Abstract

Trade Without Borders (TWB) is a global, hybrid social enterprise comprising a nonprofit organization (NPO) based in Texas, U.S.A. and a legally separate for-profit company in Hong Kong. TWB was founded by Joseph Fernandez and its mission reflected Joseph’s passion: sustainable development through inclusive trade.

Initially, Joseph wished to leverage his knowledge of global trade in order to assist NPOs globally to procure the essential supplies they needed in order to effectively operate their organizations. However, after initially experimenting with a nonprofit model, Joseph concluded that it would not be possible to attain TWB’s mission exclusively as a nonprofit entity and subsequently established the Hong Kong entity. The updated plan was for the Hong Kong entity to manage the commercial trading activities such as procuring products directly from manufacturers in China, ensuring the quality of the products procured, and managing the global logistics in delivering the goods to organizations around the world.

As a social enterprise, understanding the impact of the products supplied was also essential for TWB, so the US nonprofit entity would focus on impact measurement, monitoring, and management. With respect to the impact it created, there were several questions TWB needed to address. What impact did TWB have? Was this impact quantifiable and measurable? Was the impact created in alignment with TWB’s mission of sustainable development through inclusive trade? Also, how might the impact created then be communicated to TWB’s stakeholders, including, importantly, funders or impact investors? 

Learning Objectives

After studying the case, students are expected to be able to:

1. The history of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the emergence of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, and the field of impact management today 

2. The emergence of impact management, impact investing, and the role of impact in both minimizing risk and creating value for a company 

3. The importance of quantifiable data in impact management today 

4. The use of technology resources from artificial intelligence (AI), large language models (LLMs), sensors, modern communications, and others to establish more transparent, traceable, and accountable impact data and corresponding impact management.