Publication database

This case study reviews United Laboratories, Inc. 'Unilab' pharmaceutical company, and its subsidiary 'RiteMed' which aims to market and distribute generic medicines at a lower than market price to low-income people. It discusses the development challenges within healthcare; the 'RiteMed' business model; commercial elements and success; and the development impacts to date.

This case study showcases Coco Technologies (CocoTech) a privately-held enterprise in the Philippines that produces geo-textiles from waste coconut husks. It examines the challenges and opportunities of small-scale value adding, and the innovative approaches adopted to ensure the sustainability of a nascent technology that provides rural employment, protects the environment and has helped revive an ailing coconut industry.

This case study highlights Huatai Paper Company's 'Forest-Pulp-Paper Integration' strategy which substitutes wood-pulp for straw-pulp by mobilising farmers to plant fast growing trees, as well as accelerate local economic development, improve the natural environment and increase farmers’ income. It outlines the opportunities and challenges; the innovative model; and the achievements and development impact.

This case study reviews Lafarge, a building materials company which launched a programme to rebuild 500 homes, four schools, and seven mosques in Lamkruet, after the western coastal area of Aceh, including the city of Banda Aceh, was hit by the tsunami in 2004. The study examines the role a multinational can play as a stakeholder doing business in a territory devastated by a natural disaster.

This study discusses the progress of the on-going National Biodigester Programme (NBP) in Cambodia that targets individual farming households who have the potential of producing bio-gas. It examines the ideal but realistic profile of biodigester construction companies who will be active in future in the Cambodian biodigester sector and what actions need to be undertaken and/or support to be provided to establish such companies in the coming three year time period.

This study provides a value chain analysis that identifies the root causes of constraints on the Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain Project by CARE Bangladesh. It also assesses potential environmental impacts of the project; opportunities to improve market outcomes, raise productivity and wages, and foster pro-poor growth in the dairy sector; and the nature of production and employment along the dairy value chain.