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One Laptop Per Child

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OLPC HGCC 2012 Case Study (Login or register to download the case here):

Revolutionizing the way to make education affordable for everyone
Going beyond the status quo - creating bigger, better,bolder, faster and cheaper solutions

Key Question:
Can OLPC get 10 million laptops to children in 5 years, drive the industry to make laptops more affordable, and improve education with its principles?

Executive Summary:

OLPC wanted to provide the world’s poorest children with education

  • A billion children in the developing world do not get an adequate education
  • OLPC’s goal has been to educate the world’s poorest children through a laptop
  • OLPC wanted to operate as a self-sustaining business
  • OLPC distributed laptops through national governments but had not found it easy
  • OLPC had driven costs down but other viable competitive solutions have emerged
  • OLPC had used a range of techniques to deploy 2.5 million laptops successfully

However, this is not enough and OLPC needs new and better solutions across its value chain to reach 10 million children in 5 years

  • Are there new markets to target?
  • Are there new ways to deliver?
  • Are there new offerings that OLPC can provide?
  • Are there new ways to produce the offering?
  • Are there new business models that will sustain OLPC?

Can OLPC get 10 million laptops to children in 5 years, drive the industry to make laptops more affordable, and improve education with its principles?

Resources:

  1. David Gordon, Shailen Nandy, Christina Pantazis, Simon Pemberton and Peter Townsend, “Child poverty in the developing world,” UNICEF, October 2003, p.5, accessed October 7, 2011.
  2. “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011,” United Nations, 2011, p. 17, accessed December 15, 2011.
  3. John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop, “Making the ‘$100 Laptop,’ ”HBS No. 9-508-024, (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008), p. 5, and “A Computer in every Pot.” The Economist, July 27, 2007
  4. “About the laptop, hardware,” accessed November 3, 2011.
  5. “A Conversation with Mary Lou Jepsen,” ACMQueue, November 1, 2007, accessed November 3, 2011.
  6. Interview with Walter Bender, October 13, 2011.
  7. “Hardware specifications,” Laptop Wiki, accessed November 3, 2011.
  8. Interview with Robert Hacker, November 9, 2011.
  9. “About the laptop, hardware,” accessed November 3, 2011.
  10. “Building the XO: Introducing Sugar,” Redhat.com, accessed October 13, 2011.
  11. “Getting Started,” Sugarlabs wiki, accessed December 19, 2011.
  12. See Quelch and Knoop (2008), p. 5, and “A Computer in every Pot.” The Economist, July 27, 2007
  13. “Sugarlabs, Constructionism,” accessed October 13, 2011.
  14. “Sugar Activities,” OLPC website, accessed November 3, 2011.
  15. “About Sugarlabs, What is Sugar,” accessed October 13, 2011.
  16. “Activities”, Sugarlabs website, accessed January 3, 2011.
  17. “What is Sugar?”, Sugarlabs website, accessed January 3, 2012.
  18. “Deployment Guide 2011,” Laptop wiki, accessed November 3, 2011.
  19. “One Laptop Per Child: Creating a Brighter Future for Aboriginal Children in Canada using Technology,” slideshow, February 2010, accessed November 3, 2011.
  20. “OLPC Canada,” accessed November 3, 2011.
  21. “OLPC Deployed in Afghanistan,” Roshan Connection, acessed November 3, 2011.
  22. Charles Kane, “Education can change the world,” podcast, February 24, 2010, University of Cambridge: Judge Business School website, accessed November 4, 2011.
  23. Interview with Robert Hacker and Giulia D’Amico, November 9, 2011.
  24. Interview with Charles Kane, November 30, 2011.
  25. “Deployment Guide 2011,” Laptop wiki, accessed November 3, 2011.
  26. Picture courtesy of Walter Bender, accessed October 13, 2011.
  27. “Deployment Guide—Power Infrastructure,” Laptop wiki, accessed November 4, 2011.
  28. “Reporter’s Journal: The XO computer in action in Peru,” BusinessWeek, (slideshow,) no date, accessed November 4, 2011.
  29. OLPC Case study for HGCC 2010, Interview with Charles Kane, January 7, 2010.
  30. Robert Buderi, “One Ecosystem Per Child: Walter Bender and OLPC Reunite to Enhance Learning and Grow Economies in Developing Nations,” Xconomy, October 5, 2010, accessed November 4, 2011.
  31. “The market,” Laptop wiki, accessed November 3, 2011.
  32. Heather Timmons, “Aiming for the other one billion,” The New York Times, October 6, 2011, accessed November 4, 2011.
  33. “India unveils prototype for $35 touch-screen computer,” BBC website, July 23, 2010, accessed November 4, 2011.
  34. John Terauds, “Montreal firm launches world’s cheapest tablet at $48,” Thestar.com, October 6, 2011, accessed December 19, 2011.
  35. “One Laptop per Child Giving Campaign Raises $35 Million,” Reuters press release, accessed November 14, 2011.
  36. Hiawatha Bray, “Running up the score: Fund loss staggers group giving laptops to poor children,” Boston.com, January 9, 2009, accessed November 14, 2011.
  37. David Kirkpatrick, “Negroponte on Intel’s $100 laptop pullout,” CNN Money, accessed November 14, 2011.
  38. Interview with Charles Kane, November 30, 2011.
  39. “Curitiba: The Green Capital,” accessed December 9, 2011.
  40. “Curitiba’s Bus System is Model for Rapid Transit,” accessed December 9, 2011.
  41. Interview with Victor Fernandes, December 7, 2011.
  42. OLPC presentation by Giulia D’Amico and Robert Hacker to Hult interns, November 9, 2011.
  43. Interview with Walter Bender, October 13, 2011.
  44. “IBM sells PC business to China’s Lenovo,” Associated Press, MSNBC website, accessed December 9, 2011.
  45. Guilherme Felitti and Daniela Braun, "Company seeking to manufacture OLPC’s $100 laptop in Brazil," IDG Now!, accessed November 14, 2011.
  46. “Brazilian Ministry of Education plan large deployment with Mandriva Linux on Intel-powered classmate PCs,” Mandriva website, accessed November 14, 2011.
  47. David Magee, How Toyota Became #1: Leadership Lessons from the World’s Greatest Car Company, pp.161-165.
  48. “Globalizing and Localizing Manufacturing: ‘Made by TOYOTA’—Aiming for Global Quality Assurance,” Toyota website, no date, accessed December 9, 2011.
  49. Mary Moore, “One Laptop Per Child weighs going for-profit,” Boston Business Journal, accessed November 14, 2011.
  50. “Conversion of Hospitals from Nonprofit to For-Profit Can Offer Community Benefits,” Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, January 2001, accessed December 9, 2011.
  51. Sara R. Collins, Bradford H. Gray, and Jack Hadley, “The For-Profit Conversion Of Nonprofit Hospitals In The U.S. Health Care System: Eight Case Studies,” The Commonwealth Fund, May 2001, accessed December 9, 2011.
  52. Rodrigro Arboleda, Interview with Sergio Sarmiento of TV Azteca, Mexico City, March 31, 2010, accessed January 4, 2012.


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