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Case Study

The water challenge in Kenya: A challenge or an opportunity?

By Salvatore Cantale and Anna Eckardt

5 pages

December 2012

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Reference: IMD-3-2340

Kenya is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, with a majority of its citizens unable to access clean water at an affordable price. Waterborne diseases present a major health challenge for the country. The number one water treatment practice, especially in rural areas, is to boil it, as this is an effective way of killing the majority of viruses and parasites coming from non-safe water sources. But collecting and burning the firewood to boil the water is having a severe impact on the landscape (deforestation and land erosion) and the poor population, particularly, particularly women and girls in rural areas and urban slums, who spend a significant amount of their time collecting wood and water. This prevents them from attending school, and increases the risk of injuries from the constant heavy lifting. It also increases the risk of sexual violence, as they often have to go to remote areas to get the wood and water. It also exposes them to exploitation, as they sometimes have to perform transactional sex to get access to the forests. On top of this, the indoor air pollution produced by burning the wood causes respiratory infections.

Learning Objective

The case introduces participants to the challenge in Kenya and the supporting materials help participants gain an understanding of important concepts such as value creation, value capture, and the main components of a business model. Finally, the case presents itself as a natural way to see how the same business can support different business models, depending on the nature of the relationship among the various components of it.

Keywords

Value Creation, Value Capture, Business Model, General Management, Non-Governmental Organization, Strategy

Settings

Africa, Kenya
Vestergaard Frandsen
2004-2012

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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