JONES GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MGMT 748, TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION IN DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES
Fall 2010
INSTRUCTOR:
Marc J. Epstein
333 McNair Hall
Phone: (713) 348-6140
Fax: (713) 348-6331
E-mail: epstein@rice.edu
Class Hours – Friday 8-11 AM
COURSE OBJECTIVES AND REQUIREMENTS
This is a unique opportunity for students to 1) apply their business school knowledge, 2) learn
about business in developing countries, 3) learn about entrepreneurship 4) learn about social
enterprise, and 5) help the poor. Some students will also be able to have a once-in-a-lifetime
trip to Africa that tourism can never duplicate
There are almost one billion people in Africa and most suffer from diseases that have long been
eliminated from North America and Western Europe. There have been many attempts to provide
assistance over the past century. Western governments have spent billions of dollars on aid and
NGOs have often been actively involved. Unfortunately, much of the aid has not been delivered
to those in need and has been diverted by government and business leaders for their personal
accounts. And, much of the NGO assistance has not been well coordinated and delivery has been
ineffective. Better design and delivery systems must be implemented to achieve the desired
results and products must be developed to meet the needs of the population at affordable costs.
The Rice Bioengineering Department has been developing innovative medical technologies that
they have already tested in Africa. But, how can these technologies be scaled from one prototype
to serve the vast needs? Using a commerce model and the education and skills of second year
MBA students, we will develop commercialization plans for about four of the technologies.
Students will work on these projects in teams of about five students that will be directed at
different market segments. Some may be priced to be sold directly to consumers, others to NGOs
for health workers, and others might be directed to be sold to hospitals (all at a small fraction of
the cost of similar products in developed countries.)
The first half of this semester course will be some lectures, cases, and discussions around
delivery mechanisms and selling in developing countries, some meetings with Bioengineering
students and faculty to better understand the technologies, and some classes around the research
needed to develop the business plans for commercializing the products.
Then, during fall break, some MBA and engineering students will be able to travel to Africa to
work on the implementation and continue the research. Those students not participating in the
Africa trip will have an additional written requirement for the course as specified in the syllabus.
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They will be expected to participate in all other class activities and will be full participants on the
projects. Registration will be by application.
During the visit to Africa, students will be in an environment unlike anything that most students
have encountered. The population is often uneducated (and maybe illiterate), often without either
electricity or clean water, and with annual per capita income of about $300. Thus, the challenges
of finding effective ways to manufacture, distribute, and market products will be significant. Are
there even manufacturing operations that can produce these products locally and cost efficiently
or should they be produced elsewhere and shipped? Who will be able to pay for the product and
how will it be sold and distributed? There are many challenging questions, so the time in Africa
will be busy. Students will be spending time with local consumers, producers, distributors,
NGOs, government officials, and any others that are needed to develop the plans for
commercialization. In addition to the students, Marc Epstein and a staff director from
bioengineering will likely be travelling to Africa also. Those students that are not travelling will
participate in all of the analyses of what information needs to be obtained while in Africa and the
interpretation of that information into the business plan upon return.
The last half of the course will include some class sessions but will be devoted primarily to
revising the business plans after the visit to Africa and preparing a written and oral public
presentation to some faculty, students, potential donors and investors, and others.
This course is a unique opportunity that should be an amazing experience for all involved.
COURSE MATERIALS
Textbook: None required though below are a number of books readily available that provide
some useful background.
1) Social Marketing & Business
a) Africa Rising: How 900 million African consumers offer more than you think, Vijay
Mahajan, Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2009.
b) Up & Out of Poverty: The social marketing solution, by Philip Kotler and Nancy R.
Lee, Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2009.
c) The Blue Sweater: Bridging the gap between rich and poor in an interconnected
world, by Jacqueline Novogratz, Rodale Inc., New York, NY, 2009.
2) Rwanda Background
a) Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and the marketing of a
continental catastrophe, by Gérard Prunier, Oxford University Press, New York, NY,
2009.
b) A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s rebirth and the man who dreamed it, Stephen Kinzer,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, Colorado Springs, CO, 2008.
c) Shadow of the Sun, Ryszard Kapuściński, Random House, Inc., New York, NY, 2001.
3) Foreign Aid
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a) Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa, Dambisa
Moyo, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2009.
b) The Trouble with Aid: Why less could mean more for Africa, Jonathan Glennie, Zed
Books Ltd., London, U.K., 2008.
c) The Trouble with Africa: Why foreign aid isn’t working, Robert Calderisi, Palgrave
MacMillan, New York, NY, 2006.
GRADING
Your final grade will be based on the following:
10%
20%
15%
15%
40%
Marketing materials and elevator pitch for Africa travel
Class discussion
Individual assignment #1
Individual assignment #2
Group project presentation – oral and written
For those students that do not go to Africa – your individual assignment #1 is 20% of your grade
and your presentation is 35% of your grade.
GROUP PROJECTS – DUE NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 3
1 paper copy + electronic copy
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT #1 – DUE NOVEMBER 19
For travelers to Africa –
5-8 page summary of primary learnings from Africa trip.
For non-travelers –
10-20 page syntheses on how business can be a primary vehicle for alleviating global poverty
and health challenges.
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT #2
Choose any 2 of the 4 assigned cases and write a maximum of a 3-page solution. Do not try to
answer all of the questions – provide an answer to any subset of the questions and include your
recommendation of what the organization should do next. Each is due in class on assigned date
and worth 7.5% of your grade.
HONOR CODE POLICY
All work turned in for a grade must have the applicable Rice Honor Code, and should have the
statement and your ID code included.
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DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
Any student with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations is
requested to speak with me during the first week of class. All discussions will remain
confidential. Students with disabilities should also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley
Student Center.
CELL PHONE & LAPTOP CLASSROOM POLICY
It is the policy of the Jones School for students to turn their cell phones off during class.
It is the policy of the Jones School for students to place their laptop computer in the closed
position while class is in session. There are certain exceptions – such as for instructional
purposes.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
1. August 27
(a) Introduction to course
(b) Introduction to the technologies
(i)
READ: Serving the World’s Poor Profitably, C.K. Prahalad & Allen Hammond,
Harvard Business Review, (R0209C), September 2002.
(ii)
READ: New Approaches to New Markets: How C.K. Prahalad’s Bottom of the
Pyramid Strategies Are Paying Off, Knowledge@Wharton, October 14, 2009.
(iii)
READ: The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the
Pyramid, Allen L. Hammond, William J. Kramer, Robert S. Katz, Julia T. Tran,
Courtland Walker, WRI, Chapters 1 & 2
http://www.wri.org/publication/the-next-4-billion
(iv)
READ: Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for
Africa, Dambisa Moyo, The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123749211536187585.html
(v)
WATCH VIDEO: Rwanda: Millennium Village: After 1994 genocide, a country
journeys back, by Janet Tobias, October 31, 2008
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/rough/2008/10/rwanda_after_th.html
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2. September 3
(a) Developing Business Plans
(i)
READ: How to Write a Great Business Plan, William A. Sahlman, Harvard
Business Review, July-August 1997
(ii)
READ: “Best Executive Summary” from winners at the Business Plan
Competition 2007 and 2008:
- Precision Surveying Solutions (2007)
- FiberView, The Ultimate Endoscopy Suite (2008)
(b) Alleviating Poverty through Business #1 (i)
READ: The Forgotten Lessons of the Marshall Plan, R. Glenn Hubbard and
William Duggan, Strategy + Business, Issue 51, Summer 2008
(ii)
READ: The Ideology of Development, William Easterly, Foreign Policy,
July/August 2007
(iii)
READ: Socially Responsible Distribution: Distribution Strategies for Reaching
the Bottom of the Pyramid, Sushil Vachani & N. Craig Smith, California
Management Review, Vol. 50. No.2, Winter 2008
(iv)
READ: Africa’s ‘Cocoon’ Phase: Can Private Investors and Entrepreneurs
Transform the Continent? Knowledge@Wharton September 3, 2008
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2039)
(v)
READ: Access: How do good health technologies get to poor people in poor
countries? Chapters 1, 2 and 9, Laura J. Frost & Michael R. Reich, Harvard
Center for Population and Development Studies, Cambridge, MA, 2008.
http://www.accessbook.org/download/AccessBook.pdf
(vi)
READ: Will the Real Social Entrepreneur Please Stand Up? International
Business Times, March 31, 2010.
http://www.ibtimes.com/contents/20100331/real-social-entrepreneur-pleasestand.htm
(c ) Working with the Technologies – with bioengineering students & faculty
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3. September 10
(a) Alleviating Poverty Through Business #2 –
(i)
READ AND PREPARE FOR CASE DISCUSSION: ApproTEC Kenya:
Technologies to Fight Poverty and Create Wealth, V. Kasturi Rangan, Harvard
Business School, March 6, 2006, (Case #9-503-007).
Questions:
(1)
Of the six options given by Nick Moon when explaining his three-year
development plan, as shown on case pages 13 and 14, which items would
you focus on if you had unrestricted money of $500,000 only? $1.5
million only?
(2)
What value has ApproTEC created? For whom? Is it accomplishing its
mission?
(3)
What is ApproTEC? A manufacturing company? An R&D company?
What business is it in? Social change? Poverty alleviation? Enterprise
creation?
(4)
What should ApproTEC’s strategic thrust be? What products? For what
countries?
(5)
How would you know whether or not ApproTEC has been successful?
(6)
Are Moon and Fisher technology entrepreneurs? Social entrepreneurs?
What’s the difference? Does it matter?
(ii)
(iii)
READ: In Microfinance, Clients Must Come First, Srikant M. Datar, Marc J.
Epstein, & Kristi Yuthas, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2008
WATCH VIDEO: The Access Story, Josh Ruxin, The Access Project,
http://www.theaccessproject.com/index.php/about/biography/josh_ruxin
(b) Each group to submit 1 page description of problem and 1 page description of proposed
solution with their technology including product and service description.
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4. September 17
(a) Disseminating Products and Services in Developing Countries #1
i.
READ AND PREPARE FOR CASE DISCUSSION: Riders for Health: Health
Care Distribution Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Andrea Coleman,
Stanford Graduate School of Business, November 26, 2007
Questions:
(1) What are the challenges in distributing goods and services in developing
countries?
(2) Identify the innovations that Riders for Health has made to facilitate the
distribution of goods and services in Africa.
(3) How would you measure the value offered by Riders for Health?
(4) Can Riders for Health be a sustainable business? What would you recommend
to Riders to expand their service offerings?
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
READ: Rwanda Vision 2020, Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning,
Republic of Rwanda, Kigali, 2000
www.enterprise-development.org/download.aspx?id=548
READ: Rwanda Community Works, August 22, 2008
READ: The Rwanda Cure, Forbes article, pp.142-146, October 29, 2007
READ: Rwanda 15 Years On, Josh Ruxin, The New York Times, April 11, 2009
READ: 16 Years After the Genocide, Rwanda Continues Forward, Josh Ruxin,
The New York Times, April 6, 2010
(b) Project Preparation
(c) Present
1) Elevator pitch
2) Draft of 2 page marketing brochure
5. September 24
(a) Disseminating Products and Services in Developing Countries #2
(i)
READ: The Complex Business of Serving the Poor: Insights from Unilever’s
Project Shakti in India, by V. Kasturi Rangan, Dalip Sehgal, Rohithari Rajan, in
Business Solutions for the Global Poor: Creating Social and Economic Value, by
V. Kasturi Rangan, John A. Quelch, Gustavo Herrero, and Brooke Barton, JosseyBass, 2007
(ii)
READ: Inspiration from Emerging Economies: Innovation used to trickle down to
developing markets from rich countries. But the flow can go the other way too,
Reena Jana, BusinessWeek, March 23 & 30, 2009
(iii)
READ: Rwanda: An Investment Guide to Rwanda, United Nations and
International Chamber of Commerce, October 2006
http://www.unctad.org/en/docs/iteiia20063_en.pdf
(iv)
READ: mHealth for Development: Mobile Communications for Health, United
Nations Foundation / Vodafone Foundation,
http://www.unfoundation.org/press-center/publications/mhealth-for-development1.html
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(v)
See relevant websites: for example,
http://www.livinggoods.org/
http://www.microclinics.com/aboutus.asp
http://www.cfwshops.org/
(b) Project status reports
6. October 1
(a) Work on Projects
(b) Preparing for Rwanda
(i)
READ: Can Greed Save Africa? Roben Farzad, BusinessWeek, December 10,
2007
(ii)
READ: Rwanda, U.S. Department of State
http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/ifd/2008/101006.htm
(iii)
READ: Restoring the economy through trade, tourism and commerce, Muhereza
Kyamutetera, Rwanda’s Economy, Monitor Online, September 19, 2005
http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/special_rwandaseconomy/Restoring_the_economy_through_trade_tourism_and_commerce_printe
r.shtml
(iv)
READ: A New Rwanda Shrugs Off AID, Virginia Prescott, New Hampshire
Public Radio, April 6, 2009, http://www.nhpr.org/node/24252
(v)
READ: Rwanda Rising: A New Model of Economic Development, Jeff Chu,
FastCompany.com, March 18, 2009,
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/134/special-report-rwanda-rising.html
(vi)
RESOURCE: Rwandan Dictionary – English-Kinyarwanda – please follow link:
http://morganinafrica.blogspot.com/2006/02/rwandan-dictionary-kinyarwandaenglish.html
A pdf version can be downloaded from the link below:
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mm4339/eng_rwa_dictionary.pdf
(vii) READ: Debate with donors over aid versus trade, William Wallis, Financial
Times, Tuesday, September 22, 2009.
(viii) READ: Location: asset or encumbrance? William Wallis, Financial Times,
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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October 7 – October 20
TRAVEL TO AFRICA
7. October 29
(a) Approaches to Improving Global Health
(i)
READ: A Company Prospers by Saving Poor People’s Lives, Donald G. McNeil,
Jr., The New York Times, February 3, 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/research/03prof.html?_r=2&ref=busi
ness&pagewante=@pa
(ii)
READ: Eyeing Talent: VisionSpring picks promising social entrepreneurs to
restore the eyesight of poor people, Corey Harris, Stanford Social Innovation
Review, Winter 2009
(iii)
READ: Jaipur Foot: Challenging Convention (2005). C.K. Prahalad, in The
Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits,
Wharton School Publishing, pp 241-264
(iv)
READ & PREPARE FOR CASE DISCUSSION: The Aravind Eye Hospital,
Madurai, India: In Service for Sight, V. Kasturi Rangan, Harvard Business
School, May 15, 2009 (Case #9-593-098).
Questions:
1. Can you identify the key factors that have led to Aravind’s success?
2. How do you evaluate the quality of service at the free hospital? At the paying
hospital?
3. What has been the role of Aravind’s clinical and support staff in all this? Are
they dedicated and altruistic or do they have an ulterior motive?
4. Are there any weaknesses at all with the Aravind model of delivering eye
care?
5. How should Dr. V. expand the Aravind model to other parts of India, Asia,
and Africa?
(b) Debrief of Africa travel –
(c) Project status reports
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8. November 5
(a) Business Solutions for Global Health Challenges
(i) READ and prepare for case discussion: Acumen Fund: Measurement in Venture
Philanthropy (A), Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan, Harvard Business
School (9-310-011), September 16, 2009.
Questions:
1. If you were Brian Trelstad, would you recommend to the investment
committee that Acumen invest in Ecotact, Meridian, both, or none? Use the
Capabilities Assessment Matrix (Exhibit 9) as the foundation for your
argument and be prepared to present a total number from the Matrix for each
investment candidate. You may also use other criteria that you think are
pertinent.
2. What is your evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the Capabilities
Assessment Matrix?
3. What is your evaluation of the BACO as a measurement method? We will
discuss this in class, and you may find it helpful to calculate Ecotact’s BACO
in advance.
4. What specific recommendations would you make to Brian for improving the
effectiveness of Acumen’s investment criteria and metrics?
(b)
Project status reports – Draft outline due
9. November 12
Challenge and Opportunities of Commercializing Products for Developing Countries –
(i)
READ: How GE is Disrupting Itself, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Vijay Govindarajan, and
Chris Trimble, Harvard Business Review, October 2009
(ii)
READ: Creating Sustainable Local Enterprise Networks, David Wheeler, Kevin
McKague, Jane Thomson, Rachel Davies, Jacqueline Medalye, and Marina Prada,
MITSloan Management Review, Fall 2005
(iii)
READ: Making Capitalism More Creative, Bill Gates, TIME, July 31, 2008
(iv)
READ: Management Accounting and Control: Lessons for and from the World’s
Tiniest Businesses, Srikant M. Datar, Marc J. Epstein, and Kristi Yuthas, Strategic
Finance, November 2009, pp 27-34
10. November 19
(a) Summary of course learnings, and guidance to businesses
(b) Project Preparation – Presentation of Draft Final Report to Class
11. December 3
(a) Project Preparation
(b) Project Class Presentation
12. December 7 FINAL PRESENTATION – Evening Public Event
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