Who Gives A Crap: A Social Enterprise Providing Sanitation Essay.

The history and key features of Who Gives A Crap

Question:

1.Describe the social enterprise and key features.

2.Identify and Analysis the Market for the Social Enterprises.

The paper describes “Who gives a Crap” which is a social enterprise based in Australia. It also provides the history and key features of the enterprise. In addition, the paper identifies and analyses the market in which the social enterprise operates. 7P marketing mix and SWOT analysis are some of the market analyzing strategies that have been used in the paper. Social enterprises are business initiatives which are meant to raise revenue and then use a fraction of the raised revenue in addressing economic, social or economic problems. The enterprise must therefore do everything possible to ensure that they remain competitive in the business market. There is no country where social enterprises are accorded preferential treatment in the business market. Social enterprises must therefore consider the marketing mix. In addition they must carefully analyze the market in which they operate. Since social enterprises uses a portion of their proceeds to improve the lives of people in the society, they must be able to carry out business and meet their targets.

Who gives a crap is a social enterprise that was started way back in 2012 by Danny Alexander, Griffiths and Jehan Ratnatunga.  The three people came up with the idea when they learned that there are close to 2.3 billion people worldwide who are in dire need of toilets. That was a huge fraction of the world’s total population (Anderson, 2015). The lack of toilets meant that about 40 % of the world population, more so those who live in Sub-Saharan Africa were prone to infections from diarrhea-related diseases. By good luck, it has been proved beyond doubt that accessibility to toilets is the only solution to diarrhea-related diseases. Toilets improve health, quality of life and also provide dignity at the same time (Cunningham, 2016).

Research has also shown that investing in a single dollar in sanitation is likely to yield $5.50 regarding economic prosperity. According to the Griffith and his colleagues, that was indeed crap. They therefore, decided to come up with an initiative that would transform the lives of people across the world. Griffith and his friends started “Who gives a crap (Marketing Minds, 2012).”

Who gives crap makes toilet paper, tissues, and paper towel from recycled materials and then sells them to customers. They then dedicate half of the proceeds obtained from the sales towards the building of toilets for people in developing countries. They also provide clean water access and hygiene education. As at now, 120,000 now have access to toilets courtesy of Who Gives A Crap.22, 758 trees have also been saved given that Who Gives A Crap uses recycled materials (Anderson, 2015). The use of eco-friendly materials have in turn led to the preservation of millions of litres of water and reduction of close to 4,000 tons of greenhouse gasses.

Griffiths is the current Chief Executive Officer of the social initiative. He is famously known to have sat on a toilet for 50 hours until $ 50,000 was raised by their crowdfunding campaign to start the initiative. Griffith has teamed up with Craig $ Karl in creating some smaller sized toilet roll wrappers. He has taken the move to ensure that they can sell as many toilet papers as possible (Cunningham, 2016). Another reason why they decided to team up with Craig and Karl was to enable them to reach out to new customers. The collaboration with Craig and Karl puts the organization in a good position to market Who Gives A Crap to their fans and also share their story (Cunningham, 2016).

The market analysis of social enterprises

7Ps Marketing Mix

Who Gives A Crap deals in generally basic products. Everyone needs toilet papers. Who gives crap makes toilet paper and paper towel from recycled materials. The products are of high quality, useful and convenient for use by the consumers (Anderson, 2015). They are made and packed such that all the customers would have value for their money. In addition; they are donating 50% of their profits. The 50% of profits is channeled towards the building of toilets for people, mostly in developing countries (Desmond & Stone, 2007).

Who Gives A Crap sells their commodities at competitive prices. The prices are very affordable. The fact that they are making their products from recycled materials has enabled them to sell the products at fairly reduced prices and still makes profits. The products are sold to high income earners as well as low income earners, meaning that they must be sold at affordable prices (Lehmann & Winer, 2007).

 Toilet papers and paper towels made by the social enterprise is sold in almost all parts of the nation (Cunningham, 2016). The products are easily available in retail shops, wholesale stores, and supermarkets. They can also be purchased from the social enterprise’s offices and depots. Those who have access to the internet can also access the organization’s products online on their website (Ferrell & Hartline , 2010). The enterprise has a website whereby customers can access view and compare the prices of various products.

Who Gives A Crap has branding marks on all its products. The branding marks enable customers to distinguish its products from those of its competitors. The fact that it donates 50% of all its profits towards the building of toilets in developing countries is in itself a very serious promotion activity (Marketing Minds, 2012). The idea of constructing toilets has made the organization and its products to become very famous in the countries. The organization has also been able to understand their customers’ product preferences and taste. They have therefore ensured that the customers are satisfied by the products offered to them (Ferrell & Hartline , 2010).

Who Gives A Crap has employed people who make, supply and sell their products to customers. They have people in management, employees and those who provide customer services. The employees who provide customer services are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that customers are satisfied by the products and services offered by the social enterprise (Anderson, 2015).

Who Gives A Crap recycles materials and uses them to make tissues and toilet papers. The products are then transported to the marketplaces where they are sold. Proceeds from the selling of the products are then divided into two. 50% of the proceeds are used to construct toilets in developing countries while the other 50% is used in the expansion and day to day running of the organization’s activities (Anderson, 2015).

The physical environment of the organization is clean, presentable, smart and modern. The management of the social enterprise has ensured that all their physical environments across the world are appealing to their customers. Accessibility has also been greatly improved such that all their customers can visit any the premises of the social enterprise without any obstruction (princesstachana, 2016).

Strength

The social enterprise has made for itself a brand name through the building of toilets for people in developing countries. The customers, therefore, have a feeling of ownership in the enterprise. As a result, they promote the sale of their products. Also, the enterprise makes their products from recycled materials which greatly reduce their production cost.

Weakness

The only weakness of the social enterprise is the inability to monopolize the market completely.

Opportunities

There are several business organizations such as Craig and Karl that have partnered with the Social Enterprise. Such collaboration markets the products and services offered by the social enterprise. They are therefore able to reach out to more customers (Cunningham, 2016).

Threats

The social enterprise is only investing 50% of their profits while their competitors are investing all their profits. As a result, their competitors have the edge over them when it comes to the rate of expansion and development (Anderson, 2015).

Conclusion

Social enterprises work extremely hard in order to raise revenue to sustain their operations. However, they must be aware of the competitors in the market. They must therefore effectively adopt the correct market strategies that would enable them to win as many customers as possible. Social enterprises have had a tremendous impact in communities across the world. Government spending in social projects has declined in the recent past. The organizations have done very well by filling in the gap.

References

Marnie Cunningham. (2016). Who Gives a Crap: Toilet Paper That's Making a Difference. Global Citizen, 13-15.

Anderson, C. (2015). Social Startup 'Who Gives A Crap' Is Making Toilet Paper Cool To Help Those In Need. The Huffington Post, 5-6.

Desmond, J., & Stone, M. A. (2007). Fundamentals of marketing. London, UK: Routledge.

Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline , M. D. (2010). Marketing Strategy (5th edition ed.). Chicago: South-Western.

Lehmann, D., & Winer, R. (2007). Analysis for Marketing Planning (7 ed.). Syndey: McGraw-Hill Education.

Marketing Minds. (2012, March 13). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from https://www.marketingminds.com.au/branding/apple_branding_strategy.html.

princesstachana. (2016). Who Gives A Crap Tissues and Toilet Paper. Wordpress, 9.