the sustainability agenda, will promote a profound shift in the way we understand and manage time. By contrast, the sustainability agenda is pushing us in the other direction, towards 'long' time. Bubble environments which--as illustrated by the history of spectacular economic crashes around the world--can delude and destroy even the deepest-rooted businesses. Unless companies can balance the short-termism of most 'wide time' markets with a real sense of 'long time,' they are extremely unlikely to survive the sustainability transition.

7. Corporate Governance--ultimately the triple bottom line agenda is the responsibility of the corporate board.

(12) Corporate citizenship is a powerful influencer of consumer behavior--40% of respondents to survey of 3,500 Americans said that good corporate citizenship makes them more willing to do business with a company (GolinHarris, 2005).

The Top 12 Corporate Citizenship Drivers that are viewed as being important in building a company's reputation as being a good corporate citizen:

1. Values and treats its employees well and fairly

2. Executives and business practices are ethical, honest, responsible, and accountable

3. Goes beyond what is required to provide safe and reliable products and services

4. Responsibly markets and advertises its products and services

5. Committed to social responsibility, economic opportunity, environmental protection, etc.

6. Committed to diversity (gender, race, etc.) in the workplace and its business practices

7. Listens to community or customer input before making business decisions

8. Is active and involved in the communities where it does business

9. Company's products and services enhance peoples' lives

10. Corporate values and business practices are consistent with my own beliefs

11. Donates or invests its fair share of profits, goods, or services to benefit others

12. Supports a cause or issue that has led to improvement and positive change

(13) Examples of corporate brands/companies which embrace corporate citizenship and "have also succeeded in making corporate citizenship an essential and vital part of their business strategy, value proposition and stakeholder relationships" (GolinHarris, 2005).

Johnson & Johnson

Ben & Jerry's

Disney

Whole Foods

SC Johnson

Kraft

3M

McDonald's

Procter & Gamble

Southwest Airlines

(Note to instructor: This may be a real weakness for Wedding Information Site's CEO/founder. This is a totally integrated concept and maybe too "foreign" to CEO to implement successfully. There was no indication of awareness in 1999 business plan social responsibility.)

(14) Need to make management education responsive and actively engaged in solving challenges business currently faces like:

A general public--including investors and consumers--that has become cynical about the integrity and the motivations of business;

Challenges like public outrage at executive compensation; and

Calls for reform of the SEC, the audit system, the way market analysts work and are compensated; and most important,

The growing public expectation that corporations accept responsibility for what has previously been presented as economic "externalities:" the environment, public health, impacts on families and communities and employees of boom and bust cycles driven by share price (Gentile & Samuelson, 2003).

(15) Social Impact Management (not ethics or corporate social responsibility) is a way of thinking about business activities. It explicitly considers and evaluates 3 aspects of a business:

First, Purpose: What is the purpose--in both societal and business terms--of a business or a business activity?

Second, Social Context: Are the legitimate rights and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders considered? Employees, pensioners, local populations, natural resources.

And Third, Metrics: How is performance and profitability measured? What is being counted, and more importantly, what is not being counted? Are impacts and results measured across both short and long term time frames? How do we compute the impacts of what we tend to call 'externalities' but that increasingly rebound directly to the business environment, to intangibles like reputation and the ability to attract talent, and the franchise to operate around the globe?

Social Impact Management is about how to manage a complex interdependency--an interdependency that is unavoidable in today's business world (Gentile & Samuelson, 2003).

(16) Emergence of international reporting standards such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI; 2000, revised 2002), performance standards such as Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Guidelines of Corporate Responsibility (2001), the UN Global Compact (1999), and socially responsible investment ratings of stakeholder performance--INNOVEST, Core-Ratings, Sustainable Asset Management (SAM)--this vague notion of planetary ethics is becoming measured, tracked, and publicized. Planetary ethics is entering the global marketplace, not because business has suddenly adopted a conscience--it has always had one--but because there is a growing demand for values and principles of sustainability (Laszlo, 2003, pp. 21-22).

2. Bill's instructor says to follow the Starbucks model of stating triple-bottom-line concepts in the mission statement. What values are reflected in Starbucks mission statement? How do they translate these values into specific business practices? On Starbucks' website, the Corporate Social Responsibility 2004 Annual Report "describes our social, environmental and economic impacts on the communities in which we do business."

Starbucks Mission Statement (See also the answer to Question 3.)

Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow.

The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions:

* Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity.

* Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.

* Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh delivery of our coffee.

* Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.

* Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.

* Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.

This is a benchmarking triple bottom line mission that clearly delineates the importance of people, planet (community), and the environment.

3. An effective assignment has been to request the students to write a report to the CEO of The Wedding Information Site. He has hired you to develop a new Wedding Information Site mission statement. Use the Starbucks' model as a guide and keep in mind the criteria for University's business plan competition (http://www.seattleu.edu/asbe/ec/newventure/Executive%20Summary%20Screening %20Round.pdf). He has also asked you to give examples of programs, practices, policies, and services that would reflect the triple bottom line mission and strategic positioning. This is a particularly useful assignment to help clarify that individual students understand and can operationalize the concept. This assignment can be for individuals or teams. We prefer it as an individual assignment even though the class is teamed.

Or

Assign this as in-class assignment. Allow one hour to work on assignment. Work is to be done by teams with a report given at the end of class.

Or

Assign mission statement for homework. Each student brings five copies of mission statement to class. Break out in class into teams. Each team picks one mission statement. Teams then brainstorm practices, policies, services ... identify 10. Then conduct a round robin with whole class, getting one suggestion from each team until all suggestions have been put up on blackboard or transparency or PowerPoint. This has been run successfully several times at graduate- and undergraduate- level. It clarifies if students understand what it is and how it can be operationalized.

Try to get students to capture the competitive edge/value proposition in the mission statement and to spell out the importance of backing people, planet/environment, and profit issues. Ask students to self- or team critique to see if the spirit of the eight triple bottom line criteria are reflected in mission statement.

The judging criteria for the business plan competition which were added since the 1999 competition are noted here. The entire form can be accessed online: http://www.seattleu.edu/asbe/ec/ newventure/Executive%20Summary%20Screening%20Round.pdf

 Triple Bottom Line/Sustainability/Social Enterprise Aspects of Plan

 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

 Does it describe how benefits to people will be manifest--e.g.,
 living wage, people valued?

 Does it describe how impact on and of environment is considered?

 Do operations of business/organization improve the local community?

 Do operations improve environment or at least not make it worse off?

 Does it acknowledge fiduciary responsibility to owners, society/
 relevant shareholders?

 Are relevant stakeholders identified and importance clarified?

 Does it describe the importance of solving the social problem or the
 value of doing the social good?

 Are there at least two clearly delineated bottom lines?

Old mission statement: The mission of Wedding Information Web Site is to provide continual improvements in services to our online users. This is the formula for business success at Wedding Information and prosperity for our employees and investors.

Example of possible new mission statement: In its quest to provide highest quality diverse priced earth- and human-friendly wedding resources, services, and products for all those at both ends of income spectrum, Wedding Information Site and its employee-owners shall commit to:

 Constantly working to improve the customer experience in terms of
 information provided, services performed, and products offered on
 The Wedding Information Site.

 Constantly work to improve the product, service, and advertiser/
 sponsor experience to make this the site on which to profitably
 showcase one's business.

 To provide a working environment that inspires creativity, passion,
 and commitment to the customer and company.

 Embrace diversity in the workplace, customer experience, and
 community.

 Commit to finding environmentally and socially responsible good buy
 products and services that will leave the world and those who
 produce, pay for, give, and consume the goods and services ...
 better off.

 Conduct business in a fair and accountable way to foster customer,
 shareholder, employee, the investment community, and service
 partners confidence and trust in the Wedding Information Site.

 Commit to making the wedding experience accessible to the bottom of
 the financial pyramid as well as the top.

 Commit to providing quality benchmarking shoestring wedding
 alternatives at prices that leave more time and money to buy the
 shoes and leave a planet to walk on.

 Commit to providing a source for the underserved and under
 represented in the wedding market in the whole financial range--open
 the doors to enabling a high quality socially responsible experience
 to build one's future for oneself, one's family to come, one's
 community to live in, and one's planet for the future.

 Stay forward looking while not forgetting the importance of
 profitability to our shareholders, stakeholders, investors,
 employees, and team. The more profit we make the better we should be
 able to carry out our other commitments.

The following are several practical examples of programs and policies that would support a triple-bottom-line corporate mission and potentially increase revenue:

 Wedding Gown Donations and Exchange: Provide a place where people
 can donate or sell their "slightly used" wedding gowns and
 bridesmaid dresses. The donations will provide a valuable resource
 to less fortunate brides-to-be and provide a way for newlyweds to
 generate some additional money for starting their lives together.

 Wedding Information Site can charge a nominal rental fee or possibly
 a transactional fee for the exchange service.

 "Wedding on a Shoe String" Editorial: Truly challenge your editorial
 staff to provide compelling editorial for the large percentage of
 people that cannot afford $22,000 (industry average) on their
 wedding. This initiative could increase site traffic and advertising
 revenues significantly.

 Offer or promote environmentally friendly wedding products (i.e., no
 toxic dyes, natural or organic foods, etc.) and/or vendors that
 provide "living wages" (no sweatshops). Besides appealing to
 environmentally conscious consumers, this opens up new advertising
 and e-commerce from suppliers dealing in natural fibers/products and
 whole food bakeries/caterers. Additionally, this may raise the
 social consciousness of all vendors to Wedding Information Site and
 create a new industry segment.

 Wedding Information Site Deserving Fund--Donate a small portion of
 proceeds to train unemployed people on different facets of the
 wedding industry. From catering to wedding coordination, by
 educating and training people to work in the wedding industry,
 Wedding Information Site is also potentially expanding its supplier
 and revenue base while improving society. Hire from this pool where
 appropriate.

 Employee Volunteer Program: Provide your employees the option of
 taking up to five hours a month of paid volunteer time. This will
 promote employee participation in socially and environmentally
 beneficial volunteer opportunities while leading to happy, loyal
 employees.

 Where can recycled products be used by Wedding Information Site?

 Make energy use green. Encourage less energy usage by employees.
 Pay "bonus" for alternative energy source vehicles.

 Encourage energy saving policies/practices at suppliers.

The instructor might find it useful to raise the following observations/suggestions to the class. Look for practices and policies in people, planet, and profit arena. How to make weddings/bridal activity accessible to those at poverty level? How to make wedding more friendly to handicapped, mobility impaired. How to target the senior market, youth, disabled.... How to create win-win situations.

Who could Wedding Information Site partner with who has these bits of expertise? Can Wedding Information Site make a market for goods in developing countries or partner with someone who does?

4. What would be a SWOT for the new Wedding Site?

Strengths

* Not viewed as competitive--low profile--time to enter market.

* From startup--build in--easier than trying to change strategy/brand. It's a long process to change existing relationships for established ones.

* "Personalize" feedback from users to rate local vendors.

* Viral marketing still works--model should get "airtime/PR" as well as viral.

* Building base for long-term relationships based on meaningful, long-term impact experiences.

* Giving/charity model is increasingly popular.

* Should be easier to attract committed top talent with cause.

* Tap into global need.

* Provide outlet for those who want to "give"--be a part of something doubly cool.

Weaknesses

* CEO not knowledgeable about current wedding industry.

* Team is not evident.

* The need may be being met by a new competitor.

* May not be able to communicate/reach market.

* Not access to bridal registry--some exclusives.

* No recognized brand.

* Financial model is not evident/compelling.

* CEO would need a lot of coaching on social enterprise strategy and how to operationalize.

Opportunities

* Extend reach of weddings truly to mass market.

* Venture capitalists looking for opportunity to have big social impact--like Greater Good Hunger Site. Investing could impact environment globally. Good PR and returns.

* Provide people starting life together opportunity to help new start for someone else--wedding service 10 percent of item.

* PR to advertise.

* Rising gas prices--less disposable income--even more need for ways to save money.

* Build to sell to The Knot to get money to expand--have impact on industry like Ben & Jerry's on Unilever.

* PR--good image for the wedding industry in this post 9-11, post Enron, Katrina Hurricane era. Legitimizes spending $26,000 on wedding. Help save money and make environment and community better off as a result of you having a wedding.

* Partner with providers--capture sponsor who might like/get exclusive with green line values.

* Jumpstart market exposure through business plan competitions--Social Enterprise Berkeley exposure--get visibility--may be a partnering opportunity rather than competing opportunity from the beginning.

* Triple bottom line--quality--ratings--feedback from customers. Give more information to customers and gift giver.

* Increase disposable Y or target from one-shot blowout to responsible building for future.

* Increase ability to get top quality employees due to value orientation.

* Opportunity to impact working conditions and quality of life through giving preference to "Fair Trade" products--make the world healthier than if you had not done business.

Threats

* Hard to get top quality employees.

* Patent infringement

* Can't get venture capital funding.

* The Knot will become triple bottom line (not now part of branding) on its own--no need for it to buy out Wedding Information Site.

* Software or necessary database information may be patented/copyrighted.

* Not enough money in bottom third or ways to reach it.

* Another competitor may be meeting this need now. Have not done adequate due diligence.

5. Debate: Assign half of class to one side of argument and the other half to other side of argument. Bill should enter the University business plan competition again and the Global Social Venture Competition.

Global Social Venture Competition Judging Criteria: http://www.socialvc.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=113& parentID=110&grandparentID=58&nodeID=1

Pros

* Exposure to VC's--social enterprise/triple bottom line/sustainable is better return possibly than--13% now running at

* Possible to secure other team members from student or outside population participants, class members

* Force me to get going on plan

* Inexpensive way to get feel for validity of idea.

* Would have to sink/invest a lot to get VC ears in non-business plan channels.

* Feedback on whether business proposed meets potential success criteria and how well. Many eyes input. Find gaps/shortcomings/strengths before commit to cause.

* May be able to secure advisors and possibly board of directors through process

* Greatly enhanced network

* Process is valuable for development of CEO/founder--capacity building

* Requires rigorous

* Dry run excellent

Cons

* Takes too much time

** Trade show

** Incubator pitch

** Final round presentation

* Lot of weight on one-page executive summary

** Can't get why should

* Students not changed

* Doesn't give real feel--"just collegiate"

* CEO/founder not in best position to

* Time long--window of opportunity could be shut before the competition date/process

* Precludes stealth entry into industry

* Too much diverse "undereducated" (possibly not informed) feedback can cause loss of focus.

6. The Global Social Venture Competition Judging Criteria (http://www.socialvc.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=113&paren tID=110&grandparentID=58&nodeID=1) require a social impact assessment and calculating an SROI--social return on investment. What would be some of the venture's potential social impacts both quantitative and qualitative?

Refer to mission statements and policies and practices that the students have generated. What impacts do the values statements say they will have? What are they committed to? Refer to Answer in Question 3.

What are the measured benefits to society, and what are the data that are going to be used to represent those benefits? The field is still quite new with guides though existent for the Global Social Venture Competition Social Impact Assessment Guides 1, 2, 3 being helpful (http://www.socialvc.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageID= 96&parentID=58&nodeID=1). SROI is a concept developed to account for both traditional financial value created by an enterprise and the social value. There are 5 main steps to calculating SROI:

 Defining the Outputs--determining which outputs are you considering
 most important. Amount of CO2 reduced from wedding guests shopping
 online for gift? Number of dollars donated to charities? Numbers of
 trees saved from promoting green products? Numbers of lives extended
 from encouraging healthy lifestyles? Numbers of jobs created in
 developing countries from fair trade policies?

 Monetize: translate outputs into a dollar value where possible.
 Reduction in CO2 and use of fossil fuels reduces pollution by
 certain amount which reduces deaths/illnesses by how much. (Research
 on each required.)

 Develop social cash flow "pro formas." Calculate social benefits and
 costs as in projected discounted cash flow analysis.

 Where outcome is purely qualitative discuss what it is and how you
 will know it's happening. E.g., wedding guests feeling better as a
 result of contributing to social good will potentially treat each
 other better. It will potentially affect other expenditures and
 increasing awareness of people and planet issues thus increasing
 consumers awareness of need for socially responsible proactive
 behavior.

 Cite sources and articulate assumptions clearly. There is lots of
 room for creative thinking. Brainstorm and research. And for more
 information go to Research and Resources at http://www.socialvc.net.

The competition now stresses an assessment of the business' "Blended Value" which stresses high economic and social returns.

EPILOGUE

After investing a great deal of time and effort into our idea to develop a wedding website with feature strengths in gift registry (the mega-database) and localized links, we came to the conclusion that we could not go forward with this approach.

We came to this realization near the end of the quarter after we received feedback about our plan from our peers and mentors. We thought we could entice many large retailers to use our mega-database that would seamlessly link their database with ours for this website. The feedback we received indicated that this was unlikely, as retailers would have no incentive to do so. They could keep their own database and not pay to have someone else manage it. They would not leave themselves open to competitive pricing and risk their same giftware being purchased elsewhere, and they would not provide this proprietary customer base to another company.

This left us with only one major competitive advantage--localization. We wanted to be a portal site that would instantly localize information for the user. To see if this advantage was still strong, in March we revisited our competitors' websites to see if anything had changed. Not only were our competitors stronger, but we looked at these sites with clearer eyes and dug much deeper.

We found that the weddingchannel.com had vastly increased and improved its local hyperlinks to wedding vendors. We also found a new competitor, ultimatewedding.com, whose strategy mirrored our localization portal-site strategy. Not only did we see our plan eroding, we saw the lead our competitors had on us.

A more thorough investigation of TheKnot.com revealed many things we overlooked when we thought we had a grand e-commerce scheme. What we discovered was this: The Knot had added maps to its local vendors as well as credit ratings and business profiles that could be purchased. It still did not have extensive hyperlinks, however. But what did amaze us was the strong brand that this site was building. It was doing this because it had deep pockets and great visibility. The Knot had received seed money to start its site from AOL. It had an exclusive wedding site on AOL where it was receiving 6 million page views per month. In addition, it had established agreements with Intuit, and its wedding planning site was tied in with Quicken's pages. It was able to make these moves because of the venture capital provided by Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. The Knot was also building its brand offline. It was publishing wedding planning books through Bantam Doubleday Dell and developing a wedding planning series with a PBS affiliate. It also had numerous alliances with other large retailers and commercial entities.

We realized we had no competitive advantages that we could pursue in the short time left in the quarter. We do believe, however, there is opportunity in this marketplace. If we had to do it again, we would seek a niche market within this arena. A site could be developed and marketed to all wedding websites. Some ideas could be:

 A rating service similar to AAA that would provide couples an
 expectation of the services provided by a vendor.

 A wedding insurance clearinghouse. This site could pull together
 various policies from national insurance companies that relate in
 any way to putting on a wedding or function.

 A localized wedding planner. Make the plans, arrange contracts with
 vendors, and offer cookie-cutter packages to couples for set prices.

Bill was rather intrigued. He had wanted a career change, and he wanted to do something that would make a difference. He had not previously considered that a triple bottom line Wedding Information Site might be an answer.

REFERENCES

Andriof, J. & C. Marsden (n.d.). Corporate citizenship: What is it and how to assess it? Retrieved August 29, 2005, from http://users.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/cms_attachment_handler.cfm?f= d4a84630-c498-4457-8381-21cec958d6de&t=corporate_citizenship.pdf

Business for Social Responsibility (2005). BSR details. Retrieved September 7, 2005, from http://www.bsr.org/Meta/about/bsrdetails.cfm

Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: New Society.

Gentile, M. C. & J. Samuelson (2003, February). The state of affairs for management education and social responsibility. Keynote address to the AACSB International Deans Conference by Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute's Business and Society Program.

Global Social Venture Competition (n.d.). Judging criteria. Retrieved August 29, 2005, from http://www.socialvc.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=113& parentID=110&grandparentID=4&nodeID=1

GolinHarris (2005). Doing well by doing good 2005: The trajectory of corporate citizenship in American business. Retrieved August 3, 2005, from http://www.golinharris.com/offices/good.htm

Laszlo, C. (2003). The sustainable company: How to create lasting value through social and environmental performance. Washington, DC: Island Press.

List of disasters. (2005). Retrieved September 10, 2005, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disasters

Sauvante, M. (November, 2001). The "triple bottom line": A boardroom guide. Retrieved August 29, 2005, from http://www.rolltronics.com/TBL.pdf

Starbucks (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility 2004 Annual Report. Retrieved August 29, 2005, from http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/CSR2004fullbook.pdf

Sustainability whitepaper. (n.d.). Retrieved August 29, 2005, from http://www.rolltronics.com/ppl/sustain.html

United Nations Global Compact & Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (2004). Who cares wins: Connecting financial markets to a changing world. Retrieved September 10, 2005, from http://www.unglobalcompact.org/content/NewsDocs/WhoCaresWins.pdf

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, Res. 217 A (III) (1948). Retrieved September 7, 2005, from http://www.un.org/Overview/ rights.html

Harriet Stephenson, Seattle University

Diane Lockwood, Seattle University