SUSTAINAIBILITY Insights from the case study
Suggested actions
Self-assessment questions
The important actions described in the previous phase allowed both Quid’s business growth as well as its internal structural growth and management optimization. This, in turn, allowed Quid to find itself in a good market placement, a recognized territorial identity and benefitting from an important credibility.
Make sure your business management leads the social enterprise to gain and maintain a recognized territorial identity and credibility.
Have previous business investments and strategies led the social enterprise to gain a recognized territorial identity and credibility?
Nevertheless, Quid continues to grow and to maintain high quality standards. Moreover, Quid keeps on expanding and seizing further territorial opportunities, collaborations and partnerships bringing more and more together the third sector and private sector with an entrepreneurial logic.
Keep monitoring the external context and seizing further opportunities for business growth and social impact maximization.
Make sure your business model can secure long term and stable economic security to its employees, especially those with fragilities and belonging to vulnerable social categories.
Once reached a full productive capacity relatively to the strategic investments which were made, are efforts still in place to keep monitoring the external context and seizing further opportunities for business growth and social impact maximization?
Can the business model secure long term and stable economic security to its employees, especially those with fragilities and belonging to vulnerable social categories?
Are the employees equipped with proper capacity building which can enable them to quickly respond to market and context changes?
Is the business model economically, socially and environmentally sustainable? Is it able to place itself in a vacant marketplace with unexplored market opportunities?
Can the business model quickly adapt to context changes and seize new opportunities and new operational channels?
Is the enterprise investing to measure its social impact with regards to its employees and also to the wider
Considering the sustainability of its job placement model, Quid intends to secure job stability and continuity to its employees with fragilities. The latter, in fact, are in particular need of consistency and security. Hence, Quid job placement program lasts longer compared to similar third sector/welfare programs. It consists of a three-month internship and a one year to one hear and a half apprenticeship. If the latter is successful, the person is offered a stable job contract. Moreover, within Quid, these employees can count on the support of a dedicated psychologist and a welfare officer which helps them accessing a wide range of services, including proper healthcare, welfare services or simply, for example, to find a babysitter. Quid job placement model has resulted in a strong employment retention rate which, in 2019, has reached 70%. Also, Quid invests in its employees’ constant growth and innovation. As an example, it has recently provided them with a digitalization program, particularly useful for the more elderly workers. The effects of the latter proved to be strategic during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. At a broader level, Quid’s sustainability is also perfectly reflected in its circular and inclusive business model. Quid is sustainable as it reuses materials which are discarded by the traditional productive chains and it includes those fragile people traditionally left behind by the economy. Quid’s motto is, in fact “limit as a starting point”. Therefore, its model is sustainable as it transforms social and economic “limits” into resources. Moreover, a greater sustainable impact is Quid’s “contaminating vocation” to inspire its business partners to adopt more environmentally responsible production chains and inclusive business model and, ultimately, to transform the entire fashion industry. Proposing an alternative
Keep investing in training and capacity building for your employees enabling them to quickly respond to market and context changes.
Keep monitoring your business market placement and make sure it can keep filling unexplored market opportunities by pursuing its environmental and social objectives.
Make sure your business model can be quickly adaptable to context changes and seize new opportunities and new operational channels.
Invest in regularly measuring and assessing your social/environmental impact with regards to your own employees and also to the wider territory and stakeholders.
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