Actively Engaging with Social Entrepreneurs: The Social Enterprise Audit

2021 ◽  
pp. 251512742110474
Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Fernhaber

Social entrepreneurship is on the rise. For educators, it is no longer a question of if we should teach social entrepreneurship, but rather how we might best do so. The Social Enterprise Audit is introduced as an innovative way to combine in-class learning with active engagement in the social entrepreneurship community. Student teams are matched with local social enterprises. As foundational concepts of social entrepreneurship are taught in the classroom, student teams visit and meet with their social enterprise partner to apply the concepts. The final deliverable includes an analysis and critique of the social enterprise along with a set of recommendations. The structured approach is easy for the instructor to implement and aligns directly with course material. Students benefit by nurturing their identity as a social entrepreneur while developing a skillset that equips them to make a difference.

Author(s):  
Renuka Garg ◽  
Subhash Yadav

The authors highlight that it was the personal spiritual experience of the founders which slowly evolved into an ethical-spiritual social organization. The researchers suggest that ethical social entrepreneurship is the result of an intense yearning on the part of the social entrepreneur to serve and advance the wellbeing of people and the environment around them. These personal values of the social entrepreneurs impel a process of help and resource contribution from like-minded people and institutions which result in the formation of a social organization based on ethical intentions. The study proposes a new subdomain of social entrepreneurship which focuses on the subjective, individual, personal values of the social entrepreneur which result in the formation of the social enterprise. The present study is an attempt to highlight the role of own values in the creation and evolution of a social enterprise. It is an attempt to explore the relationship between ethics and social entrepreneurship with the help of three case studies of social enterprises in South Gujarat, India.


Author(s):  
Daniel B. Cornfield

This chapter considers the pathways to becoming an artistic social entrepreneur. Previous research on social entrepreneurs has emphasized the impact of one's stock of human, social, and cultural capital on one's mobilization of requisite resources for launching and sustaining a social enterprise. Less sociological attention has been given to the influence of career-biographical factors, such as family, religion, education, and pivotal career turning points that may inspire and compel one to become a social entrepreneur and to envision and shape one's social enterprise, let alone an artistic social enterprise. The profiles of four artistic social entrepreneurs in this chapter illustrate how their strategic and risk orientations and career pathways shape the social enterprises they envision and influence their assumption and enactment of their roles as artist activists.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 1287-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunlei Wang ◽  
Zhaowen Duan ◽  
Larry Yu

Purpose This study aims to examine the development of a social enterprise in China’s tourism industry by analyzing the coevolution of the social entrepreneur and the social system. Design/methodology/approach Purposeful sampling was used to select 1kg.org as a single-case study. Semistructured in-depth interviews of three informants were conducted to obtain organization-specific insights. Interview data were analyzed following structuration theory. Secondary data and interviews of other social entrepreneurs and experts were used to support the findings. Research findings were validated using triangulation and member-checking methods. Findings Because of the institutional environment, most nonprofit organizations in China do not have resource independence and clear legal identity. Meanwhile, social enterprise has emerged as a new organizational form with the objective of creating social value through profitable business operations. Practical implications Social enterprise is still in its infancy in China, particularly in the tourism field. This study reveals an innovative and sustainable model for nonprofit organizations in China facing institutional challenges and competitive funding environments. It provides recommendations to policymakers for improving mechanisms to increase social services through social enterprises. Originality/value This study proposes a new conceptual framework for studying social entrepreneurship by adapting structuration theory to address contemporary social and business issues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-112
Author(s):  
Sabrina Bresciani ◽  
Martin J. Eppler

The emerging interest in social entrepreneurship is challenged in practice by the complexity of balancing economic and social aspects, and by the difficulties of getting the public to understand the very concept of social enterprising. How can we support social entrepreneurs in developing and growing their organizations? The cognitive advantages of thinking and working visually are well established in the literature, but not yet applied to guide the entire social enterprising process. Mapping and communicating ideas visually can provide several benefits, not only in the ideation phase, but also for managing, optimizing, and growing a social enterprise. We present a framework with visual formats that can be utilized by social entrepreneurs in each specific phase of the social enterprise development: (1) idea generation, (2) social enterprise model refinement, (3) idea promotion and resources acquisition, (4) planning, (5) sales and instructions, (6) scaling impact, and (7) measuring and monitoring. At a theoretical level, the framework aims to structure and summarize the benefits of visual representations of knowledge for the field of social entrepreneurship. This visual approach has practical applications for social entrepreneurs who can utilize it as an overarching tool, for an informed selection and use of visualizations to support the development of their social ventures. 


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dana Gintere ◽  
◽  
Lasma Licite-Kurbe ◽  

As social entrepreneurs address various socio-economic problems in society, there has also been an increased interest in how social enterprises can support specific regions. In Latvia, social enterprises have been operating for a long time, but only recently the Social Enterprise Law was adopted, which regulates the tasks of social entrepreneurship and the support possibilities. This study highlights the level of entrepreneurship activity in the country as a whole (the number of enterprises and the number of newly established enterprises) and within individual statistical regions in the period from 2018 till 2020, analysing the structure of enterprises and indicators representative of entrepreneurship in Latvia and its regions: the dynamics of the number of enterprises per 100 000 inhabitants. The following hypothesis was made: Social entrepreneurship in the regions of Latvia has a disproportionate impact on socio-economic problems. It was found that social enterprises operate twice as much in Riga region as in any other region of Latvia, which has the lowest poverty index. However, the highest poverty index is found in Latgale region, where proportionally the lowest number of social enterprises operates. Social entrepreneurship can be a successful tool for addressing socio-economic problems in the regions and for regional development. For this development to take place, it would be necessary to develop instruments to support social entrepreneurship with the aim of improving the well-being of all regions, not only the region where the social enterprise operates.


Author(s):  
Leandro da Silva Nascimento ◽  
Bernardo Soares Fernandes ◽  
Viviane Santos Salazar

This paper aimed to identify what are the strategic benefits that the social incubation process offers for social enterprise. We conducted a case study with a Brazilian social incubator. Social enterprises that participated in the social incubation program were the analysis units. Among the eight strategic benefits found, three of them have never been previously indicated in the studied literature, therefore being a novelty herein highlighted to improve social enterprise's commercial and social missions. By understanding these benefits, social entrepreneurs can make better decisions about joining social incubation. Besides, managers of social incubators can understand the limitations inherent to the social incubation herein stressed, and, from this, improve the programs. Hence, this paper advances knowledge in the social entrepreneurship field.


Author(s):  
Francois Brouard ◽  
Sophie Larivet ◽  
Ouafa Sakka

RÉSUMÉ L'entrepreneuriat social est un concept émergeant, notamment dans les sciences de l'administration. Pourtant, en dehors d'une pratique directoriale spécifique, il est aussi une forme de participation citoyenne trop méconnue. L'objectif de cet article, basé sur une revue de la littérature et une approche théorique, est de présenter le concept d'entrepreneuriat social afin de mieux saisir son positionnement par rapport à la participation citoyenne. L'entrepreneuriat social constitue une forme particulière de participation à l'espace public par l'action, les entreprises sociales agissant au quotidien pour transformer le paysage social. En particulier, cet article souligne le contexte de développement de l'entrepreneuriat social, définit le concept et les notions connexes d'entreprise sociale et d'entrepreneur social, et, enfin, présente une réflexion sur la contribution de l'entrepreneuriat social à la participation citoyenne. L'article montre que l'entrepreneuriat social est une façon pour les citoyens d'agir directement et avec maîtrise sur la société.   ABSTRACT Social entrepreneurship is an emerging concept, notably in administrative sciences. However, not only is it a specific managerial practice but it is also a type of citizen participation that is not well-known. The objective of this article, based on a literature review and a theoretical approach, is to present the concept of social entrepreneurship in order to better understand its relation to citizen participation. Social entrepreneurship represents a specific type of citizen participation involving actions. Social enterprises act daily to transform the social landscape. More specifically, this article presents the context of development of social entrepreneurship, proposes a definition of the concept and of other connected notions like "social enterprise" and "social entrepreneur", and, finally, analyzes the contribution of social entrepreneurship to citizen participation. It shows that social entrepreneurship is a way for citizens to act directly and with some power on society.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changhwan Shin ◽  
Jungkyu Park

Efforts have been made to improve the performance of social enterprises through many studies on social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship. However, previous studies have conceptualized social entrepreneurship based on researches on commercial entrepreneurs. In addition, the scale used in the analysis of social entrepreneurship focuses primarily on behavioral aspects. Although the social and economic values pursued by social enterprises are important virtues for social entrepreneurs, research on the value orientation of social entrepreneurship is insufficient. The essence of a social enterprise is creating social value based on financial sustainability, so the concept of blended value has been recently emphasized. This study analyzed the relationships among blended value orientation, social entrepreneurship, and the performance of social enterprises. The results indicate that the blended value orientation of social entrepreneurs influenced social entrepreneurship and performance; social entrepreneurship fully mediated blended value orientation and performance. These findings suggest that it is important to focus on the blended value orientation of social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship in the promotion and policies of social enterprises.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Newth

AbstractSocial enterprises are the products of the social, cultural, commercial, and political expectations of the innovation’s range of stakeholders, not solely the vision of the social entrepreneur(s). The power of stakeholders to influence the development of an innovation is drawn from their salience and the resources, access, and/or legitimacy that their support would provide. In this way, the actions of social entrepreneurs represent the interests of communities and it is through processes of resistance, negotiation, and collaboration that the actions of social enterprises become the manifestations of collective social processes. This paper draws on the development of a nascent social enterprise in New Zealand to demonstrate how the effects of its context ultimately shaped its innovative business model. Using an ethnographic methodology, the development of the business model and the partnership through which it formed was examined by the author as a central actor as it unfolded. The case study serves as an illustrative example of the ways in which differing expectations, beliefs, and logics of stakeholders induces particular decisions to be made about the design, resourcing, and strategy of the venture.


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.


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