CDI (B): The Market for Digital Inclusion: Social, Commercial and Government Enterprise Models

Published 30 Sep 2009
Reference 5597
Topic Strategy
Region Global
Length 6 page(s)
Summary

Case A describes how Rodrigo Baggio in 1995 developed the first computer and citizen schools in Brazil to address the problem of digital exclusion. By 2005 the CDI network included almost 1,000 schools throughout Latin America. However, with the rapid growth came quality control problems and organisational complexities. In addition there was increasing competition from the government and from the private sector. Rodrigo and his team needed to re-assess the positioning of CDI while grappling with the complexities of managing a large network-based organisation. Case (B) continues CDI’s story and presents the challenges that Rodrigo and his team faced in 2008 and are still dealing with at present. There are now 80,000 privately run cybercafés and 6,000 government Telecentros in Brazil. The CDI team needs to develop new mechanisms for improving the sustainability of the CDI network and empowering the network members. They also need to rethink CDI’s added value to society in the context of an increasingly crowded market with competing solutions.

Teaching objectives

The key goal is to help students understand how to apply the concept of strategy to a social sector organisation. The learning applies to any values-based organisation that needs to identify its distinctive assets and capabilities for the strategy-making process. The take-away is how to re-define the market positioning and adopt measures that reinforce the organisation?s distinctive assets, and avoid erosion of its core values. Secondary goals are to: - redefine mission to avoid overlap with government and private-sector programmes (case B) - develop sensitivity to the need to use financial and accounting information for the strategy development process in social-oriented organisations - discuss social entrepreneurship challenges (business model innovation, scaling up strategy)

Keywords
  • social entrepreneurship
  • social innovation
  • digital exclusion
  • managing NGOs
  • strategy in values-led organizations
  • business model innovation
  • scaling up social innovations
  • youth empowerment
  • RD0909
  • AR2009
  • AR0910