scholarly journals Contributions of social entrepreneurship to textile waste prevention in Romania

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-99
Author(s):  
Daniela Staicu
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Current System ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Waste Prevention ◽  
Textile Waste ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Prevention Measure ◽  
European Public ◽  
Private And Public

Abstract The current system for producing, distributing, and using clothing is putting pressure on resources, pollutes and degrades ecosystems. Nowadays, when disposed of, clothing still has at least 70% of its useful life left. A different approach to the way clothes are made, distributed and disposed of is needed. Prevention of textile waste is one angle to address these challenges and is being taken into consideration by the European public bodies. Reuse is increasingly recognized as a waste prevention measure, specifically addressed in 25 of the 33 waste prevention programs of European countries but national approaches to encourage reuse are, so far weak. Though in Romania it is estimated that textile waste will be produced mainly by households by 2025, knowledge about clothing reuse stakeholders and the mechanisms of exchange is scarce. Some activity is however developed by charities, acting as social enterprises. The primary goal of this research was to understand the role of social entrepreneurship in textile waste prevention by identifying clothing reuse practices and stakeholders in Bucharest, the Romanian city with the largest number of households in Romania (10% of the total of households). By gaining concrete knowledge related to the clothing reuse initiatives, in terms of number and characteristics, moving from identifying current clothing reuse practices and mechanisms of exchange to the type of stakeholders involved, either public or private, the research contributed to modeling the circular business ecosystem in Romania. The main research question concerned the degree of involvement of social enterprises in the development of clothing reuse activities, and therefore textile waste prevention. The findings revealed a high disproportion between the number of private and public clothing reuse initiatives, most of the activities being developed by charities which to some extent act as social enterprises. The results were intended to provide information to support decision-making bodies and communities in building up a functional clothing waste prevention plan through benefiting of existing knowledge from stakeholders in the field. These results also open the pathway to public-private dialogue for highlighting and scaling up existing textile waste prevention activities.

scholarly journals The bright side of social economy sector’s projectification: a study of successful social enterprises

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 5043
Author(s):  
Beata Jalocha ◽  
Ewa Bogacz-Wojtanowska
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Long Term Results ◽  
Main Research ◽  
The Creation

In Europe, we are witnessing a growth in the social economy sector, i.e. in socio – economic organizations, which belong neither to the traditional for profit sector (market economy) nor to the public sector (government) (Deforuny, 2001; Young, 2007) - they rather act at the interface of civil society and markets (Jäger, 2010). The main goal of these organizations, called social enterprises or social business, is doing business for socially useful purposes. These initiatives may take the form of traditional Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), like foundations and associations, as well as new kinds of organizations for example social cooperatives, partnerships, funds.Social economy is situated between public and business sphere of administration and combines both, social objectives and the ones profit-oriented. Social entrepreneurship is unquestionably a desirable feature of social economy understood as reaching planned economic objectives with the use of available resources. Another feature comprises in using involvement and creativity of excluded persons and thus, solving social problems, among others, structural unemployment and disadvantage of social minorities as well as strengthening democratic processes, bottom-up social initiatives etc. Achieving objectives, both social and economic, requires using modern management instruments and methods.All of the above mentioned organizations or ventures, which achieve their local, social or ethical mission and goals using methods adopted from the business sector (Defourny, Hulgard, Pestoff, eds.2014). One of these methods is project management. The whole sector of social economy, both in Poland and in Europe, is strongly influenced by projectification process: a lot of the activities are performed in the form of projects. For last ten years projectification of social non-governmental sector as well as the economy sector in Poland was reinforced by EU’s funding stream – hundreds of co-funded projects, which aimed at increasing the level of development and improving the condition of social economy, were implemented. Some of these projects have resulted in the creation of durable, dynamically operating social enterprises, and some of them did not produce any long-term results. In case of successful projects, we can observe an unusual effect of projectification process: the creation of permanent structures, sustainable social economy organizations through the implementation of projects.Although we can identify examples of interesting research on impact of project work on NGOs (Brière, Proulx, Navaro, & Laporte, 2015); Golini, Kalchschmidt, Landoni, 2015) or critical success factors of non-governmental projects (Khang & Moe, 2008), there is a research gap which we would like to address in this paper: lack of research on project management best practices in social enterprises. Thus, the main research question we would like to investigate in the paper is: What are the factors that lead to creation of durable, permanent social economy enterprises from projects?This paper draws on set of qualitative data from broader research on social economy sector conducted in Poland in years 2011-2013 by researchers from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). For the purpose of this paper we have conducted multiple case study analysis and analysed 36 case studies of existing social enterprises. One of our research goals was to find out, which factors are critical in the process of creation durable social enterprises from projects. Also, we wanted to understand how projectification, influenced strongly by the EU policies, changes the landscape of social enterprises in Poland and helps them achieve success.

scholarly journals Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development: The Case of Social Enterprises in Azerbaijan

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazila Aliyeva
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Entrepreneurship Theory ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Business Acumen

The social entrepreneurship theory is still in the conceptualization phase, as each country has individual specifics and approaches to define social entrepreneurship initiatives. The main objective of this paper is to explore the characteristics and backgrounds of social entrepreneurship from Azerbaijan’s perspective, especially its importance in achieving Sustainable Development Goals. To fulfill the objective, there are a few main research questions defined: How do local social entrepreneurs use both business acumen and philanthropic principles to address social, cultural, and environmental challenges? How can Social Entrepreneurship contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals in Azerbaijan? A qualitative research method was used to gather data through a semi-structured questionnaire. It was found that local social enterprises change the structures and systems that create the conditions for poverty, and the development processes need to consider the link between social entrepreneurship and sustainable development. This paper has significant implications, especially for the stakeholders and policymakers. It indicates the current position of local social ventures about sustainable development and offers some global practices and experiences to improve and facilitate the process and attracts the attention of policymakers on the performance of social enterprises.

Operating as a Social Enterprise within Resource and Institutional Constraints

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayman Ismail ◽  
Brendon Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Organizational Capacity ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Organizational Models ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Main Research ◽  
External Conditions ◽  
Economic Constraints

Abstract This study explores questions around the abilities of social enterprises (SEs) to obtain market-based revenues in the context of a middle-income country with significant institutional and economic constraints (Egypt). Our main research question focuses on analyzing the reasons why SEs in this context are unable to obtain their desired level of market-based revenues. Through the analysis of 22 SEs with some degree of a mixed revenue model, we draw three major conclusions that contribute to both academic theory and SE practice: (a) the importance of investing in new cohorts of SE employees, (b) ways to increase SEs’ ability to respond to institutional barriers, and (c) the promotion of adaptive organizational models able to respond to changing external conditions. The study makes several contributions to the literature. Most importantly, it seeks to add findings to discussion around how SEs operate within constraints by providing real-life empirical data from a context that faces significant institutional and resource barriers. It adds to the current literature by offering insights on organizational capacity, institutions, legitimacy, and adaptability that can be applied to other countries with similar socio-economic contexts. Methodologically, it also makes an effort to move beyond biases of studying only successful SEs, to offer micro-level qualitative analysis of SEs, and to hear unique and potentially alternative perspectives to academic narratives rooted in concept and theory by better understanding how social entrepreneurs themselves perceive their own work and practices.

How social entrepreneurship can contribute to upscale social innovation practices?

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 0-0
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Social Innovations ◽  
Theories Of Change ◽  
Innovation Practices

In this paper, we address the research question of to what extent is it possible to discern theories of change being built into the business practices of nascent social enterprises in ways that lay foundations for the subsequent upscaling of their social innovations? We argue that social enterprises that are ‘ready-to-upscale’ are those that clearly produce a solution to an underlying problem, and where their activities are clearly derived from the underlying problem, and also those activities clearly connect forward to deliver consistent solutions. We apply a Theories of Change approach to the concept of social entrepreneurship as a means of setting a criterion for ‘ready-to-upscale’, studying six Sri Lankan micro-social enterprises in which we can trace stories of impact. This provides a means to develop a model of the ways that social entrepreneurship creates the foundations for structural changes that reduce systematic inequalities, and offers social enterprise funders a framework to better stimulate emergence of social enterprises ready-to-upscale and deliver social innovation.

Entrepreneurial ecosystem and social entrepreneurship: case studies of community-based craft from Kutch, India

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Santana Pathak ◽  
Sujata Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Research Question ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Entrepreneurs ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This study aims to explore social entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) in the craft sector in the state of Gujarat, India. With liberalization, India witnessed the growth of social entrepreneurship and is considered one of the pioneering countries in social innovation. The objective of the research was to answer the research question: what role do various stakeholder groups play in creating and promoting craft sector social EEs. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a qualitative case study approach of methodological triangulation combining analysing documents, a participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Two case studies – one of the Ajrakh craft cluster from Ajrakhpur and the other of Kala Cotton from Aadeshar, Bhuj are studied to explore the symbiotic linkages of social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Kutch district of Gujarat, India. A total of 24 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders of the EE. Findings The study concludes that the role of like-minded individuals/social entrepreneurs, social enterprises, design networks and educational institutions is vital towards revival and sustainability of craft as economic commodities geared for scalability. Furthermore, the engagement of the systemic condition agents such as various local and national level institutions, the communities play an important role to revitalize, redeem and commercialize craft infrastructure based on active engagement, innovation and services. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to study how traditional craft-based enterprises can be enabled, revived, grown and sustained.

scholarly journals Integrating Voluntary Sustainability Standards in Trade Policy: The Case of the European Union’s GSP Scheme

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Marx
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Private Governance ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Voluntary Approach ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Sustainability Standards

Trade policy is increasingly being used as a policy instrument to pursue non-trade objectives such as environmental protection or the protection of labour rights. A key example is the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The current approach is being confronted with significant challenges. How these challenges can be addressed is currently subject to debate, and increased attention is turning to the role that private governance mechanisms can play in this context. This paper will look into the potential role that Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) can play. The paper will analyse and assess the complementarity between VSS and EU GSP, and it contributes to the literature on interactions between private and public policy-making for sustainability. The main research question focuses on what role VSS can play in the European Union’s GSP scheme. To answer the question, the paper develops two models by which VSS can be integrated in EU GSP (a mandatory and a voluntary approach). The study is based on interviews with key experts from different stakeholder groups and an analysis of the ITC standards map database. The paper shows that the integration of VSS in EU GSP, as outlined in the two models, is confronted with several challenges. These challenges are discussed, and alternatives are explored.

scholarly journals Social entrepreneurship as a tool for the development of non-government organization’s activities: a case study of the association "Oranzais stars"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inga Bale ◽  
◽  
Anita Auzina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
External Financing ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Main Research

In Latvia, de-institutionalization is gradually taking place, which is envisaged in the European Social Development Plan at the level of public policy. In Latvia, the non-governmental sector (NGO) sector is largely dependent on external funding. In addition, competition for external financing is increasing. One of the solutions to reduce the effect of external financing is to engage in economic activity. Social entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly popular in Latvia - a business model that allows economic activities to be carried out without losing the mission, goals and social impact of NGOs. Social entrepreneurship is a way of effectively addressing the concerns of different groups at risk of social exclusion, which can have a positive long-term impact on the development of both the city and society itself. Social entrepreneurship has the potential to solve various social problems, thus facilitating municipal work and reducing municipal budget expenditures. For municipalities, social enterprises are a tool for solving social problems, which allows them to solve social problems in the municipalities by using a trans-regional approach, without taking risks on investments, failure, changes in market demand. The aim of the study is to create scenarios for the development of NGO activities, using the example of Association “Oranzais stars” (Orange Ray). Main research methods used: monographic method, strategic analysis and planning methods - PEST, SWOT, VRIO matrix, scenario method. The main result of the methods applied in the thesis is the development of a suitable and sustainable business model as the society moves towards the implementation of social entrepreneurship.

THE IMPACT OF DECENTRALIZATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN UKRAINE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyudmyla Mishchenko ◽  
◽  
Dmytro Mishchenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Infrastructural Support ◽  
The Impact

The actualization of the results of financial decentralization in Ukraine as part of the reform of decentralization of power and the development of proposals for its improvement is explained by the fact that a clear division of functions, powers and financial resources between national and regional levels is the basis for the well-being of our citizens. opportunities for its sustainable socio- economic development on a democratic basis. It is noted that financial decentralization is a process of giving authority to mobilize revenues and expenditures of local governments in order to increase the effectiveness of the implementation of these powers and better management of community budgets. It is established that unlike traditional entrepreneurship, which focuses on profit generation, the purpose of social entrepreneurship is to create and accumulate social capital. Abroad, social enterprises operate successfully in the fields of education, the environment, human rights, poverty reduction and health care, and their development and dissemination is one way to improve the living conditions of citizens. A similar mission is entrusted to local governments, which allows us to consider the revival of social entrepreneurship as an important element in improving self-government policy. It is determined that in modern conditions social entrepreneurship is one of the tools to ensure the ability of the local community to provide its members with an appropriate level of education, culture, health, housing and communal services, social protection, etc., as well as plan and implement programs efficient use of available natural and human resources, investment and infrastructural support of territorial communities. Due to financial decentralization, local governments have received additional resources that can be used to create economic incentives to promote social entrepreneurship in small and medium-sized businesses at the community level.

An Epistemological Criticism of Social Entrepreneurship: Is Social Entrepreneurship a Sound Scientific Field of Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Forouharfar
Keyword(s):  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Social Epistemology ◽  
American English ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Knowledge Structure ◽  
Scientific Field ◽  
The Other ◽  
First Time

The paper was shaped around the pivotal question: Is SE a sound and scientific field of research? The question has given a critical tone to the paper and has also helped to bring out some of the controversial debates in the realm of SE. The paper was organized under five main discussions to be able to provide a scientific answer to the research question: (1)<b> </b>is “social entrepreneurship” an oxymoron?, (2) the characteristics of SE knowledge, (3) sources of social entrepreneurship knowledge, (4) SE knowledge: structure and limitations and (5) contributing epistemology-making concepts for SE.<b> </b>Based on the sections,<b> </b>the study relied on the relevant philosophical schools of thought in <i>Epistemology </i>(e.g. <i>Empiricism</i>, <i>Rationalism</i>, <i>Skepticism</i>, <i>Internalism</i> vs. <i>Externalism</i>,<i> Essentialism, Social Constructivism</i>, <i>Social Epistemology, etc.</i>) to discuss these controversies around SE and proposes some solutions by reviewing SE literature. Also, to determine the governing linguistic discourse in the realm of SE, which was necessary for our discussion,<i> Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA)</i> for the first time in SE studies was used. Further, through the study, SE buzzwords which constitute SE terminology were derived and introduced to help us narrowing down and converging the thoughts in this field and demarking the epistemological boundaries of SE. The originality of the paper on one hand lies in its pioneering discussions on SE epistemology and on the other hand in paving the way for a construction of sound epistemology for SE; therefore in many cases after preparing the philosophical ground for the discussions, it went beyond the prevalent SE literature through meta-analysis to discuss the cases which were raised. The results of the study verified previously claimed embryonic pre-paradigmatic phase in SE which was far from a sound and scientific knowledge, although the scholarly endeavors are the harbingers of such a possibility in the future which calls for further mature academic discussion and development of SE knowledge by the SE academia.

INITIAL STEP OF SPECIALIZED CORPORA BUILDING: CLEANING PROCEDURES

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Yakubson ◽  
Victor Zakharov
Keyword(s):  
Text Processing ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Linguistic Annotation ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Cleaning Procedures ◽  
Unique Source ◽  
Future Work

This paper deals with the specialized corpora building, specifically academic language corpus in the biotechnology field. Being a part of larger research devoted to creation and usage of specialized parallel corpus, this piece aims to analyze the initial step of corpus building. Our main research question was what procedures we need to implement to the texts before using them to develop the corpus. Analysis of previous research showed the significant quantity of papers devoted to corpora creation, including academic specialized corpora. Different sides of the process were analyzed in these researches, including the types of texts used, the principles of crawling, the recommended length of texts etc. As to the text processing for the needs of corpora creation, only the linguistic annotation issues were examined earlier. At the same time, the preliminary cleaning of texts before their usage in corpora may have significant influence on the corpus quality and its utility for the linguistic research. In this paper, we considered three small corpora derived from the same set of academic texts in the biotechnology field: “raw” corpus without any preliminary cleaning and two corpora with different level of cleaning. Using different Sketch Engine tools, we analyzed these corpora from the position of their future users, predominantly as sources for academic wordlists and specialized multi-word units. The conducted research showed very little difference between two cleaned corpora, meaning that only basic cleaning procedures such as removal of reference lists are can be useful in corpora design. At the same time, we found a significant difference between raw and cleaned corpora and argue that this difference can affect the quality of wordlists and multi-word terms extraction, therefore these cleaning procedures are meaningful. The main limitation of the study is that all texts were taken from the unique source, so the conclusions could be affected by this specific journal’s peculiarities. Therefore, the future work should be the verification of results on different text collections

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