Toms Shoes Inc.
Abstract
Every leader in the corporate world understands that a successful business does not exist in isolation and neither should the pursuit of making money be its sole objective and purpose. Throughout its entire existence, a business entity is intricately entwined with the community through its employees, customers, and suppliers among other members of the society. Its products and services eventually leave an impact on both the natural and cultural environments. Corporate social responsibility is all about understanding this impact of the business on the wider community and the world, and how it can be used in a positive way. It means taking a responsible and brave step by going beyond the minimum expectations of the company by the society to contribute to the improvement of human living conditions nationally and internationally.
Many companies have exceptional CSR records that are, however, not reflected in their professional performance. It is not common to find firms with visibly superior corporate social responsibility performance that is incorporated in their strategy for success. Toms Shoes Inc. is a good example of this trend that is emerging as a form of “philanthropic capitalism” and for all the good reasons. This paper traces the origins and motives behind the exemplary corporate social responsibility of Toms Shoes Inc. from its humble beginnings as the handiwork of Blake Myscoskie. Blake’s work and innovations as a young entrepreneur with a big heart has brought a new spin in the field of corporate social responsibility. In evaluating Toms Shoes Buy One Give One business model, the paper delves into the criticisms leveled against the company, and Blake Myscoskie’s philanthropic business model, from different sectors.
Introduction
Blake Mycoskie’s company Toms Shoes Inc. has been described in many ways by admirers and critics but one thing that both camps agree on is the fact the company is still relentlessly winning hearts and sales simply by donating a pair of shoes for each pair that it sells to a customer. This ingenious business promotion and corporate social responsibility strategy is a brainchild of Blake Myscoskie that dawned upon him while visiting Argentina. His tour of Argentine brought him face to face with many children walking barefoot while adults walked in simple but comfortable almost sole-less footwear contraptions called alpargata. Mycoskie grew up in Texas and readily admits to have never witnessed the appalling conditions of poverty as he saw in Argentina.
When Mycoskie returned to the USA and formed his shoes company, Toms Shoes Inc., he adopted the alpagarta and produced it in many designs, styles, and colors making a promise to his customers that for every pair they bought, the company would donate another pair to the needy children. It was an idea that finally took off and left Mycoskie spending half of his time managing the company and the other half making ‘shoe drops’ to grateful children all over the world.
In trying to distance itself from the rest of the competition, Toms Shoes Inc. went beyond what the competition does. It was initially founded on the principle of equating sales to the good done to the society. Mycoskie had to give one pair for every pair sold otherwise he would not be in business for that is what drove customers to his business. An examination of Toms Shoes business structure shows that it is built on sustainability. The founder could have decided to take five hundred thousand dollars and bought shoes for the kids once but that would not have kept him in a position of doing good continuously. It would never have been as far reaching and sustainable as the company is.
Mycoskie’s style of corporate social responsibility gives his employees something to be proud of and their morale is always high when they know they are doing something to improve the life of needy children. They are changing the world in their own small ways. Every purchase at Toms Shoes has a story attached to it which is one thing most socially conscious customers find quite appealing. The wearer of the shoes bought at Toms Shoes can proudly talk of where the shoe was bought and the good it did years after purchasing the product. Toms Shoes Inc. can accurately be said to be a leader in innovative ways of using corporate social responsibility in promoting and improving a company’s performance. It is a beacon of hope to many children in underdeveloped nations and a leading example in the corporate world.
In order to comprehensively examine how Mycoskie has been able to achieve such a feat, it is imperative to analyze various factors about the company. A good starting point would be to examine its historical background from inception and the circumstances that sparked this idea of marrying corporate social responsibility with business. It would also be imperative to look into the company structure bearing in mind that the company started with only nine employees and has grown to a 55member full-time staff whose average age is just twenty three years. It is also interesting to note that the leading mode of advertisement for the company is by word of mouth.
An analysis of the company’s products is also important in verifying that it does not simply use a hyped up corporate social responsibility strategy to sell substandard products. The majority of its products, as discussed in this paper, are based on the alpargata style which consists of a simple canvas top and a rubber or rope sole.
In understanding how the world views Mycoskie’s unique corporate social responsibility strategy, a literature review of other writers’ opinions about his style of doing business is equally important. The literature review included various definitions of pertinent issues like corporate social responsibility, corporate social entrepreneurship, and corporate social entrepreneurship in small business. The paper examines how Mycoskie’s strategy fits into each of these concepts with an emphasis on how the company is a model for Corporate Social Entrepreneurship. The company’s One for One campaign provided an interesting concept that not only sustains the business but also ensures that the number of needy children walking barefoot is considerably reduced in less fortunate parts of the world.
Conclusion
Toms Shoes Inc. continues to be a model for ways in which a company integrates in its marketing strategy a visibly felt social responsibility presence. However, in evaluating the effectiveness of this campaign, it was observed that Toms Shoes Inc. has had to contend with criticism in various forms. There have been claims that its corporate responsibility efforts have had little or no effects in improving public health by donating shoes because the children only get one pair which wears out after a short duration due to overuse. The worn and discarded shoes are claimed to be creating an environmental problem added to the permissive garbage problem in third world countries due to lack of effective recycling abilities. There has also been criticism on the grounds that such activities create and promote dependency among the less fortunate which prevents them from taking steps to improve their living conditions. The paper has analyzed these criticisms include the claim that shoe drops have become a form of poverty tourism which to most people is a controversial issue.
Despite the criticism on TOMS social entrepreneurship model, business leaders need to admit that it has been effective from the wide appeal it has on customers. Mycoskie’s method has been such a phenomenal success that it is being adopted by social entrepreneurs, most of whom are young adults, as a working model for their start up businesses that will also allow them to make a change in the world. An example discussed in the paper is Wardy Parker that donates pairs of glasses to people suffering from bad vision.
Toms Shoes Inc. provides important lessons to other companies seeking to combine corporate social responsibility with business. The company was able to ride with the trend of rising number of customers who had become even more conscious of their spending. These are the conscious customers who prefer to spend on products and services that end up doing good to either the environment or to other less privileged people around the world. This trend, which companies exploit in the name of cause-related marketing, has been on the rise alongside green marketing and done much good to the world as companies try to polish their images and portray themselves as decent corporate citizens.
