Articulating a Vision to put Country before Corporation and serve larger national priorities, he has led ITC's strategic thrust to create multiple drivers of growth that would make a significant and growing contribution to the Indian economy. He also shaped and implemented a Strategy of Organisation to effectively manage multiple businesses whilst retaining focus on each one of them, in the process deriving unique sources of competitive advantage from ITC's diversity. Deveshwar has also championed the cause for Sustainability world-wide bringing into focus the need to innovate corporate strategies that not only enhance shareholder value but add significantly to the development of natural and social capital.
Main principles emerging from innovative solutions in housing As described below, we have distilled three main principles emerging from successful low-income housing initiatives based on a research conducted in This work included identifying and researching over 60 social innovations and interviews with over 30 key informants specialized in low-income housing around the world.
The quotes inserted at the beginning of each section were obtained during this process. Housing fulfills a material need, but also the need for hope.
Making it possible for them to undertake long-term, large investments or successive short-term investments over long periods of time requires ensuring the right economic incentives for them, as well as addressing more psychological aspects such as their ability to plan for the future. Precarious and insecure living conditions heighten the financial risk of any investment occupants might otherwise make in their homes.
Another innovative market-based initiative that has enabled slum dwellers to build assets and climb the financial ladder is led by Darin Gunesekera from the Wiros Lokh Institute in Sri Lanka. Darin has started a variation of a stock exchange market to raise funds for the construction of new dwellings for poor families who are entitled to certificates to purchase a new home of their preference.
This has changed the practices of developers who need to compete for the preferences of the poor.
Low-income families can voice their preferences and gain confidence to invest their resources in home improvement. Unlocking some of the psychological barriers of low-income families to build a better future is the other side of the coin. Slum Dwellers International, a global network of squatter groups started by several social leaders including Ashoka Fellows Samsook Boonyabancha and Joel Bolnick respectively in South Africa and Thailand that counts a total of 5.
These include visits between members from different neighborhoods, cities, and countries in order to encourage learning through real life experience, as opposed to formal education, and generate empowerment.
The visible achievements in home improvement are another powerful element to demonstrate that change is possible. Demonstration houses are used to trigger discussion and joint decision-making about design, construction materials, and processes.
Social capital is probably the greatest asset of low-income communities who can achieve much by joining forces.
This is precisely the key break-through of microcredit that replaced traditional loan collateral by social collateral. It uses collective action as a core strategy to strengthen communities and enable them to initiate and manage changes in the areas that they have prioritized such as housing.
The core strategy to organize communities is the creation of daily saving groups where members, mostly women, learn to trust each other and build a discipline.
Saving groups are then federated at the neighborhood, regional, and national levels. More generally, there is a great potential in enabling low-income communities and individuals to become self-reliant. They have tremendous assets they can contribute including a great deal of resourcefulness, skills, time, and the ability to save.
It is not a lack of skills that makes poor people poor. Poverty is not created by poor people but often by the institutions and policies that surround them [10]. There is therefore a great need for transformational and market-based approaches to housing, as opposed to hand-outs, that leverage these assets to provide long-term and sustainable solutions.
Despite the fact that this process takes longer than using professional full-time constructors, this approach enables them to reduce costs and effectively teaches self-management and other administration skills to the community.
It leverages locally available materials as a substitute for conventional construction materials as well as ancient building techniques that are more adapted to weather conditions and culture, given the limited resources available.
Leveraging the productive potential of low-income communities that can access the inputs needed for success is an important strategy that enables them to increase their purchasing power. YKPR in Indonesia organizes groups of families to apply collectively for credit from the government housing bank that is unavailable on an individual basis and it coordinates repayments on a calendar that accommodates the seasonal nature of incomes.
Although the model was initially developed for rural areas, the principle is applicable to urban settings. Saiban in Pakistan is a remarkable initiative that makes the overall housing transaction affordable and convenient for low-income households by leveraging the benefits of informal housing processes.
The organization finances the purchase of unserviced plots of land, and leaves housing and infrastructure to be developed incrementally as each household accumulates the money to pay for them — as occurs in the informal sector.
While leveraging informal processes, the organization also improves on them by providing secure land tenure and organizing residents to plan and negotiate for additional services. Security in Saiban settlements is higher; costs of living are lower; and services are obtained years faster than in comparable informal settlements.
Radical cost reductions can be achieved by streamlining the whole process and switching some of the costs and responsibilities to clients - an interesting parallel with the Internet revolution that enabled many companies to rethink their business models by putting customers and partners to work thanks to the Internet interface.
Other strategies to increase the profitability of distribution in slums and rural areas include multi-purpose distribution channels and demand aggregation.E-CHOUPAL: ITC’S RURAL NETWORKING PROJECT* I. Abstract In Hindi (an Indian language spoken in most parts of Northern and Central India), a choupal is a village gathering place.
The e-choupal initiative—whereby a choupal is equipped with a computer and Internet connectivity—is the brainchild of a large agricultural processing company in India, the Indian Tobacco Company (ITC).
WHAT WORKS CASE STUDY ITC’S E-CHOUPAL AND PROFITABLE RURAL TRANSFORMATION 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Agriculture is vital to India. It produces 23% of GDP, feeds a billion people, and employs 66% of the workforce. Because of the Green Revolution, India’s agricultural productivity has improved to the point.
ITC e-Choupal: Corporate Social Responsibility in Rural India case study. Access to case studies expires six months after purchase date. ITC implemented the e-Choupal initiative in The case study of e-Choupal experience of ITC B.
Bowonder, Vinay Gupta and Amit Singh This is a case study of the development of a started the new initiative namely e-choupal (village meeting place on an electronic platform).
VLW Input companies Speed. The e-Choupal Initiative Case Solution, Division of the holding of an international company examines its IT initiative seven years among farmers in rural India.
Suitable for students of all level. View Essay - ITC eChoupal timberdesignmag.com from MGSC at Northeastern University.
Case Analysis -eChoupal, 9/19/ ITCs motivation for creating eChoupal was to: Increase productivity and Find Study Resources.