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1. Summay of Case 1.2: TOMS Puts its Right Foot forward, page 102

2. What are the key points/concepts of the case?

3. How might combining commercial objectives and social goals improve the impact of corporate social responsibility efforts? How might the two conflict

4. What aspect of the “One for One” philosophy appeal to consumers? How might it appeal to consumers who may not otherwise be motivated to support corporate social responsibility?

5. Could a company like TOMS have come about absent the role of Blake Mycoskie? What is the role of the individual in entrepreneurial ventures such as TOMS?

   

ou think that state ribe good social aranyilip of their workers panies create and therefore are part of their rtising message? Do consumers judge companies base their buying decision on their perceptions Orporate behavior and values? Is the historic de in" question (e.g., "Made in the USA") now g replaced by a "made by" inquiry (e.g., "Made Company X" or "Made for Company X by Com- Y")? en the principles noted in the case, how can com- es comment on their positive actions to promote an rights so that consumers will think well of ? Would you propose that a company (a) do OTES ike CEO Retracts University Donation over man Rights," SocialFunds.com, May 3, 00, www.socialfunds.com/news/print. ?sfArticleld=237. arc Kasky v. Nike Inc., No. 994446, 02 C.D.O.S. 00 (Cal., San Francisco Superior Ct. 2002), p://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme- art/4th/27/939.html (accessed November, 15, 2016). da Greenhouse, "Free Speech for Companies on tices Agenda," New York Times, April 20, 2003, A17 ada Greenhouse, "Nike Free Speech Case Is expectedly Returned to California," New York nes, June 27, 2003. p. A16. 5. What does Nike's continued financial success, in spite of the lawsuit, suggest about consumers' reac- tions to negative publicity? Have American media and NGOs exaggerated the impact of a firm's labor practices and corporate social responsibility on its sales? How should managers of an MNC respond to such negative publicity? Source: This case was prepared by Lawrence Beer, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University as the basis for class discussion. It is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective managerial capability or administrative responsibility. 5. "Nike and child labour - how it went from laggard to leader," www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/nike. html (accessed November 16, 2016). 6. Nike Inc., "Nike Foundation Secures Footing in Helping to Reach Millennium Development Goals," press release, www.nikebiz.com (accessed September 15, 2005). 7. Nike Inc., "Nike Announces $200,000 Grant to Hillsboro Schools," press release, www.nikebiz. com (accessed March 6, 2007). Ads Q 132-133/6 < k < T TOMS Puts Its Right Foot Forward Nearing 30 years old and tired from working long hours on his fourth start-up, serial entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie took a much-needed extended vacation to Argentina in 2006. While there, Mycoskie fully immersed himself in the local culture, learning to dance the tango, enjoying fine Argentine wine, and engaging in sports such as polo. Mycoskie also took note of the diverse Argentine fashion culture. One trend in particular that caught Mycoskie's eye was the soft canvas footwear called the "alpargata," worn by nearly all Argentines. During his stay, Mycoskie purchased and began wearing his own alpargatas. He quickly realized how functional and comfortable the shoes were, leading him to wonder: Would consumers in the United States also be interested in such a product? Blake Mycoskie: Serial Entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie, born in Arlington, Texas, is the founder and "Chief Shoe Giver" for TOMS Shoes. A world trav- eler and former realty show contestant, Mycoskie has spent his entire career involved in start-ups. Much of Mycoskie's business knowledge was self-taught through reading biographies of successful businesspeople. Though originally enrolled at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Mycoskie dropped out after just two years when he lost his tennis scholarship due to an injury. This newly found freedom gave Mycoskie the chance to put his entre- preneurial spirit into action. His first start-up business, EZ Laundry, was a small laundry service located at SMU. The university, with no campus dry cleaning service, provided steady demand." By 1999, EZ Laundry had expanded to three more universi- ties, and Mycoskie sold the company to his partner." Fol- lowing this experience, Mycoskie moved to Nashville and founded his next venture, Mycoskie Media. As an outdoor billboard company, Mycoskie Media focused on market- ing country music. The company turned a steady profit, and Mycoskie sold it in just nine months. With two successful businesses behind him, Mycoskie and his sister, Paige, applied to be on the reality show Survivor in 2001. Although they did not make the cut for Survivor, they were ultimately cast in the travel-based real- ity series. The Amazing Race. Through this experience, Mycoskie was able to venture to Africa, Asia, and South America. Ultimately finishing the race as second runner une the heathacleister teams missed out on the million U.S. Xnd perhaps d Mycoskie to Argentina for the first time. Late moved to Los Angeles, where he start-up, cable network Reality Cer ture, Mycoskie joined forces with I of E! Entertainment Television." The network debuted in 2003, with a planned format of airing both new, original programming as well as reruns of past successful realty shows. The venture was able to raise large amounts of funding from backers and proved successful until 2005, when competitor channel Fox Reality began to dominate ratings." A short time later, Mycoskie (holding true to his entrepreneurial spirit) partnered with the founders of Traf- ficschool.com to create his fourth business, Drivers Ed Direct, which functioned as an online-based drivers educa- tion service. To increase brand awareness, Mycoskie cre- ated a viral marketing company, the Closer Marketing Group, to better promote his driver education business. 13 The TOMS Experiment On the heels of these successes, Mycoskie took his pivotal trip to Argentina in 2006. As his adventure was nearing its conclusion, Mycoskie happened to stumble upon an aid worker conducting a volunteer shoe drive. She was working to provide impoverished children with new shoes, explaining to Mycoskie that, even in more-developed countries like Argentina, children in poverty often lacked shoes. Without shoes, simple daily tasks can be quite difficult and children are also especially vulnerable to dis- ease and illness when lacking proper footwear. According to the volunteer, inconsistent donations limited the suc- cess of events like shoe drives. Over the next few days, Mycoskie's eyes were opened to the realities of poverty across Argentina. He traveled with the volunteer to several local villages, observing pov- erty among children first hand. The experience left an strong impression on Mycoskie, stimulating him to con- sider getting involved in addressing poverty.15 Mycoskie strategized how to address the problem. Although he con- sidered forming a charity to fund shoe donations for the children, the uncertainty posed by often inconsistent and uneven donations led Mycoskie to consider more busi- ness-oriented solutions. Having a constant flow of shoes available for donation was deemed as a critical element to the success of the effort. Mycoskie therefore settled on creating a for-profit business in which the sale of each pair of shoes would fund the donation of a pair of shoes for impoverished children. Mycoskie, reflecting on his