The Pay It Forward Case Study
1. The Pay It Forward refers to the practices that can be waged by the company as a part of the corporate social responsibility. In this case, the company and the author, obviously, launched the lending programs encouraging the development of the local businesses and community. As the author puts it, they invested in the creation of the businesses in order to create more businesses for themselves. In other words, they started the social innovation and the change of the community from the inside. The providing the community members with the new opportunities and the alternatives for living their lives was indeed a powerful move that helped to change the surroundings and the environment. Additionally, the company has issued the standards for the tour operators inspiring them to raise their own performance standards. In other words, the company became concerned not only about the business matters but also about the social implications of the business and the input and influence that it might have over the issues of the others and the communities in general. To pay it forward means to invest in something that dos not bring the value immediately but which is important in the long run.
2. In this case the travel company encouraged the community members to take the micro grants for the development of their businesses. The author of the chapter noted that the local residents lived the life that was far from the Western standards. Of course, it contributed to the preservation of their culture and traditions; however, the residents mainly lived in poverty, which was also associated with diseases, deaths and under
treatment and malnutrition. Additionally, the company launched the brochure where it listed the standard requirements regarding the services offered by the tour operators. Apart from that, it also committed to cooperate with the non-profit organizations in order to create the programs that will both show the tourists the world heritage places and let them to contribute greatly to the community. They aimed to bring the revenue to the community and to ensure the financing from the largest institutions such as the World Bank. The company actually managed to establish the Ec-Escuela Spanish School by uniting the different resources and opportunities that were available to the region and the community (“Pay It Forward”, n.d.). It leveraged from the teaching skills of the local mothers who devoted their time and efforts to their children while teaching and raising them. In other words, the successful programs do not need much; they just require proper management and realization.
3. The greatest insight that I have gained as a result of reading of this case study refers to the fact that good ideas do not always need many resources or money to realize them. The argument against social initiatives
refers to the increased costs and double efforts needed for their implementation. …
