Social Responsibility, Business Strategy and Development: The Case of Grameen-Danone Foods Limited

The aim of this paper is to study the phenomenon of Social Business Enterprises (SBEs) and gain anunderstanding of their nature, operations, objectives and implications by using Grameen Danone FoodsLimited (GDFL) as an illustration. Within this context, some questions that this paper seeks to explore are: isthe concept of Social Businesses just another ‘fashionable business marketing fad’ that will fade and witherwith time, or does it offer a real workable solution to cure the ills of global poverty? The paper seeks toinvestigate, with Grameen Danone’s case, if, how and to what extent such social businesses help towardssocial and economic uplift of the poor by simultaneously being both suppliers and consumers of theirservices. The case of GDFL is evaluated critically and compared analytically with similar social businesses inthe dairy business sector, in order to gauge its impact on local communities, especially on the target market –malnourished children. Finally, project sustainability is discussed along with consequences of a possiblecommercial scale-up in operations.