KeepCup: An Analysis of Responsible Leadership - MGT5 LIC (BU1) Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of KeepCup, an Australian company specializing in reusable coffee cups, focusing on its innovative business model and responsible leadership. The report examines the company's commitment to environmental sustainability, its mission to reduce disposable cup usage, and its B Corporation certification. It explores the challenges KeepCup has faced and how it has addressed them, including the initial hurdles in product development and market acceptance. Furthermore, the report analyzes KeepCup's innovative approach to manufacturing, emphasizing material choices, energy efficiency, and the promotion of sustainable user behavior. The analysis also covers the company's responsible leadership, highlighting its efforts to encourage the use of reusable cups and its strategies for continued success in promoting environmental sustainability. The report concludes with recommendations for future strategies, including expanding distribution channels, enhancing marketing efforts, and utilizing e-commerce platforms. The report also discusses the importance of adapting to changing consumer needs and preferences, and the role of technology in enhancing the company's operations.

Keep Cup Analysis
2019-MGT5 LIC(BU1) group assignment Task 3
Dat of submission:
Word count:

Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..............................................................................................................................................2
Report purpose..................................................................................................................................2
Outline of our report.........................................................................................................................2
Overview of the organisation............................................................................................................2
Why you chose it...............................................................................................................................4
Why the business model is innovative...............................................................................................5
Responsible leadership / in what way they show responsible leadership.........................................6
Key challenges of the organisation....................................................................................................7
How they have dealt with those challenge........................................................................................7
How they can continue to be successful and responsible.................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
Reference..............................................................................................................................................9
Appendix.............................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
The chosen firm for the discussion of the topic is the KeepCup. This brand has been
serving the economy for a longer period of time. Speaking in terms of the product offerings
the firm is famous for its innovative product offering in terms of the disposal cups. This is
being undertaken to make the environment sustainable enough to have a positive
environment. The use of the plastic and that of the harmful chemicals is depleting our natural
environment. It is the vision of the company to make use of the eco-friendly products in the
manufacturing processes to make use of the qualitative cups along with that of the reusable
facility. On the other hand, it is the leadership vision of the company and that of the top
management body to introduce and innovative product within the daily consumption
commodity. This has been done to denote its CSR efforts on the other side gaining a major
proportion of the consumer market focus. It is the leadership vision and the focus of the firm
to aim for a new product offering, with that of the unique design and characteristics.
It is the vision because of which the firm is able to gain a major proportion of the
market, it is one of the leadership qualities besides gaining the focus of the consumer market.
There is achievement in terms of the sustainability programme and that too the introduction
of the new innovative product. The success to business lies in the though and visionary
process which is a leadership trait and is not possible by every performing individual of the
organisation.
Discussion
Report purpose
The sole purpose of undertaking this report is to understand the nature of the business
undertakings that is carried out by the concerning firm that is the KeepCup firm and the set of
activities that is being carried out by the firm. The report will also analyse the nature of the

commodity and its utility. Apart from that the report will also focus upon the environment
sustainability activity towards which each of the operating firm is responsible for the
contributions. On the other hand, the significance of leadership quality and that of its vision
in understanding the need for the introduction of the sustainable innovative product (Tan et
al., 2015).
Overview of the organisation
According to the official website of KeepCup (au.keepcup.com, 2019), KeepCup is an
Australian Company whose headquarters are based in Melbourne. It manufactures reusable
coffee cups. By the time the company was founded in 2009, the volume of disposable cups
thrown away was so high. Furthermore, no existing reusable cups were suitable to be used in
a given café. The initial prototypes of faced numerous challenges such as leaking and health
concerns. The products were not supported by some cafes that concerned that the new cups
did not comply with all the health regulations. KeepCup as an organisation emerged from a
concern about the environmental footprint of the coffee industry using disposable cups. Thus,
it does not come as a surprise that the KeepCup considers the environmental footprint of the
organisation's products with an enormous amount of interest.
KeepCup is the first reusable coffee cup in the world. The company manufactures
barista cups in 5 sizes which come in both plastics as well as glass. The company is focused
on encouraging positive Behavior in the form of a Feel good slogan. The company believes it
takes everyone to ensure the Sustainability of the environment. The good actions generate
good habits hence driving a common desire of mindful and positive environmental footprint
(au.keepcup.com, 2019). KeepCup acts as leaders in Environmental Sustainability. They
believe that through their actions, the company inspires other organisations to be the change
they hope to see in the universe.

While suitability has been the centre of KeepCup’s mission, the environmental
credentials of the company are also an eminent market differentiator, as well as a lever for
aiding to disrupt the takeaway market. Since the inception of the organisation, KeepCup has
managed to sell over three million cups in more than 65 nations, with warehouses established
in the UK and USA. The clients for the organisation is divided among individuals purchasing
a cup from the retailers or online, and all the businesses they use the cups as branded products
for their employees or customers. Nonetheless, there are still questions that the
environmental performance of the reusable cups as compared to other reusable cups types
along with single-use cups, when an assessment is done across the full life cycle. In this case,
most of the KeepCup's clients are engaged in environmental issues thus considered to be a
leader in Sustainability (au.keepcup.com, 2019).
Mission Statement
The mission statement of the organisation is to encourage the utilisation of reusable
cups. The company ensures this is possible by offering an innovative as well as a sustainable
alternative to disposable cups. Furthermore, the products are offered in the context of a
positive global campaign with the aspiration to make the difference to how individuals think
about convenience culture. KeepCup has managed to create a worldwide brand that has
started the campaign towards the demise of all disposable cups. Engaging individuals do this
in three different ways (au.keepcup.com, 2019). The company attracts the lovers of coffee,
those who are concerned about the environment as well as the people that enjoy excellent
design.
Why you chose it
KeepCup is a leader in environmental Sustainability; that is the reason why it had
been chosen for this analysis. KeepCup has done enough to reduce the environmental
footprint within the coffee industry thus increasing environmental Sustainability. The total

environmental impacts indicate that KeepCup has reduced the impact as compared to the
estimate while considering medium, light or heavy usage in all markets assessed (Paju 2015).
KeepCup is considered the leaders since its carbon footprint has been 88 percent
lower compared to compostable cups while only 4 percent lower than reusable bamboo cups
relatively the carbon footprint for all the products of the organisation as indicated by the data.
The merits have been presented even for light users. In this case, drinking a single cup of
coffee per day using compostable cups, the carbon footprint overtakes that of the organisation
by only ten days. It takes 24 days for paper cups footprint to overtake that of KeepCup
products. Averagely, the use of a KeepCup product has a reduced impact as compared to
using disposable cups as well as reusable cups which are made from bamboo and
polypropylene.
Furthermore, KeepCup has been certified as a B Corporation. It has been noted that B
Corporation began in the United States of America, with the belief that an organisation has to
serve the interest of the environment, the shareholders, employees, and stakeholders. Thus, a
B Corporation, the company has been certified by a non-profit B Lab (Tan et al., 2015). The
company, non-profits B lab, is transparent as well as independent which is evidence that
KeepCup is what they say they are. The environmental footprints of the KeepCup products
are significant to the company.
Why the business model is innovative
Manufacturing is the most important section of production second to use. It is at this
stage that the innovative business model of KeepCup can be experienced. Close to 8 percent
of the KeepCup product’s carbon emissions are embedded into the cup itself. The cup also
composes of 11 percent of energy as well as 1 percent of used water (Bengtsson 2018). The
relevant sections of embodied carbon emissions are glass cup 53-59 percent, and plastic 41

percent based on the type of the cup. It has to be noted that the carbon footprint of
KeepCup’s that are manufactured in the United Kingdom are 15-30 percent more than those
manufactured and assembled in Australia.
The choice of material indicates the innovativeness of the organisation. The glass cup
indicates to have an increased impact as compared to plastic cups. The cock band, on the
other hand, has a lower carbon footprint as compared to the silicone band. It is arguable that
KeepCup Company has taken interest to explore all alternative cup materials as well as
evaluate different combinations of all the section used to manufacture the products and lower
impact. In addition, the company has enhanced material efficiency by redesigning their
product to eradicate the number of materials required for the glass cup (Cys et al., 2015).
Currently, the company is contemplating to incorporate recycled glass materials to be used as
raw material hence reducing the impact of processing and material extraction.
The company is tending towards energy efficiency through reducing embodied impact
by including energy efficiency technologies as well as more efficient processes during the
assembly stage. KeepCup is further enhancing less energy-intensive processes as compared
to the ones employed in manufacturing the cup parts. Even though the Melbourne facility is
only planted using a photovoltaic system, other processing plant planning to explore the
same. The use of photovoltaic systems has been shown to reduce the energy impact (Wylie et
al., 2016). Therefore, shrinking the supply chain through the reduction of the transport
distance of the parts of the cups between the assembly and manufacturing plants would
effectively reduce the carbon footprint as well as energy requirement.
Above all the company has managed to lower KeepCup products environmental
impact. The organisation has been innovative enough to provide another mode of improving

its products carbon footprint. This is done through influencing the primary use stage thus
impacting the user behaviour through effective communication and education (Tan 2015).
The company has identified hand washing to be the most effective as compared to
dishwashing since it promotes energy as well as water efficiency techniques. The
organisation has invented methods of facilitating the replacement of cup parts which prevents
all the users from buying new cups thus extending the lifespan of the cup thus reducing
environmental impact. The organisation is encouraging recycling of their products at the end
of the lifespan it reduces the overall impact which aligns with the mission of reducing the
plastic wastage. This is done through educating consumers as well as lobbying for
infrastructure that increases the scope along with coverage of recycling services.
Furthermore, the design of its products considers recyclability (Corvellec et al., 2016).
Responsible leadership / in what way they show responsible leadership
Responsible leadership is defined as
Key element of responsible leadership
Benefit of responsible leadership
Key challenges of the organisation
How they have dealt with those challenge
How they can continue to be successful and responsible

Recommendations
Thus, it is being concluded that the firm should plan to make use of the major
proportion of the distribution channels. This will help to increase their sale in terms of their
product offerings. On the other hand, the concerning firm should focus more on the
marketing mix aspect on a periodic basis in order to evaluate the extent of effectiveness that
is being achieved. The firm can even make use of the e-commerce platform and that of the
third party websites where they can trade their product offerings. Besides, a marketing
professional can be hired on an agreement basis for a specific period of time to ascertain the
marketing conditions of the prevailing surrounding.

Reference
Corvellec, H. (2016). A performative definition of waste prevention. Waste management, 52,
3-13.
Cys, J., & Andrew, J. (2015). Innovation or Resuscitation? A Review of Design Integration
Programs in Australia. In The Handbook of Service Innovation (pp. 457-479).
Springer, London.
Cys, J., & Andrew, J. (2015). Innovation or Resuscitation? A Review of Design Integration
Programs in Australia. In The Handbook of Service Innovation (pp. 457-479).
Springer, London.
KeepCup | Reusable Coffee Cups. (2019). Retrieved from https://au.keepcup.com/?
countryNameChange=au&countryChangeType=auto
Skotnicki, T. (2014). How small business can stay in business. Management Today, (Mar
2014), 18.
Tan, C. S. L. (2015). KeepCup: A young fast growth entrepreneurial company that disrupted
the take away coffee cup industry. In United States Association for Small Business
and Entrepreneurship. Conference Proceedings (p. QQ1). United States Association
for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Tan, C. S. L. (2015). KeepCup: A young fast growth entrepreneurial company that disrupted
the take away coffee cup industry. In United States Association for Small Business
and Entrepreneurship. Conference Proceedings (p. QQ1). United States Association
for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
Wylie, S., 2016. Motivating Environmentally Conscious Behaviour Through Message
Framing.

Appendix