1) Complete a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Nokero.

In June 2011, Steve Katsaros, founder and CEO of Nokero, was contemplating how to build on his company's accomplishments during the last 12 months. Nokero, a marketer of solar bulbs, has emerged as a successful born-global social enterprise.
Transcribed Image Text:the past year, Nokero had sold more than 150,000 solar light bulbs to over 90 countries. The company has also started to attract significant media attention. CNN, The New York Times (online), The Washington Post, Fast Company, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, The Denver Post, and Engadget, to name just a few, have featured Nokero's story of doing well by doing good as a provider of environmentally friendly solar lighting to the world's poor. While Katsaros was very pleased with his company's overall performance during the past year, he was concerned with three fundamental questions. First, what market segments should the company focus on for profitable growth? Several opportunities had propelled Nokero's sales in recent months. The company has made tens of thousands of dollars in small and sample order sales through the company's website from thousands of customers in North America and abroad. Additionally, Nokero has entered into or is in the process of signing distributorship agreements in about a dozen countries. For example, Nokero has en- gaged Westinghouse Lighting Corporation to distribute its solar lights in selected markets in Latin America. Finally, governments, international agencies, and non-governmental organi- zations have partnered with or approached Nokero on collaborative social programs relating to environmental sustainability, renewable energy, poverty alleviation, and disaster and relief projects. Katsaros wanted to make sure that Nokero explores the best pathways for growth in both the social enterprise sector and commercial channels. Second, where should the company grow? Currently, Nokero has pursued an opportu- nistic sales approach. The company's major customers are in diverse and dispersed loca- tions in Ghana, South Africa, Fiji, Mexico, India, Nigeria, Vanuatu, Haiti, Kenya, and other markets. Although practical business sense may dictate that international new ventures like Nokero focus on a few markets at a time, Katsaros was hesitant to pursue this approach since it contradicted the company's social mission of reaching out to as many people as possible that could benefit from Nokero's solar light bulbs. Third, how should Nokero manage its supply chain to support the company's growth? Katsaros understood that the company's future success hinges on its ability to reach its cus- tomers. In turn, this requires Nokero to address citical global supply chain issues effectively. How can the company serve different market and customer segments that are dispersed in many countries? How can Nokero bring down distribution costs to make the product more affordable to its customers? What should the company do to address the "last mile issue" of reaching customers in the most remote locations? CHAPTER I7 Global Manufacturing and Supply-Chain Management The N200's brightness is 13.5 lumens on high illumination and 8 lumens on low illumina- tion. The duration of light is 6 to 8 hours on one day's charge or 12 to 16 hours on two days' charge on the low light setting. For the high light setting, the light duration is 2.5 hours on one day's charge and 5 hours on two days' charge. While the brightness is not the same as traditional LED lighting, the N200's brightness is five times brighter than that of a kerosene lantern. The N200 is shatter- and rain-proof and built to last for five years. Nokero sells the N200 in large quantity orders (e.g., over 1,000 light bulbs) for about $6.00 (FOB China). Sample sales are priced between $15 and $20 (depending on shipping costs). Building a Born-Global Company A few weeks after developing the N100, Katsaros worked on Nokero's business model, package design, pricing, and manufacturing and distribution processes. In April 2010, he formed Nokero International Ltd., the operating company of Nokero. The speed by which Nokero developed and manufactured the N100 and formed the business entity could be attributed to Katsaros' experience as an inventor and entrepreneur. He had previously licensed inventions to sports companies, such as Dynastar Skis, K2, and HaberVision, and built RevoPower, a motorized wheel for bicycles that gets 200 miles per gallon at 20 miles per hour. A BS Mechanical Engineering graduate from Purdue University, a Bard Center for Entrepreneurship certificate graduate recipient at the University of Colorado Denver, and a B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors awardee, Katsaros is a patent agent reg- istered with the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Office, which has issued him several pat- ents for his previous inventions. From the start, Nokero was a born-global company with customers in different parts of the world, and co-owners and supplier partners in Hong Kong and China. Katsaros part- nered with three Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs to form Nokero International Ltd. in Hong Kong. These partners, associates of Katsaros in previous businesses, provided start-up cap- ital that represented a minority equity interest in Nokero and helped Katsaros find a strong and reliable factory supplier in China. Nokero also leveraged the HK partners' connections with the factory supplier to secure a trade financing line from the supplier. The HK partners manage Nokero's operations, including overseeing the supplier factory in China, filling large orders directly from the factory, maintaining an outsourced fulfillment center in Shenzhen, China, to supply small and sample sales from all over the world, and managing the com- pany's supply chain. Nokero's Chinese supplier is an established factory that has significant experience and scale in consumer electronics. In solar-powered consumer electronic products alone, the supplier produces more than 30 million pieces of solar products every year. The supplier's clients include Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and other major retail customers in the United States and Europe. Nokero maintains its headquarters in Denver, Colorado, where the company oversees sales and marketing, business development, web-based sales, and overall administration of the business. To help him start and grow the business, Katsaros brought two of his closest associates, Evan Husney, who serves as General Counsel and the person respon- sible for business development, large orders, and the establishment of Nokero's dealer network, as well as Tom Boyd, who manages the company's corporate and marketing communications. The Nokero Story Identifying the Opportunity Nokero (short for "No Kerosene") was established by Steve Katsaros in order to de alop safe and environmentally friendly solar products that eliminated the need for harmfi ind polluting fuels used for light and heat around the world and are affordable to the custwers that need them. Katsaros saw a significant opportunity in developing a solar light prodt to replace kerosene and diesel lanterns. Katsaros described the opportunity as follows: In many parts of the world, non-electrified dwellings and workplaces are illuminate by kerosene or diesel lamps, candles or wood. There are electric options but most a expensive, or fragile, or don't have replaceable, rechargeable batteries. More than 1.6 billion people live without electricity. Of these, 704 million people are in South Asia, 550 million in sub-Saharan Africa, and 225 million in Southeast Asia. Many of these people live in remote areas and rely on kerosene and diesel-fueled lanterns for their lighting. By substituting solar light bulbs for kerosene lanterns, these people are able to re- coup their purchase price within a period of 12 days to two months, depending on market forces. Moreover, the replacement of kerosene lanterns with solar light bulbs generates sig- nificant environmental and health benefits. Every solar light that replaces a kerosene lantern saves three-quarters of a ton of CO2 emissions over the five-year lifetime of the product. According to the World Bank, daily exposure to emissions from kerosene lanterns is like smoking two packs of cigarettes per day Creating Groundswell Support Inventing the Solution: The N100 and N200 Katsaros invented the first Nokero light bulb (the Nokero N100) on January 24, 2010, draw- ing a sketch of the idea on a notepad. Four days later, he filed a U.S. patent on the N100 that was eventually granted in February 2011. Production on the light bulb commenced in June 2010 and a new model, the N200, was introduced in November 2010. The Nokero solar light bulb is a small, lightweight, portable light, shaped like a light bulb for easy identification. The bulb hangs in the sun to charge and can be hung or laid on its side at night. A "pivot" feature allows users to swivel the solar panel toward the sun to maximize charge capability. The bulb can be swiveled at night to direct light where needed. The LED lights are enclosed in the shatter-resistant bulb, do not get hot, and pro- duce an even light. Widespread and favorable coverage by traditional and social media outlets has been instru- mental in getting the Nokero story out to as many people as possible. A key moment came with a six-minute daytime television segment featuring Katsaros and Nokero with Ali Velshi on the CNN show The Big Eye. Not only did the coverage reach a global audience, it helped legitimize Nokero to those who were interested in solar lighting in general and Nokero's products in particular. II
Transcribed Image Text:In 2010-2011, Nokero has benefited from dozens of stories by traditional print media and TV networks and hundreds of stories from news and social media, including sources from abroad such as O Globo (Brazil), Sydney Times (Australia), Air France, and Sudwestrundfunk (Germany). In a story titled "A Solar Light Bulb May Light the Way," The New York Times noted that "Where Nokero's bulb appears to break ground is in its design; it is small enough to carry, self-contained, highly durable and features a replaceable battery." In another article, "The Power of Light," The Denver Post lauded the environmental, health, and safety benefits of Nokero's products and the social entrepreneurial aspects of the company's business model. Social media, particularly blogs, have been a powerful way for the company to create community groundswell support. In July 2010, an influential London businessman offered support to the company, an offer that led to an endorsement of Nokero's products by popu- lar soccer star Didier Drogba of Cote D' Ivoire. Social media have also been instrumental in creating awareness and mobilizing community participation in social initiatives championed by Nokero and other partners. For example, Nokero has partnered with Project C.U.R.E on a buy-give program. Under this program, customers who buy a solar light bulb from Nokero can give a second light bulb to Project C.U.R.E. that the latter will distribute to people in need throughout the world. Similarly, filmmaker Kurt Mann's organization, American Green, brought light bulbs to Haiti to help victims who have been devastated by the country's earthquake. Nokero and America Green have jointly set up a program, "The Gift of Light," for people to donate light bulbs to Haiti. Most recently, Nokero responded to the earthquake in Japan by instituting a program that led to the donation of over 2,000 light bulbs within a few weeks after the catastrophe. actively sought out Nokero for possible partnerships. Katsaros validated this strong interest when he attended his first international trade show for Nokero, The AlD and International Development Forum, in May 2011 in Washington, DC. Nokero's booth was one of the most DOpular in the trade show and Katsaros received dozens of inquiries and sales leads from social enterprise attendees during the Forum. In contrast to working with governments and international organizations, partnerships with social enterprises entail a different set of challenges for Nokero. The programs champi- oned by these partners are quite diverse, the customers that they serve are widely dispersed, and their order amounts tend to be smaller-although purchases are made more frequently. All of these considerations require different order and fulfilment mechanisms in Nokero's supply chain. While these processes may be more demanding, Katsaros is committed to working with micro-business and the social enterprise sector since serving the people that these enterprises reach out to is at the core of Nokero's mission. Opportunities in Commercial Channels Nokero has driven sales through the commercial channel in two ways: through direct, web- based sales and through licensed distributors. Customers order directly through Nokero's website (Nokero.com) and pay using a credit card or an account through PayPal. Once an order is placed and payment is verified, the order is added to a sales spreadsheet and is ex- ported nightly to Nokero's fulfillment center, which handles the order deliveries. Nokero fils orders using Hong Kong Post or Singapore Post. The customer can then log on to Nokero's website to track the shipment of its package and order history by entering the email address that it used to place the order. In its first year, Nokero was successful in selling tens of thousands of dolars worth of light bulbs to more than 90 countries through its website. Accordingly, one major opportunity that Katsaros sees in this channel is sales conversion-i.e., converting people who have placed sample orders to sign up as distributors. To date, Nokero has no strategy or process in place for such sales conversion other than a form on its website that invites peopie to ap- ply to become distributors. The company's largest customers are distributors, associations, and individuals that have ordered thousands of light bulbs, including Anzocare (South African Alternative Energy Association), Westinghouse Lighting Corporation, and three major individual distributors from Zambia, Ghana, and Fiji. Additional distributors are in place in Nigeria, Cote D' Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Vietnam, Tanzania, Vanuatu, and other countries. Large commercial orders are filled directly from Nokero's factory in China via the port of Shenzhen, China. Nokero's outsourced fulfillment partner in Shenzhen, China, serves smaller orders. How should Nokero build its distribution footprint in international markets? Should the company focus its expansion in one or a few regions at a time? If so, what regions should the company emphasize? What performance standards or metrics should Nokero put in place for distributors? A number of potential distributors have asked Nokero for exclusive rights in key geographic markets. Should Nokero grant exclusive country distribution rights? Growing the Business Opportunities in Working with Governments and International Organizations Several governments, international non-governmental organizations, and international agen- cies have approached Katsaros and Nokero on a number of potential large-scale partner- ships and projects. A group out of France is exploring the sales and distribution of solar light bulbs to Africa by leveraging a carbon-credit-based financing program. The same group successfully executed a similar program with fluorescent bulbs. Likewise, the governments of Mexico and Congo are pursuing the idea of buying Nokero's products for distribution to people in their respective countries who are earning less than $2 per day (i.e., bottom of the pyramid consumers) and do not have access to electricity. Katsaros and his team have also initiated discussions with international agencies, such as the United Nations, USAID, and various international foundations. While governments and international organization sales represent attractive opportunities for Nokero, they have posed three major challenges. First, the sales cycle in these organizations tends to be long and requires specialized skills and major business development resources. To address this challenge, Nokero has brought on board a consultant who is knowledgeable and networked with these kinds of entities. Second, the company would have to significantly scale production to fill larger orders from these governments. The governments that Nokero has been dealing with have talked about buying not thousands but millions of light bulbs. In addition, these governments are also likely to pressure Nokero to lower its price. Third, selling to these governments portends production and supply chain challenges. Can Nokero continue to supply all of its light bulb orders from a single factory location in China? Should the company maintain a fulfillment warehouse in Africa, Asia, and Lalin America? And how should the company help these governments address the last mile issue of accessing people in the most remote locations? Addressing Supply Chain Issues As previously mentioned, Katsaros understands that the success of Nokero's business hinges on its ability to address critical supply chain issues. Katsaros and his Hong Kong partners must ensure that the company is ready to fill both large and concentrated orders from government and international organizations as well as sample and small order sales from hundreds of customers that are geographically dispersed. At this point, Nokero needs to evaluate whether it should bring on board a second or third supplier that will support its major supplier partner in China. Moreover, it needs to evaluate the locations of the com- pany's fulfiliment centers. Will it be more desirable to have distributed fulfillment centers in closer proximity to its customers in Africa and Latin America to support its fulfillment center in Shenzhen, China? Opportunities in the Social Enterprise Sector As previously mentioned, Nokero has been engaged in partnership programs with various social enterprises, such as Project C.U.R.E. and American Green. Social enterprises have

Question

1) Complete a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of Nokero.

In June 2011, Steve Katsaros, founder and CEO of Nokero, was contemplating how to build on his company's accomplishments during the last 12 months. Nokero, a marketer of solar bulbs, has emerged as a successful born-global social enterprise.

the past year, Nokero had sold more than 150,000 solar light bulbs to over 90 countries.
The company has also started to attract significant media attention. CNN, The New
York Times (online), The Washington Post, Fast Company, Popular Mechanics, Popular
Science, The Denver Post, and Engadget, to name just a few, have featured Nokero's
story of doing well by doing good as a provider of environmentally friendly solar lighting
to the world's poor.
While Katsaros was very pleased with his company's overall performance during the
past year, he was concerned with three fundamental questions. First, what market segments
should the company focus on for profitable growth? Several opportunities had propelled
Nokero's sales in recent months. The company has made tens of thousands of dollars in
small and sample order sales through the company's website from thousands of customers
in North America and abroad. Additionally, Nokero has entered into or is in the process of
signing distributorship agreements in about a dozen countries. For example, Nokero has en-
gaged Westinghouse Lighting Corporation to distribute its solar lights in selected markets in
Latin America. Finally, governments, international agencies, and non-governmental organi-
zations have partnered with or approached Nokero on collaborative social programs relating
to environmental sustainability, renewable energy, poverty alleviation, and disaster and relief
projects. Katsaros wanted to make sure that Nokero explores the best pathways for growth
in both the social enterprise sector and commercial channels.
Second, where should the company grow? Currently, Nokero has pursued an opportu-
nistic sales approach. The company's major customers are in diverse and dispersed loca-
tions in Ghana, South Africa, Fiji, Mexico, India, Nigeria, Vanuatu, Haiti, Kenya, and other
markets. Although practical business sense may dictate that international new ventures like
Nokero focus on a few markets at a time, Katsaros was hesitant to pursue this approach
since it contradicted the company's social mission of reaching out to as many people as
possible that could benefit from Nokero's solar light bulbs.
Third, how should Nokero manage its supply chain to support the company's growth?
Katsaros understood that the company's future success hinges on its ability to reach its cus-
tomers. In turn, this requires Nokero to address citical global supply chain issues effectively.
How can the company serve different market and customer segments that are dispersed in
many countries? How can Nokero bring down distribution costs to make the product more
affordable to its customers? What should the company do to address the "last mile issue" of
reaching customers in the most remote locations?
CHAPTER I7
Global Manufacturing and Supply-Chain Management
The N200's brightness is 13.5 lumens on high illumination and 8 lumens on low illumina-
tion. The duration of light is 6 to 8 hours on one day's charge or 12 to 16 hours on two days'
charge on the low light setting. For the high light setting, the light duration is 2.5 hours on
one day's charge and 5 hours on two days' charge. While the brightness is not the same as
traditional LED lighting, the N200's brightness is five times brighter than that of a kerosene
lantern. The N200 is shatter- and rain-proof and built to last for five years.
Nokero sells the N200 in large quantity orders (e.g., over 1,000 light bulbs) for about
$6.00 (FOB China). Sample sales are priced between $15 and $20 (depending on shipping
costs).
Building a Born-Global Company
A few weeks after developing the N100, Katsaros worked on Nokero's business model,
package design, pricing, and manufacturing and distribution processes. In April 2010, he
formed Nokero International Ltd., the operating company of Nokero.
The speed by which Nokero developed and manufactured the N100 and formed the
business entity could be attributed to Katsaros' experience as an inventor and entrepreneur.
He had previously licensed inventions to sports companies, such as Dynastar Skis, K2, and
HaberVision, and built RevoPower, a motorized wheel for bicycles that gets 200 miles per
gallon at 20 miles per hour. A BS Mechanical Engineering graduate from Purdue University, a
Bard Center for Entrepreneurship certificate graduate recipient at the University of Colorado
Denver, and a B.F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors awardee, Katsaros is a patent agent reg-
istered with the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Office, which has issued him several pat-
ents for his previous inventions.
From the start, Nokero was a born-global company with customers in different parts of
the world, and co-owners and supplier partners in Hong Kong and China. Katsaros part-
nered with three Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs to form Nokero International Ltd. in Hong
Kong. These partners, associates of Katsaros in previous businesses, provided start-up cap-
ital that represented a minority equity interest in Nokero and helped Katsaros find a strong
and reliable factory supplier in China. Nokero also leveraged the HK partners' connections
with the factory supplier to secure a trade financing line from the supplier. The HK partners
manage Nokero's operations, including overseeing the supplier factory in China, filling large
orders directly from the factory, maintaining an outsourced fulfillment center in Shenzhen,
China, to supply small and sample sales from all over the world, and managing the com-
pany's supply chain.
Nokero's Chinese supplier is an established factory that has significant experience and
scale in consumer electronics. In solar-powered consumer electronic products alone, the
supplier produces more than 30 million pieces of solar products every year. The supplier's
clients include Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and other major retail customers in the United
States and Europe.
Nokero maintains its headquarters in Denver, Colorado, where the company oversees
sales and marketing, business development, web-based sales, and overall administration
of the business. To help him start and grow the business, Katsaros brought two of his
closest associates, Evan Husney, who serves as General Counsel and the person respon-
sible for business development, large orders, and the establishment of Nokero's dealer
network, as well as Tom Boyd, who manages the company's corporate and marketing
communications.
The Nokero Story
Identifying the Opportunity
Nokero (short for "No Kerosene") was established by Steve Katsaros in order to de alop
safe and environmentally friendly solar products that eliminated the need for harmfi ind
polluting fuels used for light and heat around the world and are affordable to the custwers
that need them. Katsaros saw a significant opportunity in developing a solar light prodt to
replace kerosene and diesel lanterns. Katsaros described the opportunity as follows:
In many parts of the world, non-electrified dwellings and workplaces are illuminate
by kerosene or diesel lamps, candles or wood. There are electric options but most a
expensive, or fragile, or don't have replaceable, rechargeable batteries.
More than 1.6 billion people live without electricity. Of these, 704 million people are in
South Asia, 550 million in sub-Saharan Africa, and 225 million in Southeast Asia. Many of
these people live in remote areas and rely on kerosene and diesel-fueled lanterns for their
lighting. By substituting solar light bulbs for kerosene lanterns, these people are able to re-
coup their purchase price within a period of 12 days to two months, depending on market
forces. Moreover, the replacement of kerosene lanterns with solar light bulbs generates sig-
nificant environmental and health benefits. Every solar light that replaces a kerosene lantern
saves three-quarters of a ton of CO2 emissions over the five-year lifetime of the product.
According to the World Bank, daily exposure to emissions from kerosene lanterns is like
smoking two packs of cigarettes per day
Creating Groundswell Support
Inventing the Solution: The N100 and N200
Katsaros invented the first Nokero light bulb (the Nokero N100) on January 24, 2010, draw-
ing a sketch of the idea on a notepad. Four days later, he filed a U.S. patent on the N100 that
was eventually granted in February 2011. Production on the light bulb commenced in June
2010 and a new model, the N200, was introduced in November 2010.
The Nokero solar light bulb is a small, lightweight, portable light, shaped like a light
bulb for easy identification. The bulb hangs in the sun to charge and can be hung or laid
on its side at night. A "pivot" feature allows users to swivel the solar panel toward the
sun to maximize charge capability. The bulb can be swiveled at night to direct light where
needed. The LED lights are enclosed in the shatter-resistant bulb, do not get hot, and pro-
duce an even light.
Widespread and favorable coverage by traditional and social media outlets has been instru-
mental in getting the Nokero story out to as many people as possible. A key moment came
with a six-minute daytime television segment featuring Katsaros and Nokero with Ali Velshi
on the CNN show The Big Eye. Not only did the coverage reach a global audience, it helped
legitimize Nokero to those who were interested in solar lighting in general and Nokero's
products in particular.
II

Accepted Answer

The detailed plan of action that leads an organization toward its desired future is known as its…