The Challenges to the Minuto de Dios (A)

This case deals with alliances and organizational learning in partnership development. God’s Minute (El Minuto de Dios) had a vast experience in collaborations with the public and the private sectors. However, in early 2000, it sought to consolidate an alliance with Asocolflores, a flower producers’ union, that two years later had yielded few results. The alliance was built around the Building Communities (Construcción de Communidades) program, a model created in response to a request by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1998.  Through this program, the God’s Minute Corporation returned to its original values which, during the 40 years of its existence, had undergone transformations. In the early 1990s, the Corporation had competed with private building firms without having clear competitive advantages. The Building Communities program aimed at repositioning the Corporation’s social work as its competitive advantage vis-á-vis other housing solution providers.

The case illustrates the creation, development and full growth of a social company like the God’s Minute Corporation, the leadership of its founder, Eudist Father Rafael García Herreros, and the several types of cross-sector collaborations developed by the organization over time. The case offers the context in which the God’s Minute Corporation needs to elaborate on an alliance failure, in contrast to numerous prior successes. The resulting analysis should contribute to improve the collaboration with Asocolflores.

This case may be used to deal with the following topics:

• Social ventures’ inception, evolution and professionalization.
• Cross-sector alliances’ creation, development, management and challenges
• Business companies’ efforts and impact in social issues.