Tag Archives: business models

198. Three principles of “harmonized investment”

2011-09-12 Comments Off on 198. Three principles of “harmonized investment”

A little over a year ago, in a post on industry reinvestment at origin, I raised the prospect of “harmonized investment” — complementary, non-overlapping investments in the coffeelands by diverse actors on the coffee chain.  Recent events have inspired me to revisit the idea.

197. Introducing SROC

2011-09-05 Comments Off on 197. Introducing SROC

Social Return on Investment, or SROI, is a holistic approach to measuring return on investment that goes beyond financial returns to consider also an investment’s social, economic and environmental impacts.  The farmers of the 5 de junio cooperative in Nicaragua, in partnership with the Fabretto Foundation, a local NGO dedicated to promoting food security, seem […]

173. Clash of the titans – CSR v CSV, round II

2011-06-03 Comments Off on 173. Clash of the titans – CSR v CSV, round II

Earlier this year, competitiveness guru Michael Porter advanced a big idea in Harvard Business Review that I wrote about here because it was so relevant to discussions on this blog of new approaches to sustainability in coffee.  In the article (titled “The Big Idea”), Porter and co-author Mark Kramer articulated the concept of Creating Shared […]

122. Don’t take my word for it

2011-02-01 Comments Off on 122. Don’t take my word for it

I have been suggesting here for the past few years that what is good for smallholder farm families can also be good for business. I don’t think I managed to persuade many people. Now competitiveness guru Michael Porter has succeeded where I have struggled in making a compelling case for investment that goes beyond the traditional goal of generating financial returns.

105. The Coffeelands Blog turns 1

2010-11-04 Comments Off on 105. The Coffeelands Blog turns 1

Tomorrow, the CRS Coffeelands Blog turns 1. We won’t be able to publish the standard one-year-old birthday party picture of a wide-eyed baby with a face — and hands and hair and clothes — covered in icing and cake crumbs, but I did want to do something to observe the happy occasion.

84. SCAA’s Philanthropic Activity Survey

2010-08-19 Comments Off on 84. SCAA’s Philanthropic Activity Survey

I was pleasantly surprised on Monday when I received — along with every other member of the SCAA, I presume — a link to the SCAA’s Philanthropic Activity Survey. It is encouraging that the industry is beginning a broader dialogue within its membership about spending at origin, and seeking more information about on-the-ground partnerships in the coffeelands that work.

77. The case for (social) reinvestment at origin

2010-08-03 Comments Off on 77. The case for (social) reinvestment at origin

Food Security Solutions revolved around hands-on workshops designed to reduce hunger in the coffeelands. It had little coffee-specific content and was not designed to conduct coffee-related business. But if the experience of one CRS partner organization is any indication, this kind of non-coffee activity can have a big influence on the

73. Food Security Solutions makes Fresh Cup

2010-07-19 Comments Off on 73. Food Security Solutions makes Fresh Cup

Fresh Cup magazine has published a brief news story in its July issue on Food Security Solutions — the four-day workshop convened by Sustainable Harvest in Nicaragua in June. We are grateful to Fresh Cup for recognizing the importance of the first-ever multistakeholder gathering devoted exclusively to the issue of hunger.