3 The question ladder: a case study
In the case study below, Margaret is a young entrepreneur in Uganda who is thinking about a change to her social enterprise. The Question Ladder Template is applied to the case study to demonstrate its application.
Case Study 1: Margaret’s social enterprise
Margaret manages a small social enterprise making costume jewellery from locally produced beads. The enterprise is two years old, and is doing well. At the moment, Margaret employs ten women who work from their own homes assembling the jewellery. While this has worked well, there are limits on how much time the women can give to making the jewellery because of their household commitments. This is holding back expansion of the social enterprise.
Margaret is wondering whether now is the time to seek premises for production and to offer the women part-time or full-time employment outside of the home. She has found a small factory that would accommodate 25 workers. Margaret decides to complete a Question Ladder Template to ensure she is considering everything she needs to. She wants to be as prepared as she can be; this is a big step for her, the workers and the social enterprise.
Activity 3
- a.Margaret has started to complete the question ladder as it applies to her interest in moving the jewellery social enterprise into factory premises. Fill in the empty cells in the half-completed Question Ladder Template below. (Hint: draw on the key aspects of the case study, namely Margaret’s wish for factory premises, retaining existing workers and attracting new workers).
Is | Did | Can | Will | Would | Might | |
Who | Who is using the factory at the moment? | Who can use the factory? | Who will compete to use the factory? | Who would be prepared to work in the factory from my existing workers? | ||
What | What did the factory previously produce? | What will be the critical factors in securing the factory? | What would I have to do to encourage my existing workers to move to the factory? | What might my existing workers feel about the factory? | ||
Where | Where is this factory? | Where did people who worked at the factory come from? | Where can the workers come from? | Where would I look for new workers to expand my workforce? | ||
When | When is this factory used? | When did the previous occupants know they needed to vacate the factory? | When will a decision on the factory’s new occupants be taken? | When would I need to start looking for new workers? | ||
Why | Why is this factory suitable? | Why did the previous occupants vacate the factory? | Why will I be successful in securing this factory? | Why might my existing workers not want to move to the factory? | ||
How | How did the factory become available? For example, leasehold or for sale. | How can my social enterprise make best use of this factory? | How would I train new workers? | How might my existing workers train new workers? |
Discussion
Below is a completed question ladder for Margaret’s wish to move the social enterprise to factory premises. Your answers may not be the same as mine, demonstrating the great variety of questions that can be asked.
Is | Did | Can | Will | Would | Might | |
Who | Who is using the factory at the moment? | Who did the space belong to? | Who can use the factory? | Who will compete to use the factory? | Who would be prepared to work in the factory from my existing workers? | Who might my new workers be? |
What | What is good about this factory? | What did the factory previously produce? | What could the factory be used for? | What will be the critical factors in securing the factory? | What would I have to do to encourage my existing workers to move to the factory? | What might my existing workers feel about the factory? |
Where | Where is this factory? | Where did people who worked at the factory come from? | Where can the workers come from? | Where will a decision on the factory's new occupants be taken? | Where would I look for new workers to expand my workforce? | Where might my new workers live for easy access to the factory? |
When | When is this factory used? | When did the factory’s previous occupants know they needed to vacate the factory? | When can the factory be occupied? | When will a decision on the factory’s new occupants be taken? | When would I need to start to look for new workers? | When might my existing workers start at the new factory? |
Why | Why is this factory suitable? | Why did they vacate the factory? | Why can this factory suit my workers? | Why will I be successful in securing this factory? | Why would my workers want to work in this factory? | Why might my existing workers not want to move to the factory? |
How | How is the factory currently used? | How did the factory become available? For example, leasehold or for sale. | How can the social enterprise make best use of this factory? | How will I pay the rent for this factory? | How would I train new workers? | How might my existing workers train new workers? |
You might feel that some of the questions are asking the same thing. However, they might elicit different answers. For example, 'Where can the workers come from?' sounds the same as 'Where would I look for new workers to expand my workforce?' However, 'Where can' is asking from how far away might women travel to reach the factory; 'Where would' refers to where Margaret might actively recruit new workers. This may be in a specific neighbourhood where she knows there are the requisite skills.
You may have struggled to answer the ‘would’ and ‘might’ questions, as these relate to an unknown future position, and require you to make assumptions in order to make predictions.
2.1 What do the questions mean?