AEMA:

Learning Environmental Entrepreneurship 

Authors

Cecilia Rena

Gabriel Berger

Mario Roitter

University

Universidad San Andrés Argentina

Published in

2003

This case describes the collaboration between Junior Achievement Argentina (JAA) and Coca-Cola Argentina (CCA) to develop and execute a customized environmental education program to be delivered by JAA at schools. This NGO was considering exporting this program to other countries in order to grow its revenues, but program delivery was subject to an exclusivity agreement with CCA.

JAA’s origins dated back to the 1990s, when Eduardo Marty decided to replicate Junior Achievement in Argentina, after researching non-profit organizations in the United States. Marty believed that teaching the free enterprise system to young students was the key to accomplishing a national transformation. JAA Argentina had experienced incredible growth. It had started out as the only JA program operator in the country and had become the headquarters of a national organization including four autonomous and semi-independent franchises in different locations –Mendoza, Tucumán, Córdoba and Rosario- and two local satellite offices –Mar del Plata and Neuquén.

Coca-Cola started operating in Argentina in 1944.  At the time, Coca-Cola products in Argentina were produced and bottled through a network of six independent, franchised bottling firms –stand-alone companies licensed to produce and bottle these products. Bottling companies operated under the company’s regulations and internal standards. CCA underwent several stages in its relationship with the community. From an initial philanthropic collaboration that lasted over 40 years and was mainly based on donations –of beverages and money– to several kinds of institutions, such as hospitals, schools, homes, etc., the company moved on to developing programs mostly related to waste collection, and, finally, to a recent strategic approach that yielded several programs -some of them carried out by the company itself and others developed and implemented through alliances with NGOs primarily focused on waste recycling, environmental preservation and education.

This case will prove useful to analyze collaborations between NGOs and private companies on the basis of “customized” educational projects helping to meet companies’ strategic needs. It also describes the joint work process involved, while tackling the “ownership” issues that crop up in programs developed and funded by a single company, and exploring how to balance the needs and interests of private companies and NGOs.

The case may be used in courses studying the relationship between private companies and communities, in corporate strategy courses dealing with corporate positioning strategies and environmental concerns, or in strategic marketing courses addressing relationships between sponsoring and sponsored organizations.