Internet.

org
Facebook Serving at the bottom of the Pyramid
GROUP 3
 Agenda
Item Internet.org – Facts about the project
1

Item Organizational Culture – What is it & why is it

2 Important?

Item Facebook Culture – What is their culture now and what

3 do we want it to be? What values should drive our
behaviors?

Item Comparative Study – How other corporates would

4 have handled such an initiative?

Item Conclusion– What did we learn from this case

4 study
 Expected Session Outcomes

• An understanding of what an Organization culture is & is not

• What was the intention of FB in this initiative?

• Were the steps taken towards those goals?

• Was it a feasible initiative or just a motherhood statement?

• How other technology giants would have taken this

initiative? Would it have been different?

 Facts from the Case

• 2.7 billion people are currently accessing the internet as per the reports of
Facebook which is the one-third of the total population in the world.
• The initiative has a clear goal for connecting the remaining 5 billion people
and increasing the digital connectivity to those lagging behind.
• The Internet.org initiative offers access to all the people while the global
partnerships are bringing down the initiative.
• To provide access in remote areas, the initiative is getting assistance from
the several other organizations for data accessibility and connection
• Partners - MediaTek, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Opera & few NGOs
• Bringing the entire world online provides diverse advantages such as
industrial changes, technological advancement, growth in businesses.
• Three key challenges are - data usability in an efficient manner, affordability
to the internet access and supporting businesses for driving the initiative.
• Internet penetration boosting the emerging economies such as India, as
China is blocked.
• The main target of Mark Zuckerberg is to increase the revenue for Facebook
from the Asian Region.
 What is the Initiative?

• The internet plays a crucial role in daily life and is available only to the rich
and middle-class people.
• Internet.org is an initiative organized by Facebook to provide internet
facilities to those underprivileged people – The bottom of the Pyramid!
 Reasons behind it

• Internet connectivity plays a major role in the economic growth of

the developing countries
• The Internet can offer different benefits to these poverty-stricken
people such as alerting about the weather reports, helping children
in their study remotely who also lack financial resources
• It is assumed that if the economic condition of these people gets
improved overtime then they will contribute to the country’s
economy more
 What’s The Real Impact?

• Other companies are also eyeing to get their share of connecting the
remaining 4.4 billion people.
• Collaborative manner from the Government, society, NGOs, different
companies are coming up for increasing the internet accessibility in
rural areas.
• Expensive internet, and expensive service plans, no connection for
the mobile network in some parts are addressed by various Telco
players
• According to the Internet.org, the initiative provided large impact on
the economic aspects through the additional jobs in diverse regions
by -
 65M in India,
 27M in South and East Asia,
 44M in Africa and finally,
 5M in Latin America
 Any Challenges seen?
• Significant challenges seen in India due to the low converge
quality, lack of infrastructure, lack of human capital
development and uneven wealth distribution.
• Facebook executives were experiencing significant backlash
from many stakeholders in the India because of its perceived
violation of net neutrality.
 What is Organizational Culture?

“Culture is not about perks and parties. It's about what

you believe and how you behave."
A set of shared beliefs, values and practices…
FB Organization Culture

“to give people the power to build community

and bring the world closer together.”

“People use Facebook to stay connected with

friends and family, to discover what’s going on in
the world, and to share and express what
matters to them.”

1. Creative problem solving & decision-making

2. Boldness
3. Openness
4. Speed
5. Continuous improvement
FB Organization Culture – Pros/Cons

• Hacker’s culture of FB makes it very flexible in

nature and can address issues rapidly.
• Continuous Improvement is another advantage
to this social media company
• Speed or agility of the company makes it very
advantageous when it comes to trend
responses

• Difficulty in strictly implementing new

mandates
• Effective internal communication missing
• Strategic management initiatives for data
privacy/security
 Were The Initiative & Outcomes
Matching?

• Projected as Philanthropic
• Service to the under privileged
• Positioned as a Gateway
• Used FB Basics due to its free cost service

• Use FB servers for Internet Access

• Business Development group
• Goal is to expand the user base of FB worldwide
• Websites available in FB server is very limited.
• Should pay for extra browsing.
 Perceptions!

• Created mixed reputation in the global market

• Lack of clear communication of the objective of the initiative.

• Projected as an initiative to improves economy but the real intent was

perceived as pure business

• The subsidy offered to the user who has opted for the Internet.org
program does not even come from FB; it comes from the carriers who
provide the service who uses it as customer acquisition.
How Would Other Companies Executed
this?
Organizational Culture –
Small company-Family rapport
Similar Initiative - Project Loon
More Philanthropic
"Loon pledged $10 million to
support nonprofits and
businesses focused on
connectivity, internet,
entrepreneurship and
education in Kenya as it exits."
Organizational Culture –
Privacy is critical
Similar Initiative - ConnectED
More Philanthropic
“Apple has been part of the
ConnectED initiative since
2014, pledging $100 million of
teaching and learning solutions
to 114 underserved schools
across the country.”
Internet.org Today ?
 Whatever the reason maybe,
but people had opted for this program,
only for FREE internet.
 Did we meet our Session Outcomes?
• An understanding of what an Organization culture is & is not
• What was the intention of FB in this initiatives
• Was the steps taken towards those goals?
• Was it a feasible initiative or a motherhood statement?
• What would it have been an another corporate taken this
initiative up. Would it have been different?
Questions? Comments?
Resources Facebook
• Organizational culture
http://panmore.com/facebook-inc-organizational-culture-characteristics-analysis
• Challenges in India & Bangladesh
https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/case-studies/case-studies/internet-org-on-the-
ground-the-case-of-bangladesh/

Google
• Organizational Culture
http://panmore.com/google-organizational-culture-characteristics-analysis
• Project Loon
https://qz.com/africa/1961328/why-googles-loon-internet-balloon-project-crash-landed/

Apple
• Organizational Culture
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=rptasp
• ConnectED
https://www.apple.com/connectED/