After the analysis and discussion, it is now possible for the researchers to give recommendations that Plastic Change can use in future partnerships to reach the full potential of value creation in order to attain its vision. The researchers argue that strategic partnerships are a good way for Plastic Change to increase its capital in order to attain its vision. Therefore, they are recommended as something it should pursue in the future.
6.1 Recommendation 1 - Exploit The Marketing Channels To Create Brand Awareness
The first recommendation to Plastic Change in order attain its vision through partnerships with commercial companies, is to exploit its marketing channels. The analysis showed that Plastic Change has not exploited its marketing channels well enough to spread awareness of its partnership with Naturli’. This is shown clearly in the questionnaire conducted where 5.8 percent knew that Plastic Change was a part of the co-created product, Naturli’ Hakket.
Therefore, Plastic Change should, in future partnerships, be more aware of its use of social media in its marketing efforts. As written in the analysis Plastic Change has not once marketed the partnership with Naturli’ on its Facebook pages. Since Plastic Change has over 250,000 followers on Facebook it is an obvious channel to use to spread the message of plant-meat with more environmentally-friendly packaging.
Ideally, to gain the most of the partnership, Plastic Change and Naturli’ should have created a shared social media strategy to spread awareness of the product. To create a shared marketing strategy is definitely something Plastic Change should consider when entering a new strategic partnership, as this would enhance the strategic fit and alignment between the parties.
Plastic Change should then, besides the above, make an effort to inform consumers that Plastic Change is involved with the product in order to increase its brand awareness. It can be argued that Plastic Change should also make a bigger effort to spread its brand than just labelling its logo on the package in a size that almost no one noticed, as in the case with Naturli’ Hakket.
Therefore, it would be preferable in the future to make the logo bigger on the packaging.
As mentioned in the analysis, another opportunity to improve brand awareness could be for Plastic Change and Naturli’ to make stands in some of Dansk Supermarked’s stores. This would
Page 111 of 199
enable the parties to show consumers the product and how it should be cooked. Doing this would have provided Plastic Change with the opportunity to spread its message and to put its name out there. This recommendation could be something Plastic Change should consider exploring in other partnerships or potentially with Naturli’ if the partnership is expanded to new products.
6.2 Recommendation 2 - Use The Potential Of The Segment
The second recommendation is that Plastic Change should consider its segment before entering a new strategic partnership. The fact that the segments between the two companies to some extent are aligned is a key factor for the partnership to work. It has been analysed that the segment of Plastic Change at this point in time is a woman between 30-40 years old, with a high level of education, who cares for the environment. If Plastic Change still wants to target that specific segment, which the organisation implies, it should bear this in mind when entering new strategic partnerships. The new partner and Plastic Change should, to a large extent share the same segment in order for the organisation to achieve success.
When Plastic Change enters new partnerships, it must be aware of what the shared goal between the two companies is. If the goal set only complies with one of the partner’s segment, it is the risk that the other party’s segment will not relate to the partnership. It is, however, not an issue if Plastic Change wants to change its segment and target one segment with one partnership and another segment in another partnership. The most important thing is that the organisation is aware of the fact that approaching multiple segments simultaneously is a challenge to cope with, as both segments must be the focus of e.g. a post on social media or several posts must be made to accommodate the needs of each segment. There is also the risk of the segments conflicting with one another. If Plastic Change aims to expand to the youth segment, which might be a good idea as it often considered valuable by companies to be able to reach the young consumers, there is a chance that Plastic Change’s current segment would be left out. The posts shared on social media to reach the youth segment might conflict with what appeals to the current segment.
The recommendation is, therefore, to thoroughly consider which kind of company Plastic Change wants to collaborate with in order to be true to its own segment when establishing
Page 112 of 199
partnerships. It is important for Plastic Change to keep its current segment as it needs the support of the segment to get messages through to e.g. politicians and companies in order to create a change.
6.3 Recommendation 3 - Pursue Larger Capital Increase
The third recommendation is related to the partnership categories with a focus on the capital increase. In the analysis, it was established that the strategic partnership is based on reaching shared and individual goals and that the point of the strategic partnership is to increase capital on both sides.
If Plastic Change entered a new partnership it is not a bad idea to base the donations on sales volume, as it is in the partnership between Plastic Change and Naturli’. This makes both parties dependent on spreading the awareness of the product since both parties benefit from more sales. With this said it can still be relevant to discuss other possibilities to increase the amount donated to Plastic Change. In the strategic partnership with Naturli’, Plastic Change received 0.20 DKK every time a container was sold. This means that Plastic Change relies on a great number of containers being sold in order to receive enough money to sustain its current projects and establish new ones. As mentioned, Plastic Change received 60,000 DKK in the first quarter of 2018 after 300,000 containers of Naturli’ Hakket was sold. Partnership expert KJ expressed in the interview that it takes a lot of work to sell 300,000 containers and that the 0.20 DKK can be regarded as an easy and cheap way for Naturli’ to pay Plastic Change. To reduce the need for such a large sales volume it might be attractive for Plastic Change to enter partnerships with a larger outcome per sold product. Had the donation per sold container been at 0.50 DKK Plastic Change would have increased its capital with 150,000 DKK, over twice as much as the 60,000 DKK it has earned so far.
Another opportunity would be for Plastic Change to enter partnerships where the co-created product has a higher sales price. If the sales price is higher the amount donated to Plastic Change can be assumed to be higher. An example could be for Plastic Change to enter a partnership with a car tire manufacturer. Plastic Change fights to reduce the amount of microplastic in the ocean and car tires are known to emit lots of microplastic (Briggs, 2017). If Plastic Change could impact the tire design to be more environmentally-friendly, like they did
Page 113 of 199
with Naturli’ Hakket, and still base the donation on sales volume, it can be argued it would be possible for Plastic Change to increase capital to a larger extent with fewer amounts of the product sold. It can thereby be argued that the donation would be bigger when it comes to car tires, as the price is higher per purchase than it is with a container of Naturli’ Hakket. Of course, Plastic Change can create partnerships in all industries where it believes it can make an impact in order to attain its vision. No matter what industry it chooses to enter next, the recommendation is to reach a higher donation level by developing a product with a higher sales price to increase capital and thereby make the donation less dependent on large sales volumes.
6.4 Recommendation 4 - Base Future Partnership On Shared Values And Goals
The fourth recommendation is that Plastic Change should keep choosing its strategic partners based on mutual values and goals. Of course, if the partnership enables both parties to reach individual goals without compromising the other party’s value and goals, this is perceived as an extra gain achieved from value creation in the strategic partnership.
Plastic Change should not compromise its values when choosing a strategic partner, as it could hurt the credibility of the organisation. It is therefore recommended that Plastic Change aims for the mix of partnership categories that it has established with Naturli’. A mix of the symbiotic and independent partnership categories would enable Plastic Change to gain the most from the partnership and to create the wanted value. This mix is suggested because if two organisations share values it is easier for them to find shared goals. It can be argued that organisations with similar values are more likely to align on their strategic direction, thereby enhancing the strategic fit, increasing the chances of the partnership being successful. Pursuing this direction is recommended despite the fact that the analysis showed that some of the shared goals in the partnership did not manage to reach their full potential of value creation. In this aspect, it is important to remember that a strategic partnership leaves room for improvement and adaptation along the way. Both parties become aware of how to share resources and use core competencies in the best way to reach the shared goals and to create value.
Page 114 of 199