MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
Bachelor of Business
MANAGEMENT FOR SOCIAL IMPACT
MGMT704
Assessment 3: ONLINE TEST – STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS
SEMESTER One, 2023
Date: Week 12
This assessment is worth 35% of your final grade and is an individual assessment. It is
‘open book’ – You have access to the lecture slides, readings, your notes, internet sources,
etc. The test questions will be available on Canvas on Monday, Week 12.
You are required to submit a typewritten MS Word document of your answers through the
submission portal under the Assessments tab on Canvas on or before 11:59 pm on
Friday, Week 12. Make sure you number your answers according to the questions
on the Test Sheet below. Late submissions will not be accepted.
YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ANSWER ALL FOUR QUESTIONS BELOW. Each question is
worth 25 marks. Some questions are multi-part, and the distribution of marks is noted
in each part.
All questions are based on the case study, attached. The material this test draws on is from
readings and lectures delivered in Weeks 1-2 (social impact), Weeks 7-8 (not-for-profit),
and Weeks 9-10 (social entrepreneurship).
The criteria used to mark this assessment are based on:
The quality and depth of your answers to the questions (note: answer in a succinct
and straightforward manner)
Appropriateness of the concepts that you have applied and how well you have
applied them.
Use of concrete examples from the case study (or elsewhere – only if relevant) to
demonstrate understanding
Minimal ‘copying’ from slides or other materials is expected. Instead, answers should be
paraphrased in your own words as this shows understanding of the concepts discussed in
class. An in-text citation must be provided where necessary, although a reference list is
not expected. Any plagiarised content will receive a penalty deduction or may be reported
to the AUT Academic Integrity Committee.
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact Semester One, 2023
Case study: Moana provides Food for All
Moana explains she is delighted to see you, as you sit down at the outdoor table in
the café’s secluded rear garden. It has been a little over eighteen months since you had both
been in the same classes together at AUT. Since graduating, she has been back in her
hometown of Hamilton where she has started a small non-profit organisation called Food for
All (FFA). While she’s been facing numerous challenges with the organisation, she has also
developed some ambitious plans for the future. She was delighted to hear you have done a
course on social impact management, as she thinks you might be able to offer her some
help and advice. She takes a sip of her coffee and sets about to tell you her story.
Moana explains she has always been passionate about equality and seeing positive
social outcomes for all people in a community. However, in recent years she has become
increasingly disillusioned by the predicament faced by many of the less advantaged people
in her hometown of Hamilton. In response, after graduating with her business degree she
returned to Hamilton at the end of 2017 with a goal of trying to improve the situation in some
way.
Her initial idea was to set up a non-profit foodbank for struggling families. Other non_xfffe_profits in the area were already trying to address the issue of hunger, but with mixed results.
These organisations were now overwhelmed by need and were struggling to achieve
enough growth in funding to respond to increasing demand.
Moana explains that through her studies and earlier internships she had developed
numerous supportive contacts in the business world. Through the early part of 2018 she
managed to reach agreement with various local businesses to supply her with excess food
close to expiration or damaged in some way. Supporting local businesses include three local
supermarkets, the major canned-food producer in the Waikato (called Good Foods Ltd.), and
several local bakeries. Moana also managed to secure support from many of the local
owner-operator courier drivers in town, who agreed to pick-up and deliver food parcels as
they go about their regular daily routes. This ability to be able to deliver food parcels would
set Moana’s non-profit apart from the other local non-profits that require those in need to be
able to uplift their own food parcels.
As a result of the positive outcomes of negotiations with supportive contributing
businesses, in April 2018 Moana formally registered “Food for All Society, Inc.” as a non profit incorporated society with the Companies Office. The entity operates under the name
Food for All (FFA) and has as its purpose the relief of hunger in the Waikato region. The 15
members of the incorporated society are mostly well-meaning friends of Moana, some local
businesspeople, and a handful of other community members concerned with the plight of
families in Hamilton. Of the 15 voluntary society members, 3 sit on a management
committee with Moana: Mary, a retired CEO of a large dairy processor in Hamilton; Rangi,
the owner of the main Hamilton furniture store; and Rajesh, the local postmaster.
With the support of the members of the management committee, since April 2018
Moana has secured some modest funding for FFA from the Central Hamilton Business
Owners Association (CHBOA) and the Hamilton City Council (HCC). Between these two
funders, FFA receives a total of $42,000 per annum. The funding is used to pay for a
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
number of overheads, including rent on the storage facility from which FFA operates –
receiving, packing, and distributing food parcels. Other costs include maintaining a basic
website and purchasing packaging materials for the food parcels. Although rudimentary, the
website is an important feature of FFA as it is the portal through which local people can
make an application for support from FFA. Meanwhile, Moana is the only paid staff member
of FFA earning a small part-time salary of $18,500 per annum, which comes out of the
existing funding pool. This leaves a balance of $23,500 to pay for the other overheads. FFA
currently distributes an average of 450 food parcels a week to 600 families. This means FFA
has a direct impact on about 2,400 people.
Besides Moana, all other labour associated with receiving, packing and distributing
food is undertaken on a voluntary basis. In total, FFA has a roster of about 75 volunteers,
each donating on average 4 hours per month. These volunteers are diverse in every way
and currently comprise retirees, two community constables, a handful of HCC employees
and local schoolteachers, some new immigrants hoping to gain local work experience, a
group of local tradespeople, and numerous mid-level managers and other workers from local
businesses.
Moana has no particular agreements in place with any of the existing volunteers.
Instead, she manages scheduling and rostering on a weekly ad-hoc basis. Typically, 5
volunteers work a 3-hour shift from 6-9am every Monday to Friday, putting together 90 food
parcels each shift. FFA then distributes the food parcels either directly from the storage
facility, or through the sponsored courier service to the families that live more than 2
kilometres from the FFA headquarters. Families that live closer than 2 kilometres to FFA
headquarters are required to pick-up their food parcel.
Moana explains she has a constant need for more volunteers but doesn’t know how
best to go about attracting them, or how to reduce the churn of volunteers constantly leaving.
Currently, she relies solely on word-of-mouth for attracting new volunteers. Not only does
Moana need more ad-hoc volunteers to receive and pack foods, but she also needs the
support of a qualified accountant or bookkeeper, and someone with supply chain
management expertise. These qualified people would have to be willing to volunteer on a
regular basis, providing at least 6 hours of free labour a week.
Of the volunteers helping FFA, one of the more generous has been Rajesh’s wife,
Cynthia. For 25 years, Cynthia was mid-level manager at a local health food manufacturer.
However, she took voluntary redundancy after an organisational restructure. Moana knows
Cynthia has a lot of specialist knowledge in food manufacturing, but she has become a
growing concern for Moana. Although Cynthia is a frequent volunteer (typically working 3
shifts a week at FFA), she has become increasingly demanding of other volunteers,
accusing them of not working hard enough and not packing food in a ‘professional manner’.
Cynthia has even managed to bring two of the other volunteers to tears through her harsh
criticism.
Other volunteers are becoming increasingly frustrated with Cynthia’s overbearing
style and are threatening to withdraw their support of FFA. Moana has wanted to raise the
issue with both Cynthia and Rajesh, but she finds them both intimidating, and is conscious of
the close relationship Rajesh has with a number of the courier drivers who currently deliver
FFA food parcels for free. Moana doesn’t know how best to approach this problem and is
concerned for the ongoing viability of FFA if she loses the support of either the volunteers,
the courier drivers, or Cynthia and Rajesh.
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
On a more positive note, Moana is delighted that a major local trust, Kirikiriroa
Community Trust (KCT), has noticed the impact FFA has had on local families. The main
funding manager of KCT has approached Moana, encouraging her to seek major funding to
grow the impact of FFA. The manager has given Moana the impression that up to $250,000
per annum in funding might be available. However, there are two main provisos that FFA
would have to fulfil. First, FFA would have to become a registered charity. Cynthia is unsure
how to go about this, what legislation she would have to satisfy, or what the impact on the
organisation would be. In parallel, FFA would have to be willing to sign a contract for service
with KCT. Moana understands from the KCT funding manager that the contract would
require FFA to be targeting children only, and not families generally.
In contrast to seeking additional funding, Moana tells you of an alternative option she
has dreamed up for FFA. Drawing on the skills and knowledge she developed in her AUT
social entrepreneurship course, Moana suggests FFA might move to a social business
model. Moana has noticed that much of the food FFA receives from the commercial
sponsors is still in saleable condition and could be turned into the ingredients for home
delivered, ready-to-make meals. Moana thinks FFA could become a thriving social business
with a buy-one-give-one business model, selling to socially conscious, upper-middle-class
professionals in the greater Waikato, Manawatu, and Bay of Plenty areas.
Moana has discussed her ideas in general terms with the commercial sponsors of
FFA and they are open to continuing to supply their unwanted foods to FFA, as well as
selling any other required ingredients to FFA with a substantial discount on retail price.
Based on the success of other buy-one-give-one social businesses in New Zealand, the
CEO of the major canned-goods manufacturer, Good Foods Ltd., has even suggested her
company might be interested in taking an equity shareholding in FFA if a proof-of-concept
pilot scheme that Moana has proposed is successful. The CEO has said an initial investment
could be up to $150,000 for a 30% share in a commercial social venture.
After projecting sales and revenue growth, and engaging in some basic market
research, Moana is confident FFA could experience substantial growth over the next two
years, reaching many more families in the Waikato and eventually other main centres
throughout New Zealand. However, Moana is aware that the same commitment from her
existing volunteers will be required for FFA to thrive as a buy-one-give-one social business.
While paid staff would be employed to create the ready-to-make meals that are sold, the
volunteers would continue to be responsible for receiving, packing and distributing the free
food parcels to the families in need in Hamilton. Moana has discovered from her financial
projections there is no way, in the medium-term future that all staff could be paid if FFA
becomes a social business.
Moana aspires to optimise the social impact that FFA has on the communities it
serves; thus, she looks to you in anticipation of the sage advice you might be able to offer. In
the short-term, Moana is facing several challenges with her volunteers. Firstly, Cynthia’s
behaviour and the threat of losing Rajesh, the supportive courier drivers, or the other
volunteers is of great concern to Moana. Additionally, Moana doesn’t know how best to go
about attracting new volunteers and retaining existing volunteers. Regarding the potential
funding from KCT, Moana is confused as to how to become a registered charity, and even
more concerned about the implications to FFA of the contract for service that KCT is
proposing. Alternatively, moving FFA to a social business model is an exciting prospect for
Moana, and she is confident the organisation could experience substantial growth in a short
period of time. However, remaining reliant on volunteers remains a concern, although the
purchase of an equity shareholding by Good Foods Ltd. is very enticing.
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
MGMT704 Management for Social Impact
Assessment 3 Online Test
Semester One, 2023
Test Sheet
ALL QUESTIONS RELATE TO THE CASE STUDY (see above). ANSWER ALL FOUR
QUESTIONS.
QUESTION 1 (25 MARKS)
a) Explain to Moana the five United Nations criteria based on structure and operation
that an organisation must fulfil to be considered a non-profit.
(5 MARKS)
b) Briefly explain to Moana the different roles that NFPs perform in society. Which of
these roles could FFA potentially perform (15 MARKS)
c) In the event that Moana decides to register FFA as a not-for-profit, which charitable
purpose should it apply under (5 MARKS)
QUESTION 2 (25 MARKS)
Identify and explain a relevant management theory that could enable Moana to
address the challenges she is facing with her volunteers. Based on this theory, what would
you recommend that Moana do to tackle the problems she is facing with her volunteers For
example — How should Moana deal with Cynthia How is it best to recruit and retain
volunteers (25 MARKS)
QUESTION 3 (25 MARKS)
a) Given that the potential outcome of social entrepreneurship is social impact, explain
to Moana the individual (social entrepreneur) and environmental factors that may affect the
development of a social enterprise and its efficacy in achieving social impact. What are
these factors
(15 MARKS)
b) Based on these factors, would a shift to a social enterprise model be a viable means
for achieving social impact
(10 MARKS)
QUESTION 4 (25 MARKS)
a) What social innovation is at the core of FFA Define and describe this innovation.
(10 MARKS)
b) What are the strategic considerations for scaling and sustaining social impact
through social entrepreneurship Based on these considerations, would you recommend
that FFA expand its operations at this time
(15 MARKS)
