Successful promotion of social business on the global stage: Case of the City of Kitakyushu, Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaori Takano ◽  
Hanaka Ariyoshi ◽  
Ayaka Sonoda
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Role Model ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Female Leadership ◽  
Social Business ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Green Business ◽  
Green Certificates ◽  
The City

This case study highlights how a local city, Kitakyushu, with a dark history of industrial pollution in Japan, turned into an eco-friendly role model and was named by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as one of four Green Growth Model cities along with Chicago, Paris, and Stockholm. The city has actively promoted green business through collaborative research opportunities, government-issued green certificates, innovative green product promotion, a supportive business environment for social entrepreneurs, and international technical cooperation projects. The city continues to challenge itself using the United Nation’s 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) to expand success into social performance such as quality of life for seniors, gender equality, and sustainable communities. While Japan scores high on social and civil health, female leadership has been a significant struggle in social performance in the masculine culture of Japan. Addressing both accomplishments and challenges, this paper provides insights and practical implications for local governments around the world, so they can learn from Kitakyushu, in a more balanced way, with the purpose of achieving their own social objectives through social business.

scholarly journals The playground of the rich? Growing social business in the 21st century

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Steiner ◽  
Simon Teasdale
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Business Development ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Social Business ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
White Middle Class

Purpose This paper aims to explore how nascent social businesses move beyond the incubation phase and it develops understanding of how early-stage social businesses access finance to achieve growth. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory and inductive study is based on four focus group discussions with early-stage social entrepreneurs, “successful” social entrepreneurs who had achieved growth, and social impact investors. Findings Social capital allows a social business founder to access financial capital to “prove their concept”, or to directly attract investment from family and friends for start-up costs. To gain funding, social entrepreneurs present the desired image of the heroic change-maker. Interestingly, creating the right impression is equally important in securing financial capital as the “hard-work” itself. Research limitations/implications This study was conducted in London, which, like many other “global” cities, has a unique business environment. The study is exploratory in nature. Further work in this area is required to draw more definitive conclusions. Practical implications Financial products offered to social businesses are often dispersed and inappropriate. The study indicates that access to “soft loans” and grants is critical in the early stages of social business growth and that social entrepreneurs use both formal and informal funding sources to develop their businesses. Where a person is not connected to wealthy acquaintances either through family, or through social networks, they may often struggle to access finance in a world where the network’s resources appear to be as important as the entrepreneur’s resourcefulness. This has particular implications for the demographic make-up of “successful social entrepreneurs” operating social businesses, as these may be drawn from the most privileged and/or well-connected members of a group which already appears skewed towards white middle-class males. Social implications This study highlights that current support structures favour relatively privileged social entrepreneurs rather than encompassing and empowering those disadvantaged, social minority groups and those in the greatest need. This is important because social business is often portrayed, possibly incorrectly, as a mechanism for addressing poverty through empowerment of disadvantaged groups. Originality/value Research in social business development has largely neglected the social and cultural dynamics that embed start-ups. This paper tackles this gap and contributes to building knowledge in the area of early-stage social business development.

Bringing the Real World of Science to Children: A Partnership of the American Museum of Natural History and the City University of New York

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G Picciano ◽  
Robert V. Steiner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Development Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Museum ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Every child has a right to an education. In the United States, the issue is not necessarily about access to a school but access to a quality education. With strict compulsory education laws, more than 50 million students enrolled in primary and secondary schools, and billions of dollars spent annually on public and private education, American children surely have access to buildings and classrooms. However, because of a complex and competitive system of shared policymaking among national, state, and local governments, not all schools are created equal nor are equal education opportunities available for the poor, minorities, and underprivileged. One manifestation of this inequity is the lack of qualified teachers in many urban and rural schools to teach certain subjects such as science, mathematics, and technology. The purpose of this article is to describe a partnership model between two major institutions (The American Museum of Natural History and The City University of New York) and the program designed to improve the way teachers are trained and children are taught and introduced to the world of science. These two institutions have partnered on various projects over the years to expand educational opportunity especially in the teaching of science. One of the more successful projects is Seminars on Science (SoS), an online teacher education and professional development program, that connects teachers across the United States and around the world to cutting-edge research and provides them with powerful classroom resources. This article provides the institutional perspectives, the challenges and the strategies that fostered this partnership.

Incentives for the development of industrial parks (on the example of the border regions of Poland)

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-87
Author(s):  
Yaroslava Kalat
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Cost Minimization ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Financial Assistance ◽  
Industrial Park ◽  
Border Regions ◽  
Industrial Parks ◽  
Spatial Policy

In the search for efficient decisions directed at the stimulation of regional development and improvement of regions’ innovativeness and investment attractiveness, the EU regions have long ago started paying attention to local communities. In particular, Polish local governments are granted an opportunity to conduct an active spatial policy of investment attraction using various instruments. In this context, the industrial parks play an important role among the created institutes of the business environment, because they create advantages for local communities and businesses. In particular, they promote investment attraction, entrepreneurship activation, employment and jobs increase, material cost minimization, etc. At the same time, the development of entrepreneurship environment institutes requires support at national, regional, and local levels. The development will be almost impossible without the creation of proper legal, political, economic, and social conditions for their activity. The paper aims to define major stimuli of industrial park development based on the Polish experience, the economic structure of which is similar to the Ukrainian one. This will contribute to the development of the ways to boost industrial park development in Ukraine, especially in the border areas. For the matter, the author outlines the major instruments used by Polish local communities to boost investment and entrepreneurship activity in the framework of industrial park development. The scientific paper emphasizes the analysis of legislation on creation, functioning, and support of Polish industrial park development, and further perspectives of their activity. Special attention is paid to general characteristics of the condition of industrial parks located in Polish border regions. The advantages of each of them are determined and examples of their creation and development are given. The research resulted in the allocation of two groups of stimuli of industrial parks development which are the precondition, according to the author, of industrial parks becoming the instrument of investment attraction, economic boost of the territories, and entrepreneurship activity growth: the stimuli of development of industrial parks’ organizational structure (public financial assistance; information and advisory support; grans of European funds; international cooperation / partnership; independent spatial policy at the local level) and the stimuli of entrepreneurship development in industrial parks (infrastructure (physical and soft); public financial assistance; tax incentives; investment grants; financial loans).

Social urbanism: public policy and place brand

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Problem ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Local Stakeholders ◽  
Place Brand ◽  
The City

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on how a public policy designed to address a social problem ultimately became the place brand.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a qualitative case study approach focusing on the city of Medellín, Colombia. It draws from fieldwork conducted in Medellín over 2014 and 2015, including semi-structured interviews with an array of local stakeholders.FindingsThe paper concludes that local governments should be aware that the policymaking process can become part of their branding. It also shows the importance of the continual involvement of stakeholders in the place brand process to ensure it is a sustainable brand.Originality/valueThere are limited studies which focus on how a public policy designed to address a social problem ultimately becomes the place brand. This paper shows how a public policy, social urbanism, became the branding of Medellín.

Environmental Responsibility In The Development Of Green Entrepreneurship

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonina Bobkova ◽  
Natalya Andryeyeva ◽  
Liudmyla Verbivska ◽  
Valentyna Kozlovtseva ◽  
Viktoriia Velychko
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Environmental Management System ◽  
The State ◽  
Environmental Taxes ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Ecological Responsibility ◽  
Green Business ◽  
Green Entrepreneurship

The purpose of this study is to determine the main directions of development of green entrepreneurship on the basis of environmental responsibility. The relevance of this study is due to the need to identify the main directions of green business development to solve environmental problems, based on the basic principles of environmental responsibility. It is believed that environmental responsibility is the basic basis for the formation of socially responsible green entrepreneurship, whose mission is environmental improvement on the basis of sustainable development. It is established thatit is expedient to consider ecological responsibility on levels (the state, the enterprises, the public).As the experience of successful companies shows, environmental responsibility can be integrated into the value and business of the company.The analysis revealed the main tools to stimulate green entrepreneurship: environmental taxes, "green" investments, instruments of stimulating influence on green entrepreneurship. It is established that in Ukraine the main responsibility for the implementation of sustainable development lies with the state and enterprises. The research revealed shortcomings in the organization of supervision measures and control over the targeted use of funds for the implementation of environmental programs. Also the imperfection of the regulatory framework, the inefficiency of the accounting, reporting and monitoring system, the ineffectiveness of measuresmonitoring the results of each project within a specific program to solve environmental problems. It is established that local governments and enterprises are two important participants in the environmental management system in Ukraine. Therefore, it is important to regulate environmental responsibility at the national, including regional, and corporate levels.

PLANNING CITY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: PRINCIPLES AND ISSUES

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-144
Author(s):  
Dora Smolčić Jurdana ◽  
Zrinka Sušilović
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
Cooperative Relationships ◽  
Urban Economic ◽  
Urban Economic Development ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
City Tourism ◽  
The City

Contemporary trends on the world tourism market show that the number of tourists attracted by the cities in growing. Urban tourism is a growing tourism market and especially are attractive the cities in Europe. The cities as an important tourist destinations came of age during 1980s. The local governments came to recognize that tourism could have a role in urban economic development. The invisibility of tourism in cities partly arises from the fact that many facilities are used both by residents and visitors. Improving these facilities therefore provides benefits for local residents as well as assisting the promotion of tourism. City tourism development plan should be prepared as an integral part of global economic and social development plan of the city, with the main aim to integrate the tourism in existing urban economic development, and at the same time to prevent conflict situations. Tourism development in the city needs a network and cooperative relationships between local government, tourist organization, tourist agencies and different organizations/institutions in the city; public-private partnership is a must. In the paper are analyzed the main attributes, principles and goals of the tourism in the cities.

How the social entrepreneurship business model designs in South Africa create value: a complex adaptive systems approach

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
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Business Model ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social

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.

scholarly journals INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF URBAN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES (CASE STUDY: PARS ABAD CITY)

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gholam Reza Mirie ◽  
Mohsen Sadeghi
Keyword(s):  
Physical Space ◽  
Field Method ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Statistical Population ◽  
Urban Affairs ◽  
Management Institutions ◽  
The City

The purpose of the present study was to determine the performance of responsible organizations in urban affairs administration as an important factor in the development of the city of Pars Abad. The statistical population of this research includes inhabitants of Parasabad city and managers and experts of urban affairs in 1396. The method of this study is descriptive-practical study. For data collection, library and field method is used for urban data and questionnaire. These data are analyzed using SPSS software and also used to test the hypothesis of T-test. The results of this study show that the performance of the responsible unit in the affairs of the city has a significant relationship with the management and organization of the physical-space development process, equipping the service space and organizing facilities and facilities in the city of Parsabad. While the responsibility of the responsible authority in affairs of the city is not significantly related to the development of the employment and business environment and the establishment of effective communication channels with citizens and the development of popular participation

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