La Tricyclerie: The Challenges of Scaling a Social Business

Extract

[...] The outputs are the number of subscribers to La Tricyclerie's service, the quantity of compost produced and redistributed, the number of fields and gardens to which the compost have benefited, and ultimately the number of cities in which this model has been replicated. The outcomes are an effective reduction in food waste and CO2 emissions, and the clients' satisfaction with the service. The societal impact of the company's activity is to help achieving environmental sustainability, and to create a community within each city around this value. Mission Scaling a social business. [...]

[...] I would focus on La Tricyclerie's strong values and identity, and its growing recognition through awards that already attracts stakeholders. Besides, La Tricyclerie is a growing company who promises to become very big if it has the right means and the right growth strategy, so it would be very interesting for investors to fund the company while it is still young and growing. Stakeholders could be involved and consulted in the choice of the cities to adopt next. Finally, the franchise model promoted by La Tricyclerie is very interesting, but the company should not lose proper ownership of the concept. [...]

[...] Indeed, La Tricyclerie is built on a model with strong vision and values, reflected through all the company's procedures. Every aspect is carefully planned so as to respect those values, so growing too fast could run the risk of losing the integrity and precision that make the company so successful today. - What would be your strategy for Nantes? The priority for Nantes is to manage to get more subscribers, since there is an existing growing demand that the company has yet to meet. [...]

[...] La Tricyclerie: The Challenges of Scaling a Social Business Mission Assessing the current situation of the company - Who are the key stakeholders of the company and what are their interests? First, the internal stakeholders of the company are the owner, Coline Billon, the employees and the investors. Coline wishes to contribute to tackling climate change, she is driven by her values and her past experiences in environmental consulting and her volunteering experiences in South American associations. The employees of La Tricyclerie are proud to be working for a company with great values and a real social and environmental impact, but they also need financial security. [...]

[...] The biggest challenge for the company is growth, with all the internal changes that are required to scale the company up. Indeed, more and more clients would like to subscribe to get the company's service, and more and more cities wish to get La Tricyclerie to implement the service. Company's growth would be a great thing for the owner, the employees and the investors, but it also needs to stay aligned with the owner's initial vision and values. Besides, growth brings significant logistical challenges, as more subscriptions from businesses and individuals means that the company must manage to get larger composting areas, and more employees to manage all the operations. [...]