How good ideas can change the world

I have spent way too many hours over the last couple days reading for my Business Strategy & Planning capstone business course. I had just read an article titled “How Global Brands Compete” by Holt, Quelch, & Taylor that talked about, amongst other things, suggestions for multinationals on how to manage social responsibility. So it was quite the coincidence that I stumbled upon this blog post by Guy Kawasaki that talked about Playpumps - a new venture that is tackling the problem of unsanitary drinking water by harnessing the power of playing children.

We are all familiar with the “recent” surge in popularity and buzz surrounding sustainability and the resulting greenwashing that many big firms are doing to try and keep up. The authors of the article I read addressed this issue as well and as a result, asserted that the fourth tenant to successful global brand management is to treat “antiglobals” as customers rather than enemies by appealing to their cries for responsible business practices. The fifth tenant they suggest is then to treat social responsibility as an opportunity to invest in new entrepreneurial ventures that could yield profitable returns.

Even though this is, or should be, no secret to any brand manager, its interesting that this simple solution to such a complex problem was capitalized on by a new venture, rather than a multinational who specializes in water purification or distribution.

Check it out for yourself:

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