z o t t e r turns into a learning content at the Harvard Business School
Josef Zotter in Harvard:
About sustainability, entrepreneurial spirit and Austria
Josef Zotter is the first Austrian entrepreneur who became the protagonist of a Harvard Business School Case Study, which was introduced in Harvard on Friday, April 16th 2010 together with him as a guest referee. The students who described Zotter as a “mixture of an artist and an entrepreneur” were not only impressed by his chocolates.
How does a company whose maxim is not profit maximization work? Why does a company dispense with classical advertising and market research? How do the independent control mechanisms of fair trade function? With his company profile Josef Zotter causes irritation in Harvard and yet raises a cheer in Harvard’s International Entrepreneurship class for his company profile which stands out strongly from the usual business concepts.
Josef Zotter explained, “it is not always about achieving rocket-like growth overnight. It is more important to learn how to deal with our resources and to thus influence the living conditions for everyone in a positive manner. For example we pay our cocoa farmers for their cocoa beans a price which is four times higher than the world market price in order to motivate them on the one hand to improve the quality of the cocoa and to offer them on the other hand better development opportunities.
Zotter encouraged the Austrian students and researchers in Harvard to explore new ways and not to shy back from challenges.
