Blog Post Week 7

Partners in our Venture:

  1. World Hope
    1. We worked at World Hope and with their staff.
    2. They helped us because they provided us with workspace and connections in Sierra Leone. We helped them too because we expanded their reputation by involving them and tying them to our research.
    3. We should continue to participate in important projects so that we can continue our relationship with them.
  2. Betteh Bakery
    1. They allowed us to use their spaces for baking the muffins and roasting the sweet potatoes
    2. We helped them develop their business model and they gave us access to resources we needed. We attempted to make it an equal relationship but there were some kinks that we needed to work out.
    3. It would have been a stronger relationship if they were further along in their business and we were able to fully rely on them for the things that they said we could rely on them for. 
  3. Wesleyan Church
    1. We were able to establish this partnership through our relationship with the Betteh Bakery. Betteh Bakery is owned by the Wesleyan Church.
    2. They allowed us to use their church as a platform to administer our questionnaires. They provided us with tables, chairs, and volunteers who helped us effectively gather data. We helped the church by helping them with their core goal: helping the people of Sierra Leone.
    3. To strengthen this relationship, we should be sure to keep communications strong even when we are not in Sierra Leone.
  4. Allieu Bangura, Director of Nutrition at World Hope International
    1. Partnered to help us drive our project ideas, connect us with Director of Food & Nutrition, and to give us general guidance in the first stages of our project
    2. ^ Introducing nutritious product for them
    3. More communication
  5. Clinics/CHOs
    1. Our partnership with clinics and CHOs allowed us to gather data from mothers and children.
    2. The clinics allowed us to come and receive data from mothers and children. The mothers and children got to taste our food.
    3. This relationship was very beneficial. In order to make it more equitable and stronger we would need to bring enough food for everyone.
  6. University of Freetown
    1. Students from the university who interned at World Hope were able to help us with whatever we needed for our project.
    2. We gave their students real life experience in their fields that they were interested in and they helped us further our project. We worked together nicely but it was not necessarily equitable; we are students in charge of other students. 
    3. This partnership would have been strengthened if we were positioned closer locationally 
  7. College of Engineering (funding partner)
    1. The college of engineering gave us funding to conduct our research in SL this summer.
    2. To strengthen this relationship we can write a publication to bring publicity to the university and the college.
  8. GELH (funding partner)
    1. GELH funded $1000 for each of us to travel to Sierra Leone.
    2. GELH helped us by making it financially feasible for us to go. We help them because we are giving them a good reputation and helping them contribute.
    3. It will be a stronger relationship after we do the GELH presentation at the end of October; they will know exactly what we did and how they helped us.
  9. Creative Inquiry Dept
    1. The Creative Inquiry Department gave us funding for in country expenses 
    2. We gave them publicity for the project by coming back and producing projects
    3. We can make the relationship better by continuing to advocate and recruit new GSIF members 
  10. Health Ministry of Sierra Leone
    1. Aminata Shamit Koroma- the Director of Food and Nutrition at the Ministry of Health in Sierra Leone is the originator of the project
    2. We would like general/official approval of our products from the Ministry of Health. If we hope to distribute our product in hospitals in the future, we will need a strong relationship with the Ministry of Health in order to gain necessary approvals as well. 
    3. This partnership still needs to be established in order to see how each of us can benefit one another, but we could help the Ministry of Health by expanding the number of affordable foods that can be used to fight malnutrition and stunting. 
  11. Translators
    1. World Hope employee (Jawara) helped us connect with them and establish a partnership
    2. They helped us to effectively communicate and administer our questionnaires to the Sierra Leonean people. We compensated them for their work and time.
    3. To strengthen this relationship, we must keep in touch with the translators so that we can use them in upcoming years.

 

PART II

Ultimate Outcome that we want to see:

  • Elimination or minimization of micronutrient deficiencies/malnutrition in children in Sierra Leone.   

 

How to build a larger movement to get to this cause?

  • Build a coalition 
    • Diverse group of individuals and organizations who work together to reach a common goal

 

OUR COALITION

Ultimate Goal: Elimination or minimization of micronutrient deficiencies/malnutrition in children in Sierra Leone.  

Name: NewTrition Coalition 

People:

  • Sierra Leone President
    • Why the relationship is critical: approval of the products and support for marketing and distribution purpose
  • Sierra Leone Honorables
    • Why the relationship is critical: support for marketing and distribution purpose
  • Director of Food & Nutrition, Aminata Shamit Koroma
    • Why the relationship is critical: brains behind the project, so we would like her approval of the products we create
  • Ministry of Health and Sanitation
    • Why the relationship is critical: potentially need to approve the products we create in the future
  • WHI
    • Why the relationship is critical: help us build relationships with officials, companies, and mothers in Sierra Leone and give us credibility; can help us secure funding and approvals 
  • UNICEF
  • Mother Support Groups
    • In country
    • UNICEF
  • Soccer Player
  • Sierra Leone Standards Bureau

Blog Post Week 6

 

Team Name: _Malnutrition_(NEWtrition)   Date: _10/2/19__
Goals Personal Goals (small g)

  1. Neena – To contribute in any and every way possible so that we are able to advance our project forward to achieve the goal i have always had coming into this project: to help children become healthier. Personally, I hope to become a better teammate and learn better communication and leadership skills that can help me attain this goal.
  2. Kayla – I want to help with the project to see it pick off the ground. My goal is to find ways to preserve the muffins so that our shelflife can be extended and I want to set up the process in laying the ground work for clinical trials. It is important to me that I also have the ability to grow in my role in this project as we are losing some team members and I want to learn from them as well. It’s important to me that we remain one team and connected like we were in Sierra Leone.
  3. Karli – I hope to bring my unique background as an Economics major to our team to ensure that the business side is realistic. I have gained a lot of passion for this project, especially after seeing the impact that it will have on families in Sierra Leone. For this reason, I want to make sure that we will be able to execute our project in a cost effective, and smart way.
  4. Chris – My goals align with the development of the project’s products. I plan to continue the development of our recipes and the supply chain management to match it. I will also be focused on gathering grant funding for the project to do nutrition research and fund my trip there next year. 
  5. Seanna – My goals for this semester are to have a successful GHTC conference and for us to draft papers that explain our fieldwork experience. I also hope that we are able to define both recipes and develop successful business and marketing plans in order to take the next steps for our products.
  6. Rachel – Moving into this semester, my main goal in the beginning will be to research how we can preserve our pudding recipe through possible use of antioxidants/preservatives or through packing mechanisms, this way the product is more accessible for families.  After that I am hoping to help collaborate with the rest of my team to make a publishable paper of sorts on our research for a journal potentially. In general, I am want to keep our team close knit working as one entity and start ‘passing the baton’ to new members to forward the project.
  7. Matt – Over the next few weeks, I am hoping to analyze our research and use the data we gathered this summer to move forward. I would really like to publish a paper and apply for any grants that are available. Technically, I would like to determine the appropriate packaging to prevent the pudding from spoiling.

Project GOAL (big G) – Create sustainable and effective change for the children of Sierra Leone through providing them with a healthy, nutrient-dense, easily accessible, and cost affordable muffin and pudding.

  • Scaling to resources 
    • We got a much better sense of what resources would be available to us in Sierra Leone and what a realistic cost for those products would be. These are things that we will implement in our product going forward this semester
    • In Sierra Leone, we also learned to optimize how we use our biggest resources: our team members. We learned that by divvying up roles and responsibilities we work together better and get more done.
    • Once we know what our budget will be, and understand what grants will help fund us, we will know how to make sure we optimize these resources
  • Scaling to constraints
    • We do have limited time especially because there are deadlines for submitting papers to be published
    • Switch over of team members
  • Our metrics for success
    • Business success
      • How many people are producing / selling our product?
      • Are people making more money?
      • How many children are our products actually reaching?
      • Is NEWtrition sustainable (eventually)?
    • Improving health: Our hope is that the malnutrition rate among children in Sierra Leone will eventually decrease in response to our product
      • What is the malnutrition rate for children in Sierra Leone?
Roles Deliverables Responsibilities
Every team member was assigned to focus on one part of the data, and we will use each of our findings to write a paper and really understand our product and its capabilities in Sierra Leone.

  • Neena – microbial testing in muffin, nutrient testing in muffin, shelf life testing in muffin
  • Kayla – preservative use in muffin, clinical studies for both products, liaison to WHI and other SL organizations for mufin
  • Karli – supply chain and marketing plan for both products, 
  • Chris – muffin recipe improvement, grants for both products
  • Seanna – pudding recipe improvement, nutrient testing in pudding, liaison to WHI and other SL organizations for pudding
  • Rachel – antioxidant use in the pudding, preservative use in pudding
  • Matt – shelf life testing in pudding, packaging for pudding

Project Manager – At this point in the project, we have not decided on a project manager. At the end of this semester, we will need to decide on new project leaders because Chris and Seanna will be graduating.

Procedures Decision Making Procedure – We will communicate and voice opinions and ideas about a certain decision all together. We will try to work towards a consensus at first. If there is a large divide and a consensus does not seem possible, we will make a majority rules type of decision.

How we will have effective meetings – We will come into meetings with a clear sense of what we want to accomplish in that time. Decisions are best made in person when we are all together so we must make use of our time together to talk about bigger decisions and next steps. We will follow up on shared documents online and keep records of all discussions in meetings so that everyone has access to all the information. Kayla is officially our meeting scribe. Neena will be the facilitator and the time keeper.

Communication

  • We have a shared google drive in which we all have access to documents from each meeting, resources from SL, and all of our data
  • We know that from week to week, each member’s schedule varies greatly and therefore we have found out that coordinating a meeting time in the beginning of each week for that specific week is the best way for us to all meet up.
Relationships Although we do not have much diversity in majors within our group (6/7 of us are bioengineers), we do have Karli who will be very helpful with the more business-oriented aspects of the products. However, we are diverse in ages. We range from sophomores to seniors and have different perspectives because of it.


Our team name is NEWtrition. We want to create a new type of nutrition in Sierra Leone. We are creative and want to use our skills to make children healthier through our social venture. 

 

Blog Post Week 5

Facts 

  1. Neem, indigenous tree in idea, is sacred
  2. Neem has been used for medicinal purposes, food production, toiletries, fuel, and pesticides 
  3. Chetan operates a business of neem products and employs 60 people
  4. Indigenous to india
  5. Tom Johnson is the Director of Oregon Organic Pesticide Services (OOPS) 
  6. Tom travelled to India on vacation and discovered the neem seeds’ use as a potent pesticide
  7. Tom imported neem seeds to his factory in the USA and experimentation and developed a formula for an organic pesticide based on the seeds
  8. Tom’s company invested $5 million to conduct extensive safety and performance tests over the next decade
  9. Tom’s company got security clearances from the EPA
  10. OOPS wants to set up a subsidiary business in the rapidly emerging market of India
  11. He got a patent for the pesticide and made a profit of $12.5 million in a year
  12. He can sell the product at a lower price than Chetan and reduce his business
  13. Tom demands a royalty from Chetan

 

Ethical Issue: Is it ethical for Tom to put Chetan out of business, and charge him a royalty for using neem products?

Stakeholders and Motivations

  1. Chetan
    1. Successful business of neem tree products that produces pesticides, skin creams, contraceptives, lamp oil, and more
  2. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA)
    1. Wants to ensure public health, safety and wellbeing
    2. Wants to ensure the environment is not at risk of destruction 
    3. No negative environmental consequences occur when pesticides are used
  3. Oregon Organic Pesticide Services (OOPS)
    1. Wants people to buy the pesticide from him/make a profit
    2. Put a patent on the pesticide and wants it to be followed
    3. Want healthy, organic patents 
  4. Tom
    1. Social impact
    2. Make money
    3. Tap into indian market
  5. Indian cottage industries
    1. Want social mobility 
    2. Want their communities to be profitable/ have good business
  6. Farmers 
    1. Want crops that are consistently producing good yields
  7. Consumers
    1. Want a price that is lower cost or the same cost as before
    2. Want to support their friends/family in India who are making money through Chetan
  8. Indian and US government 
    1. Want to improve local economy
    2. Responsibility to protect Indian business owners
    3. Secondary stakeholder

 

What rights does Chetan have? 

Chetan does not have any legal rights to the neem pesticide products. Once there is a patent on it, he is not legally allowed to sell these products. However, they do have rights to their other products such as skin creams, contraceptives, lamp oil and many other products because these have not been protected by any patents thus far. 

Is it ethical for the US company to uphold their patent rights?

Our team believes that it is ethical for OOPS to uphold their patent rights, but it is not moral. They are only taking legal actions, but taking business away from Chetan and on top of that, charging a royalty. 

Possible solutions

  1. Start pushing the other products they manufacturer such as skin creams, contraceptives and lamp oil. 
    1. Ethical or principle code: virtue based thinking
    2. Pros
      1. won’t have to fire employees
      2. they will still have an income
      3. continue to produce profitable neem products
    3. Cons: 
      1. Still will lose market share because they are losing the pesticide
  2. Chetan can suggest a merge with OOPS
    1. Ethical or principle code: consequence based thinking
    2. Pros: 
      1. Can still maintain Indian connection
      2. Can still make an income
      3. Can be considered CSR for OOPS
    3. Cons: 
      1. Chetan will not be able to function independently
      2. have to rely on OOPS for decision making 
      3. May have to lay off some employees
  3. Find loopholes in the patent- alter formula to make it different from what is patented
    1. Ethical or principle code: consequence based thinking
    2. Pros: 
      1. Produce an environmentally friendly product that is similar to OOPS
      2. Will be able to still produce pesticides
      3. Won’t have to fire employees
      4. Will still have an income
    3. Cons: 
      1. Still cannot produce it as cheaply as OOPS
      2. Probably will still lose profit


Seek Additional Assistance

This link has an article which talks about core values and the three guiding principles. https://hbr.org/1996/09/values-in-tension-ethics-away-from-home

This link provides in depth information about intellectual property and copyright ethics. http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/alfino/dossier/Papers/COPYRIGH.htm

 

Best Plan of Action
Solution 2: Suggest a merge with OOPS
It is in Chetan’s best interest to merge with OOPS in order to be successful. OOPS is able to produce products at a lower cost than Chetan due to economies of scale. This will maximize benefits fort those involved and minimize risk. Although Chetan technically has rights to products other than pesticides, OOPS could easily get these products patented, and Chetan cannot due to lack of resources. Therefore Chetan should not rely on other products, as there is a large risk. Additionally, even if Chetan finds a loophole in the patent and creates a new formula for pesticides, OOPS will still be able to produce it at a lower cost and Chetan will still lose business. Therefore, it is in Chetan’s best interest to merge with OOPS. This way, Chetan’s employees will still have a job. Chetan and OOPS are not fair competition, and it is not worth it for Chetan to try to compete. Although they won’t be able to function independently, they will be able to still benefit from the venture. 

 

Implications on the venture

  • The environment and people’s health will likely improve because an organic pesticide will be used
  • OOPS is well respected because they chose to partner with another company that improves the livelihood of workers in the Indian cottage industries. 
  • Chetan is able to have a sustainable business that people look up to/trust because they partner with a US company
  • People in the cottage industry have jobs, causing the local economy to improve 
  • People will have a greater awareness of “organic” pesticides in India

Part 2: Grassroots diplomacy

Facts

  • 6 months later, OOPS has 20 different neem-based products being sold in India
  • Most successful product is neem-based soap
  • Soap wrapper features photo of Tom Johnson
  • Chetan’s wrapper features a photo of his great grandfather (local legend)
  • Chetan met with Tom Johnson several times and Tom is open to a collaboration 
  • Chetan’s business is suffering and he’ll have to lay off half his staff
  • Half his staff feels cheated by Chetan, and the other half is confident that Chetan will find his way out

The problem: Chetan’s business is struggling with the existence of Tom Johnson’s business and he is forced to make decisions that may upset his coworkers.

Stakeholders and their motivations:

  1. Chetan
    1. Personal: 
      1. protect his employees
      2. maintaining his 7 generation family business
      3. Stay safe
    2. Professional: 
      1. successful business
      2. make money
  2. Tom/OOPS
    1. Personal and Professional
      1. expand OOPS
      2. stay on top of the Indian market
      3. make money
  3. Chetan’s employees
    1. Personal: 
      1. Protect their families’ hard work
      2. Keep the reputation of the business
    2. Professional
      1. Want to make money

3 Alternative Solutions

  1. Merge with OOPS and hire some of his local employees
    1. Pros: 
      1. Keeps some of his people employed
      2. OOPS will get Chetan’s loyal customers and make more money
      3. OOPS has a good reputation because it is an American business with personal ties in India
      4. Forces out some competition
    2. Cons
      1. Chetan will lose some of the history of his company
      2. Probably cannot hire all of Chetan’s employees
    3. Saving face: Chetan saves face with the employees that he saves jobs for
    4. Implications of relationships:
      1. Short term: Chetan’s employees may feel like they are being betrayed by chetan working with an American company, some people who are laid off will be angry
      2. Long term: eventually the employees who he keeps will get over there resentments because they are still making money
    5. Implications on venture:
      1. Short term: Chetan will be absorbed by OOPS
      2. Long term: The collaboration will have a larger market share, Chetan and local people will still be working for the company

  2. Dissolve the business and retire
    1. Pros:
      1. Doesn’t have to compete with OOPS
      2. Chetan still has money 
    2. Cons:
      1. Chetan’s employees will lose their jobs
        1. Lose their income
        2. Be angry
      2. Community will dislike Chetan
      3. The community will lose a long-standing business that is sacred to India
    3. Saving face: Chetan saves face with OOPS because he isn’t competing with him anymore
    4. Implications on relationships
      1. Short term: employees will dislike Chetan
      2. Long term: employees will still dislike Chetan, and the whole community maybe against him
    5. Implications on venture:
      1. Short term: OOPS does not have any competition
      2. Long term: OOPS may struggle because the whole community will be against them / not like them for the situation with Chetan

  3. Form a collaboration where OOPS produces and Chetan supplies
    1. Pros
      1. Take advantage of OOPS’ economies of scale
      2. Take advantage of Chetan’s local connection
      3. Employees can keep jobs
        1. Will be happy
      4. Chetan is not giving up all of his power
    2. Cons
      1. Due to the patent, OOPS has the power right now and will not do anything that will force them to give up some money
      2. Hard to prove that this will work
      3. People still may not like the connection to an American company
      4. The product may lose some of its local vibe / originality because OOPS is in charge of production
    3. Saving face: Chetan saves face with employees because they’ll keep their jobs, and saves face with OOPS because he will not be competing with them
    4. Implications on relationships
      1. Short term: good relationship with OOPS, employees might be unhappy that Chetan is partnering with an American company
      2. Long term: eventually employees will be glad that they still have jobs and that there was a solution
    5. Implications on venture:
      1. Short term: might be a little bit complicated
      2. Long term: will have economies of scale and close Indian connection with a lot of support

Additional Assistance

Indians might be upset with a foreign entity coming in and taking over, but if they are supported by locals, it might be easier for them to tolerate. We saw this in Sierra Leone when we used translators and World Hope International staff to put the community at ease. 

Best Solution
Solution 3: form a collaboration where OOPS produces and Chetan supplies

This is the best solution because OOPS will be able to use its American resources and have economies of scale. At the same time, Chetan will have the connections with the local Indians when supplying the neem products because he is Indian and has local employees. Everybody will be able to keep their jobs and Chetan will be saving face with all of his employees. He will also save face with OOPS because they are collaborating and OOPS is okay with this. This is better than solution 1, where they would merge, and Chetan would really be giving up his power. In this situation, he is still in charge of distribution, but unfortunately not production, so the product may lose some of what made it so special, like his grandfather’s face. Although people maybe unhappy with Chetan for collaborating with an American company, it is still better than solution 2 where nobody would have a job when he dissolved the company. Chetan should also consider speaking to Tom Johnson about incorporating some of Chetan’s traditions into the company to satisfy the workers. 

Solution Implementation

  1. Create a deal with Tom from OOPS about production and distribution
    1. Figure out profit split
  2. Explain to employees any changes in their roles
  3. OOPS uses their resources and economies of scale to produce at the lowest cost
  4. Chetan and employees distribute through local connections