Using a Social Enterprise Service-Learning Strategy in an Introductory Management Accounting Course

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 187-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina L. Zamora

ABSTRACT The accounting profession has long called for learning strategies that actively develop students' critical analysis and problem-solving skills in unstructured settings (Accounting Education Change Commission [AECC] 1990), and where learning outcomes map into American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) (2000) core competencies. This paper proposes the use of a service-learning strategy in the introductory management accounting course. This learning strategy reflects the Institute of Management Accountants' (IMA) new definition of management accounting as a strategic imperative (IMA 2008), and responds to Rama's (1998) monograph revealing limited examples of service-learning in management accounting. In addition, this paper proposes that faculty work with real social enterprises that sell goods and services for profit and in support of a broader social mission. I argue that relative to working on nonprofit/government cases, working in the social enterprise setting may offer students a more tractable transition from the for-profit examples in many textbooks. I also argue that relative to working on for-profit cases, working in the social enterprise setting may provide students access to proprietary data used internally for managerial decision-making. The pedagogy of service-learning in the accounting curriculum and its relevance to that proposed in this paper is discussed. Generalized service-learning planning documents, examples, adaptations of case study questions, and a responsibility checklist are provided. Implementation guidelines that address key stakeholder barriers to success (Kenworthy-U'Ren 2008) are discussed, and examples of social enterprise service-learning implementations are presented. Post-implementation survey responses from students suggest that the social enterprise service-learning experience positively affected their learning of specific management accounting concepts, issues faced by mission-driven organizations, and how they can uniquely contribute by applying what they learn.

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Thorgren ◽  
Adesuwa Omorede

Nonstate actors such as social enterprises are increasingly influential for addressing pressing social needs in sub-Saharan Africa. Moving responsibility from the state to private entrepreneurs calls for a greater understanding of how single individuals achieve their social mission in a context characterized by acute poverty and where informal institutions, such as trust and collective norms, are strong governance mechanisms. This study recognizes the role of leader passion as a key element for gaining people’s trust in the social enterprise leader and the social mission. Qualitative data were collected on 37 leaders of Nigerian social enterprises in arenas such as health, women’s rights, children’s rights, AIDS/HIV care and education, and sustainable development. Drawing on 100 semistructured interviews, the authors develop an inductive model illustrating how leader passion interrelates with the social enterprise organizing and outcomes.


Author(s):  
Dana Brakman Reiser ◽  
Steven A. Dean

Social Enterprise Law presents a series of audacious legal technologies designed to unleash the potential of social enterprise. Until now, the law has been viewed as an obstacle to social entrepreneurship, too inflexible to embrace for-profit businesses with a social mission at their core. Legislators have poured resources into creating hybrid corporate forms such as the benefit corporation to eliminate barriers to the creation of social enterprises. That first generation of social enterprise law has not done enough. The authors provide a framework for future legislation to do what benefit corporations have not: create durable commitments by social entrepreneurs and investors to balance financial gains and social mission by putting a speed limit on profits. They show how sophisticated investors need not wait for the advent of these legislative changes, outlining a contingent convertible debt instrument that relies instead on financial engineering to build trust between those with capital and those ready to use it to nurture a double bottom line. To allow social enterprises to harness the vast power of the crowd, they develop a tax regime that would provide crowdfunding platforms the means to screen the commitment of for-profit startups. Armed with these tools of social enterprise law 2.0 and the burgeoning metrics of measuring public benefit, entrepreneurs and investors can navigate even the turbulent waters of exit without sacrificing mission, so that a sale need not mean selling out.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-219
Author(s):  
B Elango ◽  
Stephen Chen ◽  
Jim Jones

The purpose of this article is to understand what drives social enterprises in bottom of the pyramid (BOP) markets to stick to or drift away from their social mission. Based on an analysis of 192 microinsurance operators in 26 emerging markets, we find that (1) when donors are involved in the operations of the social enterprise, this leads to a greater commitment to the social mission and (2) social enterprises located in countries with poorly performing governments tend to have a lower commitment to their social mission. Given the need for social services in such countries, we offer some suggestions to increase the chances of social enterprises staying committed to their social mission.


Author(s):  
Martyna Wronka-Pośpiech

Although research on social entrepreneurship has been expanding in recent years, the literature regarding business models in the context of social enterprises is still limited. This chapter explores the issues of business models in both profit and nonprofit contexts and discusses how value, being both the foundation and the overall outcome of the business model employed, is created. It begins with the background on the characteristics of social enterprises. This is followed by the conceptualization of business models and their components designed to account for their unique. Then a case to illustrate it is presented. The objective of the chapter is twofold. First, it is to analyse how nonprofit business models are different from its for profit counterparts (at the conceptual level) and to introduce relevant analytical framework. Secondly, the chapter aims at providing a case based on the particular model of a social enterprise in Poland (social co-operative) in order to investigate whatever the business models for profit firms could be applied in the social enterprises.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Murphy ◽  
Artem Kornetskyy ◽  
Joseph T. Nixon

Purpose Social enterprises are defined in practice in terms of one operational model generating measurable value in more than one of the economic, social and natural/ecological value denomination categories. However, entrepreneurship theory does not generally or explicitly reflect this definition, which has generated confusion about the social enterprise concept. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to social enterprise theory by delineating novel aspects of this definition and their conceptual ramifications. Design/methodology/approach The authors review the social enterprise literature with a focus only on the most original contributions and most distinct research questions. The authors do not explicitly review research on traditional for-profit entrepreneurial ventures, not-for-profit/non-governmental organizations or mainstream social entrepreneurial ventures. Findings The authors offer several implications for social enterprise theory based on practices that are unique to the area but not amenable other areas of entrepreneurship. The contribution is instrumental to establishing social enterprise as a distinct theoretic area. Originality/value By focusing on novel aspects of social enterprise not easily explainable by mainstream theoretic traditions, the authors offer an original contribution to the development of social enterprise theory.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Mswaka ◽  
Olu Aluko

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the growth of social enterprise in the UK in the context of the renewed interest in the creative use of organisations with a social mission to complement public service delivery. Given the impact of globalisation and increased demands for effective social welfare interventions, this paper specifically focuses on the nature and type of social enterprise governance models and how they influence their outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises a mixed method approach involving the complementary use of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Findings – The paper finds that the way in which the social enterprise governance structure is designed ultimately influences its outcomes. In particular, those with stewardship governance models tend to perform better than those with democratic models of governance. This leads to a conclusion that in the social context of the UK, social enterprise should aim for a paradigm shift in the design and selection of governance models. Research limitations/implications – Comparative regional experiences in other regions or social contexts could enrich our understanding of whether these results are applicable across the board. Practical implications – This paper is of potential benefit to researchers and particularly those designing policies for the governance of social enterprise. Originality/value – The study employs innovative analytical theoretical lenses not normally associated with the social economy, namely agency, stewardship and resource dependency theories to provide a more in-depth analysis of the governance of contemporary social enterprise.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Lamat

In the digital era of internet, there are so many financial technology (fintech) popping up now for the example Go-Jek company with one of their product called as Go-Pay is one of the popular fintech in Indonesia. This paper introduce about fintech foundations in Asia with social enterprise philosophy. Some company only things for the revenue and how many customers who interested on use the application for doing the transaction, for users who interested on the social mission of the company. By combining information from the founder and user (took examples of people who sometimes use application fintech like Go-Pay how important the implementation enterprises for the parent organization Go-Jek).


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Jackson ◽  
Matthew Nicoll ◽  
Michael J. Roy

Purpose The purpose of this study is to present a systematic assessment of the distinctive challenges and opportunities associated with creating leadership within the realm of social enterprise. A modified and expanded form of Grint’s leadership lenses heuristic framework (i.e. person, position, process, performance, purpose and place) is used to examine and highlight what is particular about creating leadership in social enterprises by virtue of their distinctive missions, strategic contexts, legal forms and organisational structures and cultures. Based on this initial exploration, five research priorities are identified to better understand and then develop leadership practice in the social enterprise realm. Design/methodology/approach An enhanced heuristic framework for systematically examining leadership within the social enterprise research literature has been applied, drawing on the leadership practice literature. The application is illustrated through six instrumental case studies. Findings While there are a number of similarities between leading in the social enterprise realm and leading within the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, the levels of complexity, ambiguity and the lack of an established theoretical and practical knowledge base makes creating leadership in the social enterprise sector that much more challenging. On the positive side of the ledger, the fact that the purpose is at the core of social enterprise means that it is relatively easier to use the purpose to create a basis for common meaningful action, compared to leadership within the private and public sectors. Related to this, given the strongly local or “glocal” nature of social enterprise, a ready opportunity exists for leaders to draw upon a place as a strategic resource in mobilising followers and other stakeholders. The novel, uncertain and pioneering nature of a social enterprise is also arguably more tolerant and accommodating of a leadership mindset that focuses on posing questions regarding “wicked” problems compared to public, private for-profit and, indeed, traditional not-for-profit sector organisations. Originality/value As far as we can ascertain, this is the first systematic attempt to examine the distinctive challenges and opportunities associated with creating leadership within the social enterprise realm. The application of the heuristic framework leads to the identification of five key inter-related lines of empirical research into leadership practices within social enterprises.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2720
Author(s):  
Eunsoo Choi ◽  
Eunji Kim ◽  
Inji Kim ◽  
Incheol Choi

Social enterprises, organizations that pursue social purposes while generating profits, have garnered attention recently as potential key players for a sustainable economy. However, research on the perception of social enterprises by lay people has been ignored even though positive reception of social enterprises is an important condition for their sustainability. In the present study, we compared for-profit enterprise employees (n = 200) and social enterprise employees (n = 162) and examined their differences in attitude toward the profit-making aspects of social enterprises as well as the employees working for social enterprises. The results showed that for-profit enterprises overestimated that social enterprise employees were extrinsically motivated and underestimated their prosocial intentions. In addition, for-profit enterprise employees were less favorable toward the profit-making aspects of social enterprises, including payment of high salaries for the social enterprise employees and using donations to run social enterprises. Interestingly, the difference between for-profit and social enterprise employees in their attitude toward the profit-making aspects of social enterprises was explained by lay theories of altruism called “pure altruism.” The present research makes important contributions by identifying the psychological mechanisms that underlie individuals’ perceptions and attitude toward social enterprises.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Jonathan Marks ◽  
Karen Hidden

Subject area Entrepreneurship; Social entrepreneurship. Study level/applicability Graduate level. Case overview This paper, The Brownies & Downies case study, aims to examine a social enterprise that provides employment, training and job placements for people with intellectual disability within a trendy artisanal coffee shop in Cape Town, South Africa. The business is based on a similar establishment (same name) in The Netherlands and was brought to Cape Town by Wendy Vermeulen, a Dutch national who completed a social development internship in Cape Town. The case is located within the field of social enterprise with a particular focus on the tension between purpose and profit and the pressure and challenges of replication, growth and scale/expansion. The protagonist in the case is Wade Schultz, Wendy’s business partner, who is grappling with how to not only remain true to the social purpose of the business but also turn a profit in the pressured and competitive coffee industry. He is further challenged by deciding whether to expand the existing training business into other sectors or seek a replication model in other South African cities as a means of growing revenue and increasing the social impact. Expected learning outcomes The key learning from this case study are as follows: First, intellectual disability is a hidden form of disability, often misunderstood and subject to prejudice and discriminatory hiring practices. Intellectual disability exists on a scale – some individuals are able to work outside of pretexted or sheltered workspaces. Greater effort is required within open workplaces to sensitive staff to working with/alongside intellectually disabled people. This case illustrates a social enterprise model that seeks to bridge the gap between sheltered workspaces and open workspaces. Second, most social enterprises grapple with the tension between profit and purpose; this case presents a company that is living this dilemma. The importance of remaining true to purpose needs to be balanced carefully against becoming economically self-sufficient; however, the pursuit of profits should not happen at the cost of social mission. Alternate business models are a mechanism to building revenue to support the social objective. 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.


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