http://www.shoesvbuy.com

Once I wanted to buy a pair of casual shoes. I considered a lot of brands and chose TOMS finally because of its “One for One” model. At that time, I believed that it is a direct way to help the poor people. However, after careful consideration and much thought now, I cannot totally agree with its model. TOMS grows faster and become an internationally well-known brand with this model, though the model has some potential problems that most consumers (including me) may not consider.

The “One for One” model is giving one pair of shoes for the poor person when a consumer is buying one pair of shoes. It does a little to solve the root of poverty. A poor person can get a pair of shoes from this model one time, but what can they get after the shoes become tattered? They still need to wait for TOMS’ donation and TOMS can sell more products and earn more profits. The root cause of poverty has not changed. Instead of giving one fish, teaching a person how to fish is more important.

Furthermore, the model may even destroy the local business for less people would buy shoes and more people would loss their jobs. Consequently, the population in poverty level would be larger and larger. Social enterprise should give back to society while TOMS does not make a healthy “return”.

http://mylifeasannie.com/2011/04/

To solve this problem and enable TOMS to grow in future, TOMS should make another decision to help the poor. For example, TOMS can establish some factories in those poor countries and increase their employment rate. Providing them more educational opportunity is also a positive method to help them have better economic situation. The “One for One” model is a direct model and most consumers may believe that it is great at first. But after deep consideration, consumers will realize and refuse to buy TOMS’ product.

Reference

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/one-one-business-model-social-impact-avoiding-unintended-consequences/

http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-10-08/toms-shoes-rethinks-its-buy-one-give-one-model-helping-needy