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Product cover image for Fairphone: Dialing Up Sustainability in Smartphones

Fairphone: Dialing Up Sustainability in Smartphones

Malay Krishna, Hardik Budhiraja

Product #:W32379
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Strategy, Sustainability
Setting:Netherlands, 2021
Details:Case (PDF) • 12 pages • 2023-07-11

Subjects:

Environmental sustainabilityBusiness modelsBusiness growthBusiness and societyCorporate strategyLeadership and managing peopleStrategyManagement

Industries:

Information technology and telecom sector

Geography:

EuropeNetherlands
Your Price:$9.71

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The mission of Fairphone, an Amsterdam, Netherlands-based social enterprise company, was to design, produce, and sell smartphones that had a more positive impact on the environment and society. Fairphone was rated as the most sustainable smartphone in 2021 and was considered as a champion for the circular economy in the smartphone industry. Since 2018, Fairphone had been headed by Eva Gouwens. Under Gouwens’s leadership, Fairphone had more than doubled sales between 2018 and 2019. Sales were an important measure of impact for Fairphone and a driver for much of its strategy. In 2021, Fairphone announced a distribution agreement with Vodafone Group plc, the launch of a new flagship phone, and expanded recycling services. Fairphone now wanted to consider how to rapidly scale its impact in 2022 and beyond, and determine how it could increase sales. Should it consider new markets or new offerings? Or should Gouwens shift Fairphone’s focus from sales to some other strategic goal?

Learning Objectives

This case was designed for use in a course on business models but can also be used in courses related to strategic management. In a course on business models, it can be positioned towards the middle of the course as an example of a circular economy business model (CEBM). The case is suitable for a master’s-level program or in a senior undergraduate class. This case helps students understand sustainable business models, and invites them to analyze Fairphone’s initiatives in light of its business model and identify other options for scaling its impact in a manner consistent with its mission. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:
  • Analyze a CEBM in terms of social, environmental, and business impact compared to a conventional business model in the same industry.
  • Appreciate the growth imperative for Fairphone’s CEBM as well as limits to growth.
  • Identify alternate growth strategies for Fairphone.
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Case Study: Fairphone: Dialing Up Sustainability in Smartphones (English version) | Ivey Publishing