Sahaj Crafts: the challenge of alleviating poverty in Western Rajasthan

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aashish Mehra ◽  
Nidhi Mathur ◽  
Vaibhav Tripathi

Learning outcomes The learning objectives of this case are as follows: identify and understand the major challenges/problems faced by a social enterprise in promoting handicraft business; examine the value chain architecture of handicraft products; assess the role of the protagonist (Sanjay) as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; assess Sahaj Crafts' initiatives and analyze whether the key intervention/s planned/executed were required for skilling up of rural artisans and upgradation of handicraft business; know the marketing strategies for handicraft products; and understand the “strategies” which need to be applied for uplifting people's lives at the bottom of pyramid in general and for enlivening of artisans’ clusters in particular. The outcomes are as follows: examining the value chain architecture of handicraft product; understanding the difficulties and challenges of structuring a viable social business model; examining the role of Sanjay as a social change agent in shaping a successful social enterprise; and examining the model of Craft Incubation Center and design education proposed by Sahaj Crafts for improving rural artisans’ livelihood and skills upgradation. Case overview/synopsis Sanjay Joshi – the promoter and CEO of “Sahaj Crafts” (a social enterprise established in Western Rajasthan, India), an initiative to strengthen indigenous skills and mainstream rural craft products and artworks – is faced with the question of how to scale up his organization’s operations. Doing so requires that he address these fundamental challenges in terms of – how to deal with unorganized craft communities; match up product orientation to market demands; integrate modern technology / processes in craft business; combat restricted mobility of women artisans; and make effective interventions so that the artisans learn and enjoy working in the current model and solve the financial issues faced by the social enterprise. Providing effective and implementable answers to those questions is vital to Sahaj Craft’s development in attaining its mission to alleviate poverty in the region. Failing to expand operations above a critical scale may leave Sahaj Crafts vulnerable in meeting sufficient demand for contemporary craft products in the mainstream markets. Complexity academic level This case study is primarily suitable for post-graduate level management students to teach the concepts of designing and operationalizing a “social” business model in a social entrepreneurship module. This case study can also be used for highlighting business model innovations in the social sector of emerging markets. The case could be taught in the following academic domains: social entrepreneurship; bottom of the pyramid; social inclusion; supply chain consolidation (vertical integration in a value chain); marketing strategies for handicraft products; branding; brand positioning; cost and management accounting. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship

Author(s):  
Xhimi Hysa ◽  
Vusal Gambarov ◽  
Besjon Zenelaj

On-campus retailing is a spread practice, but academia has almost underestimated its potential. Nevertheless, not every type of retail activity adds value to customers and society. When the proposed value is society-driven and sensitive to consumers' wellbeing, customers' engagement increases. One business model, through which it is possible to exploit the benefits of on-campus retailing by adding social value, is the Yunus Social Business. This is a case-based study aiming to describe, through the Social Business Model Canvas, the founding of an organic shop within a university that is supplied by administrative staff of the university that are at the same time also local farmers. Further, the shop aims to resell organic food to university staff and students. The case study is theoretically enriched by traditional Porterian frameworks and new service frameworks such as the service-dominant logic by emphasizing the role of value proposition, value co-creation, and value-in-context.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribel Guerrero ◽  
Carlos A. Santamaría-Velasco ◽  
Raj Mahto

PurposeThe authors propose a theoretical basis for understanding the role of ecosystem intermediaries in the configuration of social entrepreneurship identities in social purpose organisations (SPOs) and their business model innovations (BMIs).Design/methodology/approachAdopting a retrospective multiple-case study, the authors offer insights into the paths/elements that determine the building of 44 social entrepreneurship identities in the context of an emerging economy (Mexico).FindingsThe study sheds light on the role of intermediaries in the configuration of the entrepreneurial identities of Mexican SPOs and BMIs, as well as several externalities generated during the process of capturing the social and economic value, especially when social innovations are focussed on solving societal, economic and ecological social problems.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation is related to the analysis of intermediaries within the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, which needs more conceptual and empirical evidence. The second limitation is that the analysis focussed only on intervened SPOs, as the authors did not control for non-intervened SPOs. Thus, this allows for future in-depth analysis of intermediary efficiency in a focus group (intervened SPOs) and a control group (non-intervened SPOs).Practical implicationsThe study also provides insights for Mexican SPOs on how a social entrepreneurship identity helps to capture the value creation of social innovations within an innovation ecosystem. Indeed, it is strongly aligned with the United Nations' Social Development Goals.Originality/valueThe study enhances the discussion about how intermediaries could encourage social entrepreneurial identity, as well as how intermediary intervention could facilitate the design and implementation of BMIs in the innovation ecosystem.


Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 2190-2216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Canestrino ◽  
Marek Ćwiklicki ◽  
Primiano Di Nauta ◽  
Pierpaolo Magliocca

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors for successful creation of social value using the social business model (SBM) as an explanatory framework. Design/methodology/approach This study follows the Krippendorff and Gioia’s methodology seeking the rigor while examining the selected case study – a social cooperative named La Paranza, in the city of Naples in the south of Italy. In doing so, the SBM canvas is used to present the research’s results in a systematic way. Findings The existence of a strong “identity” with the local context, the “enthusiasm and the wish to change things”, the presence of a “visionary”, acting as an orchestrator and the ability to provide for responses to the local needs were identified as key factors in the successful creation of social value in the examined case. Research limitations/implications The main research limits stem from the single case study methodology approach, which embodies the researchers’ subjectivity. A comparative study based on the collection of multiple successful case studies is therefore suggested to develop a generalization of the key drivers underlying the process of social value creation. Originality/value The study’s originality results from its use of the SBM framework in presenting a successful example of social value creation. The examined empirical evidence is also original in itself, mainly because of its inner uniqueness as a new and innovative formula: this allows an in-depth investigation and the inspiration for new ideas in the ground of SBM and, in a broader sense, in the field of social innovation and social value creation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Isa Nsereko ◽  
Alex Bignotti ◽  
Mohamed Farhoud

Subject area This case focusses on social innovation and social entrepreneurship in Africa, specifically looking at behavioural characteristics of social entrepreneurs, their motivations to create social value and the application of personal initiative theory. The case discusses the self-starting proactiveness and innovation traits of the social entrepreneur. The social business model canvas will be used to analyse the social enterprise’s business model. Study level/applicability Students of social entrepreneurship, development studies, sustainable livelihoods and asset-based development. It is useful for customised or short programmes on social entrepreneurship or for students with a background in business wanting to understand social enterprise as a vehicle for social and economic change. As such, this case is written for Business Management and Entrepreneurship undergraduates or students of elective courses in social entrepreneurship (“understanding” and “remembering” learning activities under Bloom’s taxonomy). When personal initiative theory is used, the case provides an initial understanding of social entrepreneurship in a less developed context for post-graduate students and may be used for higher-order learning activities (“analysing” and “applying”). Case overview The case tells the story of Dr Engr Moses Musaazi, who is a Social Entrepreneur and Managing Director of Technology for Tomorrow (T4T). Troubled with the persistent social problems in his country. Musaazi, through T4T, strived for social innovations to reduce school dropouts of Ugandan girls. While exploring Moses’ journey for solving persistent social problems through social innovations, students will be able to understand, remember, analyse and apply Dees’ (2001) social entrepreneurial behaviours and Santos’ (2012) theory of social entrepreneurship. The case discusses what motivates African social entrepreneurs to start a social venture (Ghalwash, Tolba, & Ismail, 2017). Students will apply personal initiative theory to identify the social entrepreneurial behaviours displayed in the creation of social ventures. To exemplify and analyse the different components of social ventures’ business model, the social business model canvas by Sparviero (2019) will be introduced. Expected learning outcomes The teaching objectives are Objective 1. Students are able to remember, understand, identify and apply the social entrepreneurial behaviours as defined by Dees (2001) and the elements of Santos’ (2012) theory of social entrepreneurship to Dr Moses Musaazi’s case as a social entrepreneur. Objective 2. Students remember, understand and identify what motivates social entrepreneurs in less developed economies to create social value (Ghalwash et al., 2017). Objective 3. Early-stage postgraduate students are able to apply and analyse (also evaluate and create for higher-level post-graduates) personal initiative theory to explain the emergence of social entrepreneurial behaviour and especially how innovation, self-starting and proactiveness may lead to social entrepreneurial venture start-up (Frese, Kring, Soose, & Zempel, 1996). Objective 4. Students use the social business model canvas (Sparviero, 2019) as a tool to understand, analyse and improve a social-enterprise business model. Supplementary materials Supplementary learning materials are provided in the Teaching Note (Table 1). Table1, which includes videos and their description. Also, a link to Uganda’s sustainable development index is provided (the focus is sustainable development goals [SDGs] 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities). Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


Author(s):  
Fabio Prado Saldanha ◽  
Natalia Aguilar Delgado ◽  
Marlei Pozzebon

This case examines the major challenges faced by Productions Jeun’Est (PJE) and Prodigium, a social enterprise working in the cultural sector. The profits generated by Prodigium’s activities in the entertainment field are invested in the PJE training program that aims to increase the social inclusion of vulnerable youth by training them to be technicians in the cultural market. By studying this case, students are expected to understand the elements of a social business model, to analyze the role of the different elements forming a social innovation and to evaluate the challenges of planning its transfer to another context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 1128-1150
Author(s):  
Sri Rahayu Hijrah Hati ◽  
Aida Idris

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of leader and organisational credibility in influencing customers’ intention to support Islamic social enterprises. Design/methodology/approach The credibility of the leader and that of the social enterprise are exposed through advertising. Ads portraying the six largest Islamic social enterprises in Indonesia and their social entrepreneur leaders were shown to 221 existing customers via online and offline surveys. Findings The findings indicate that organisational credibility and organisational branding have much greater influence than leaders’ personal credibility on customers’ intention to support Islamic social enterprises. Research limitations/implications The study has highlighted the greater role of organisational credibility and branding over advertising in attracting support for Islamic social entrepreneurship. Practical implications Islamic social enterprises need to develop a trusted brand and establish a more effective way to communicate with their stakeholders besides advertising, as the impact of ads on customer support intention is not significant. Originality/value The study contributes to the field of marketing and social entrepreneurship by providing empirical results on the Islamic social entrepreneurship phenomenon.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olu Oludele Akinloye Akinboade ◽  
Trevor Taft ◽  
Johann Friedrich Weber ◽  
Obareng Baldwin Manoko ◽  
Victor Sannyboy Molobi

Purpose This paper aims to understand social entrepreneurship (SE) business model design to create values whilst undertaking public service delivery within the complex environments of local governments in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach Face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted with 15 purposively selected social entrepreneurs in Gauteng and Western Cape provinces. The interview guide consisted of main themes and follow-up questions. Themes included SEs’ general history, the social business model; challenges faced and how these were overcome; scaling and growth/survival strategies. These enabled the evaluation of SEs in terms of identifying key criteria of affordability, availability, awareness and acceptability, which SEs must achieve to operate successfully in low-income markets. Social enterprise owners/managers within the electricity distribution, water reticulation and waste management services sectors were surveyed. Findings Most respondents focus on building a network of trust with stakeholders, through communication mechanisms that emphasize high-frequency engagements. There is also a strong focus on design-thinking and customer-centric approaches that strengthen value creation. The value creation process used both product value and service value mechanisms and emphasized quality and excellence to provide stakeholder, as well as societal value, within their specific contexts. Practical implications This study builds upon other research that emphasizes SEs’ customer-centric approaches to strengthen value creation and on building a network of trust with multiple stakeholders. It contributes to emphasizing the business paradigm shift towards bringing social values to the business practice. Social implications Social good, but resource providers are demanding more concrete evidence to help them understand their impact (Struthers, 2013). This is because it is intrinsically difficult for many social organizations to document and communicate their impact in more than an anecdotal way. The research has contributed to the understanding of how SEs can provide evidence of value creation. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of how business models are designed to create value within the context of the overwhelming complexity of local government services in South Africa.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Kerryn Ayanda Malindi Krige ◽  
Verity Hawarden ◽  
Rose Cohen

Learning outcomes This case study introduces students to the core characteristics of social entrepreneurship by teaching Santos (2012) positive theory. The case allows students to transition from comprehension and application of what social entrepreneurship is, to considering how they operate. Druckers (2005) argument that social organisations will never have sufficient resources to do their work because they operate in an environment of infinite need is the catalyst for a conversation on resource dependency theory and the risks of mission drift. Students are introduced to the funding spectrum that can be used to understand the type of income that comes to an organisation, and to apply this to the case. By the end of their studies, students should be able to apply the Santos (2012) definition to social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, have insight into the complexity of operating in an environment of infinite need and able to apply the funding spectrum as a tool to manage to understanding financial sustainability. Case overview/synopsis The case tells the story of Sharanjeet Shan, a globally recognised social entrepreneur, and recipient of the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015. Shan moved to South Africa as the country moved into democracy, and has spent the past 20-plus years building the skills of Black African school children in mathematics and science through the organisation she leads, Maths Centre. But the country remains at the bottom of world rankings for the quality of its maths and science education, despite spending more per capita on education than any other country in Africa. Maths Centre has seen a dip in donations despite steady growth in the amount of money that businesses are investing in social change in South Africa through corporate social investment. But does Shan really need more donor income? Or are there other ways that she can build the financial sustainability of Maths Centre? Complexity academic level This case study is aimed at students of non-profit management, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, women in leadership, corporate social investment, development studies and sustainable livelihoods. It is written at an Honours / Masters level and is therefore also appropriate for use in customised or short programmes. The case study is a good introduction for students with a background in business (e.g. Diploma in Business Administration / MBA / custom programmes) who are wanting to understand social enterprise and apply their learning's. Supplementary materials A list of supplementary materials is provided in the Teaching Note as Table I, which includes video's, radio interview recordings and a book chapter. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Monica C. Diochon ◽  
Yogesh Ghore

Subject area The subject areas are social entrepreneurship and marketing in social enterprises. Study level/applicability This study is applicable to undergraduate or MBA-level courses; possibly executive programs as well. Case overview Farm Shop was established in 2012 as a not-for-profit trust, with an aim of developing a distribution platform for poor, rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa so that smallholder farmers could get the farm inputs and services needed to increase their productivity and income. Attempting to reach scale, this social enterprise is in the process of building a micro-franchise network. Unlike franchises in industrialized countries where the franchisor starts with a vetted and replicable turnkey business, Farm Shop was created from scratch. After prototyping the shop concept and validating the business model in Kiambu County of Kenya, Farm Shop has 10 fully operational shops and is keen to start its growth phase, aiming to have 120 shops in its network within the next 12-18 months. It is only at that point that break-even will be achieved. Recognizing the key role of marketing in Farm Shop’s growth efforts, the founders are now focused on finalizing their go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Having initiated and measured the results of a number of marketing activities over the past six months, it is now time to decide which of these activities should be incorporated into their micro-franchise system. The management team knows that to provide advice, training and quality products to farmers, they first needed to develop awareness, interest and desire for what Farm Shop has to offer, not to mention the need to gain the farmers’ trust. Fundamentally, farmers needed to be convinced that Farm Shop can help them improve their productivity and income. Expected learning outcomes The study enables to gain an overall understanding of the range of challenges and opportunities associated with establishing a micro-franchise in an emerging market context; to gain a better understanding of social marketing, including the four types of behavioral influence it attempts to achieve and the similarities and differences between social and commercial marketing; to introduce the “theory of change” concept, providing a framework for understanding how and why change will occur; to introduce the concept of business models and explore the differences between “traditional” and “social entrepreneurship” business models; to understand how a competitive advantage is created; to introduce basic marketing concepts and the GTM concept and its role and application in a business model for a new social enterprise and to understand how marketing contributes to the social enterprise’s strategic goals and sustainability, thereby gaining an understanding of how “social marketing” is differentiated from commercial marketing. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 1179-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexia Franzidis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the business model of a successful social tourism business in Granada, Nicaragua. The study assesses how the business provides an avenue to combat the challenges that restrict certain stakeholders from participating in tourism. The case identifies specific mechanisms, such as investing in the local community’s education and favoring local vendors and merchants, as ways in which social tourism businesses can disseminate value among all stakeholders and create a more equitable form of tourism. Design/methodology/approach The case study method was chosen for collecting and analyzing data. Data include in-depth interviews with business founders, managers and employees, field observation notes, photographic documentation and additional written documents. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings The study found that the business was able to produce a high-quality tourism product that disseminated value among all stakeholders. The study also proved the value of the additional building blocks within the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise, and the clear distinction between “co-creators” and “beneficiaries.” Originality/value This study uses the Business Model Canvas for Social Enterprise, a model unverified since inception, to analyze a successful social tourism business. It confirms the usefulness of the additional building blocks within the model, and the additional delineations between “co-creators” and “beneficiaries.” Furthermore, the paper recommends these distinctions are extended to all blocks in the canvas, to illustrate the many ways a company can distribute value based on its business model.


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