Gender and the Economy

Category: Case Studies

AccessNow: The app creating a more accessible world
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Overview

AccessNow is an app that empowers people with disabilities to find accessibility information for locations around the world. This case study shows how founder Maayan Ziv innovated and used human-centred design to not only create the app but also to generate awareness and a cultural shift around accessibility.

Course Topics:
- Innovation and entrepreneurship
- Disability and accessibility
- Human-centred design, Universal design
- Business design
Introduction:

AccessNow is a crowdsourced app developed by Maayan Ziv in 2015. It is designed to empower those with disabilities to live more independently by making it easier to access information about accessibility for locations around the world. Driven by the mission to “share accessibility information around the world by mapping as many places as we possibly can,” Ziv has created a community of users who input data into the app. This community is composed of people living with or without disabilities, and user engagement is critical to ensuring the platform provides current and wide-reaching information. “Our goal is to develop a platform which will invite all people, with and without disability, to engage and share info about the accessibility of their own experiences, and overall, to help people get on with their life.” Born with muscular dystrophy, and a wheelchair user since childhood, Ziv understands the struggles that people with disabilities face when they try to find information on accessible places. This lack of information serves as another barrier to accessibility, and by extension, to freely living life. Ziv decided something needed to be done to fill this information gap and remove the barriers it created, not only for her own benefit, but for the entire disability community.

View and download the full case study.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Ana Baseio and Victoria Sahagian. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Alyson Colón, Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera.

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June 21, 2021
How Portfolia empowers women investors to fund innovative companies
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Overview

Women do not invest their money as much as men, even though they control 40% of the world’s wealth. Trish Costello created Portfolia, a financial tech firm, to “unlock women as investors” and back innovative companies with diverse leadership that are contributing to solving social problems.

Course Topics:
- Finance and investing
- Innovation and entrepreneurship
- Business design
- Gender analysis
Introduction:

Portfolia is a financial tech firm, with venture capital as its first product. The company was founded by Trish Costello to activate the wealth of women in an engaging way. Costello has years of experience in the venture capital industry including co-founding the Kauffman Fellows, where she trained people to work in venture capital. During her time with the Kauffman Fellows, Costello felt that she was making a difference in the ability of women to be active, successful investors in venture. Over 25% of the fellows were women and the program was placing them in the industry as leaders. After returning from a break with fresh eyes, Costello realized two things: first that her efforts at Kauffman Fellows were not moving the needle, as women were still not becoming active investors in venture capital, and second, that women’s financial power was growing.

View and download the full case study.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Ana Baseio and Victoria Sahagian. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Alyson Colón, Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Trish Costello in this project.

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June 21, 2021
YWCA’s response to COVID-19 in Canada
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Overview

During the COVID-19 pandemic, women in Canada have been disproportionately impacted by the higher risk of job loss, increased domestic violence, and other forms of insecurity. This case studies how YWCA responded to the pandemic’s impact on vulnerable communities and on its own resources by streamlining governance, ensuring safety, repairing capacity, and staying connected with its stakeholders.

Course Topics:
- Leadership
- Change management
- Non-profit governance
- Crisis response
- Stakeholder relations
Introduction:

“My sense of isolation is not there anymore. I know I am not alone,” says Tiffany Baker, a woman residing in YWCA Hamilton’s transitional living house in the midst of the COVID-19 quarantine.

Like thousands of other women, girls, and gender-diverse people, Tiffany would have few opportunities to stay safe from the risks of disease and, most importantly, away from troubling living situations if YWCA discontinued operations of their pan-Canadian housing network. During the 2020 pandemic, women in Canada have been disproportionately impacted by the higher risk of job loss, increased domestic violence, and other forms of insecurity. Helping over 330,000 people with its network of affordable housing units, shelters, child care, employment and training programs, and a range of other services driven by local communities’ needs, YWCA stands out as a critical frontline service provider working towards advancing gender equity.

In 2020, a year which was meant to be marked with the commemoration of YWCA Canada’s 150th anniversary, the organization’s work has instead been affected by a disruption that experts have called a “she-cession.” While demand from impacted women grew, YWCA has experienced increased financial instability as a result of the cancelation of its various fundraisers and closures of its social enterprises. This growing gap between demand and capacity has pushed YWCA’s management to seek ways to diligently serve its vulnerable communities with fewer resources while maintaining organizational sustainability over the long-term.

View and download the full case study (English/French)

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Bashir Chalabi and Sonal Gupta. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Maya Roy, Anjum Sultana, Derek Gent, and Laura Sundy in this project.

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March 22, 2021
Wattpad’s commitment to diversity drives its success
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Overview

Wattpad is an online storytelling community that combines entertainment with technology. This case study focuses on how Wattpad used intersectional data collection to improve employee well-being, to support its diversity-driven business model, and to grow the business.

Course Topics:
- Diversity and inclusion in business
- Innovation and entrepreneurship
- Leadership
- Human resources and organizational theory
- Business design
Introduction:

Wattpad is in the business of storytelling, but it is the Toronto-based scale-up’s own story that is causing the tech industry to sit up and take notice. Founded in 2007, Wattpad’s “social storytelling” platform connects readers and writers with original, user-generated stories. Once a scrappy Canadian start-up earning just CA$2 a year in advertising revenue, Wattpad has since solidified its title as a global entertainment player with over 80 million monthly users worldwide, an estimated US$25 million in annual revenues, and ties to Netflix, Sony Pictures, and Penguin Books. Furthermore, the company is distinct from industry peers in that it is a majority-female technology company and employs well over the industry average of people of colour, multilingual persons, and other diverse groups. Notably, Wattpad attributes its success to its culture of inclusivity and community among both users and employees.

A diverse team has proven essential to Wattpad’s ability to satisfy its diverse user base with unconventional stories. The company’s business model is premised on having the cultural competencies to uncover users’ needs and respond to them authentically. Developing a multilingual, multi-disciplinary team early on thus provided Wattpad with the requisite skills to compete globally. However, this eclectic team meant that Wattpad also faced the unique challenge of creating unity while maintaining enough dissimilarity to thrive. In an effort to address this issue, the company began collecting intersectional data to track employee well-being. By uncovering gaps in employee satisfaction and inclusion, Wattpad has been able to generate impactful, data-driven solutions that are sensitive to employees’ differing experiences within the organization. For example, after finding that women of colour at Wattpad were 13% less likely than white men to agree that they could be their authentic selves at work, Wattpad introduced a series of initiatives to address this concern and now reports that 97% of women of colour agree that Wattpad’s inclusivity efforts have positively impacted their workplace experiences. Since implementing intersectional data collection, Wattpad has seen meaningful increases in employee engagement and satisfaction across all groups, thus managing to improve team cohesion despite undergoing rapid organizational change. Today, Wattpad serves as a model for how a people-focused approach that prioritizes diversity and inclusion can accelerate a firm’s growth.

View and download the full case study

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Stephanie Taylor, Sonal Gupta and Bashir Chalabi. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Seema Lakhani in this project.

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March 22, 2021
How Walmart helped women-owned businesses
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Overview

This case studies how Walmart committed to helping women entrepreneurs through its Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) initiative. It details how the company surpassed its goal of sourcing US$20 billion worth of products and services from businesses owned by women from 2011 to 2017, while also empowering women and women-owned businesses in the global supply chain.

Course Topics:
- Diversity in supply chain management
- Women’s empowerment
- Leadership
- Corporate social responsibility
Introduction:

Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 through a small discount store in Rogers, Arkansas. The purpose behind the store was to offer “everyday low prices” to its customers. In 1982, the founder’s philanthropic motives led to the formation of the Walmart Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people and doing good. Every year, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation provide almost US$1 billion in cash and in-kind giving to communities. Walmart’s success is attributed to its efficient and technologically advanced supply chain management. One of the key aspects of Walmart’s supply chain process is sourcing; the company has removed intermediaries in its supply chain by consolidating its global procurement functions. This has helped Walmart procure at lower prices and hence save billions of dollars, but it has also allowed the company to achieve additional outcomes in terms of women’s empowerment. In particular, the Walmart business model has served as an asset when procuring products and services from women-owned businesses.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Sonal Gupta and Bashir Chalabi. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera.

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March 22, 2021
Highlighting Fenty Beauty’s diversity-based business model
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Overview

Fenty Beauty is an inclusive cosmetics company created by international celebrity Rihanna in partnership with LVMH, an exclusive luxury conglomerate. The brand has been a resounding success and is most recognized for the “Fenty Effect”, a trend in which competitors began offering more inclusive cosmetic products in response to Fenty Beauty’s successful 40-shade foundation line. Fenty Beauty is a unicorn in the beauty industry, largely due to its prioritization of diversity and inclusion.

Course Topics:
- BIPOC Diversity & Inclusion
- Marketing
- Supply Chain Management
- Product Development & Pricing
- Business Design
- Corporate Governance
Introduction:

How do you define “flesh coloured”? Historically, shade ranges for products that are intended to blend into the body have been defined along a spectrum based on white skin. A “flesh tone” thus tends to conjure up images of milky whites and soft beiges, rather than the deeper browns or ebony shades that characterize many people’s skin tones. While the racialized interpretation of “flesh toned” is perhaps most famously represented in the Band-Aid problem, in which adhesive bandages were criticized for their limited, white-focused shade range, it is also acutely present in the cosmetics industry. Foundation shades have become a lightning-rod issue that represents whitewashing in the beauty industry, a modern-day Band-Aid issue.

Therefore, when well-known international celebrity Robyn Rihanna Fenty launched her highly anticipated cosmetics line, Fenty Beauty, using a 40-shade foundation as her centrepiece product, the beauty world sat up and took notice. The company’s 40-shade foundation stood in contrast to the more limited ranges offered by competitors and Fenty Beauty was lauded for taking an inclusive approach. In December 2017, just a few months after the brand’s launch, Fenty Beauty was named one of Time magazine’s “Inventions of the Year” based on its broad shade range and use of diverse models in its marketing campaigns. Consumers also responded enthusiastically to Fenty Beauty, with the brand taking in US$72 million in its first month (five times the revenues of its closest peer competitor) and US$570 million in its first full year. Notably, Fenty Beauty’s darker shades consistently sold out despite constant restocks, a phenomenon that spurred competitors into offering increased shade ranges in what became known as the “Fenty Effect”. Three years later, Fenty Beauty continues to experience rapid growth and Rihanna has launched a fashion empire that includes skincare, lingerie, and a luxury fashion line all offered under various Fenty brand names. These newer brands similarly feature the inclusive, playful approach first developed at Fenty Beauty, proving that inclusivity is a winning business model and no longer just a corporate afterthought.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Stephanie Taylor. The author prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Sonal Gupta, Bashir Chalabi and Carmina Ravanera.

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March 22, 2021
Backstage Capital: Investing in Black women founders
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Overview

Black women, who are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States, are consistently underfunded by venture capital firms. It has been observed by industry experts that minority founders who do not receive funding “get discouraged and exclude themselves from applying,” creating a cycle of exclusion for Black women and Black members of the LGBTQ community in the startup world.

This case study examines how boutique venture firm Backstage Capital, which invests in minority-owned startups, attempted to create a US$36 million fund exclusively for Black women and LGBTQ founders. It also profiles the issues of Black individuals’ underrepresentation across the American investment industry, venture capital, and startup entrepreneurship.

Course Topics:
- Venture capital and startup
- Diversity in STEM
- Social entrepreneurship
- Innovation
Introduction:

A cardinal stereotype of the startup world, the idea that “anyone can become a founder,” fails to fully match reality when it comes to Black women. A typical team of startup founders in the United States is comprised mainly of a single race and gender. In most cases, the “all male, all white” team is comprised of two people residing in Silicon Valley. Only 1% of venture-funded startup founders are Black. But even within the Black community itself, one group is more isolated from venture investments. Between 2009 and 2017, Black women have received only 0.0006% of venture capital financing.

Backstage Capital is a venture capital firm that attempts to address existing funding disparities and to promote diversity in startup entrepreneurship. While it invests in companies established by various minorities, Black-founded companies constitute the core group in which Backstage Capital is investing—69 out of 130 backed firms have at least one Black co-founder, some of whom are women and/or LGBTQ. In 2018, the firm announced its new project, a US$36 million fund that will invest exclusively in the startups led by Black women over the next few years. This fund will be important to generate profits for the firm and “to move the needle and to set the example” for the investment industry overall.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Bashir Chalabi and Stephanie Taylor. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera.

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March 22, 2021
Rethink pink: Elimination of pink tax by online retailer Boxed
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Overview

This case study examines how e-commerce household goods startup Boxed leveraged the grassroots movement against gender-based price discrimination and taxation on feminine hygiene products by implementing its “Rethink Pink” program in 2016. In addition to addressing these issues by implementing gender-neutral pricing, the program also succeeded in gaining the trust and loyalty of women consumers.

Course Topics:
- Gender analysis
- Innovation
- Diversity and inclusion
- Corporate social responsibility
- Entrepreneurship
- Marketing
Introduction:

Female shoppers continue to face gender-based price discrimination, known as the “pink tax”, and the obligation to pay sales tax on feminine hygiene products, known as the “tampon tax”. Perhaps the most striking reporting of the pink tax, a 2015 study by New York City’s Department of Consumer Affairs, found that almost all women’s products, from jeans to deodorants, are priced higher than similar products for men. The study concluded that “women are paying thousands of dollars more over the course of their lives to purchase similar products as men.” In that same year, women from 41 of the 50 American states were paying a “tampon tax” on feminine hygiene necessities. Despite growing concern among Americans regarding these issues, government institutions have been slow to respond. In the meantime, one company decided to take a stand, turning discriminatory pricing into a positioning advantage.

Given the proportion of women who are responsible for their households’ shopping needs, it is no surprise that nearly half of the early adopters of online grocery shopping were also women, despite their more skeptical attitude toward online shopping as compared to men. Boxed, an e-commerce startup that offers the bulk-buying convenience of a wholesale shopping club through their mobile app and online store, realized the importance of these women online shoppers early on. In fact, the majority of Boxed customers are women. Founded in 2013 and growing from US$40,000 to US$100 million in sales in just three years, the company soon risked having to lower its profit margins to address growing price competition with other online retailers. In 2016 a long-discussed partnership between delivery service Instacart and wholesale giant Costco took off, and Walmart also launched online sales. In search of greater differentiation and a way to increase valuable female customer loyalty, Boxed, which had thus far marketed “easy shopping”, looked to a non-traditional avenue, implementing a women-focused initiative at the intersection of corporate social responsibility and marketing. Leveraging the grassroots movement against gender-based price discrimination and taxation on tampons, Boxed implemented its impactful “Rethink Pink” program in 2016, addressing both issues on behalf of their customers. Four years later, Boxed continues to highlight the program to ensure the loyalty of female online shoppers whose increasing numbers are accelerating more than ever in the midst of the 2020 global pandemic.

View and download the full case study

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__________________________

This case was written by:

This case was written by Bashir Chalabi and Stephanie Taylor. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Nitasha Mehta in this project.

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March 22, 2021
Ellevest: Investment technologies for Women
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Overview

Research shows that over 70% of women are dissatisfied by the services offered by financial institutions. This case study looks at how Sallie Krawcheck created and evolved Ellevest, an investment platform which is “gender-aware” and simultaneously helps women reach their financial goals, in order to address the many challenges that women face when investing.

Course Topics:
- Gender analysis
- Finance and investing
- Innovation
- Women’s empowerment
- Business design
Introduction:

Women in the United States are expected to control 51% of personal wealth by the end of 2020 and are set to inherit US$28.7 trillion in next 40 years. Yet research conducted by the Boston Consulting Group in 2016 suggests that 71% of women are dissatisfied by the services offered by their financial institution. This lack of financial services that fulfill women’s needs presents an opportunity for business, which financial institutions have begun to notice. It is also an opportunity for new ventures that would seek to prioritize the needs of women investors.

Ellevest is a robo-advisor that provides customized recommendations on how investors can allocate their funds in different assets in order to meet their goals. It was founded by Sallie Krawcheck in 2014 to “get more money in the hands of women”. To create an investment platform which is “gender-aware” and simultaneously helps women reach their financial goals, Krawcheck included considerations such as a gender-specific salary curve, longer lifespan, and differing retirement investment priorities.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Sonal Gupta and Bashir Chalabi. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Sylvia Kwan in this project.

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March 22, 2021
LGBTQ+ inclusion opens new markets for Cheerio Corporation Co., Ltd.
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Overview

Cheerio Corporation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese beverage company that competes domestically. The company is a family business that has been run by three generations of the Kan family. The case examines how Daisuke Kan, grandson of Cheerio’s founder, used advocacy for LGBTQ+ inclusion as part of his strategy to reach an underserved market and to revitalize the company’s beverages business.

Course Topics:
- Corporate social responsibility
- Diversity & Inclusion
- LGBTQ+ Inclusion
- Leadership
- Marketing
- Organizational Change
Introduction:

For most, drinking a can of soda is not a revolutionary act. Yet for Cheerio Corporation Co., Ltd. (Cheerio), a Japanese soft drink company, each beverage presents an opportunity to advocate for social change. A strong proponent of increased diversity, equity, and inclusion in Japan, Cheerio has been a particularly vocal in advocating for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in a country that still struggles with full societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. In 2014, the company became a sponsor of Tokyo Rainbow Pride, an annual LGBTQ+ parade held in the nation’s capital, becoming the first Japanese company to provide valuable support at a time when the event had only attracted the attention of a few multinational corporations and foreign embassies. Since then, Cheerio has become a top sponsor of Tokyo Rainbow Pride and has encouraged various other domestic companies to back the cause. Today, the company sponsors Pride parades around Japan and brokers connections between Japan’s LGBTQ+ activists and likeminded allies around the globe, thereby helping to catalyze lasting societal change during Japan’s pivotal “LGBTQ+ boom”. Taking a stand on LGBTQ+ inclusion risked alienating non-supporters and could have placed Cheerio at a competitive disadvantage in an increasingly competitive market. However, Cheerio’s authentic commitment to increased diversity, equity, and inclusion in Japan has ensured that its inclusivity efforts have proven equally fruitful for the organization and Japan’s disenfranchised LGBTQ+ community. The company’s struggling beverage business has been revitalized by challenging Japan’s corporate status quo and leveraging a more inclusive mindset. Cheerio now earns seven times its 2010 profits despite using 25% fewer working hours on average, has obtained a valuable recruiting edge in the highly competitive market for young Japanese talent, and has curated a unique brand image that resonates with Japan’s underserved LGBTQ+ community and younger generations. Thus, the company has proven that its brand of inclusivity is just as sweet as the products it sells.

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This case was written by:

This case was written by Stephanie Taylor and Sonal Gupta. The authors prepared this case under the supervision of Professor Sarah Kaplan, with guidance from Bonnie Lam and Vanessa Serra Iarocci and research assistance from Kevin SeongWeon Son and Carmina Ravanera. The authors are grateful for the participation of Daisuke Kan, Daisuke Ishido, Ayaka Sakamaki, and Professor Rie Kijima in this project.

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March 21, 2021