A Social Enterprise Business Model and a Case Study of Pacific Community Ventures (PCV)

Author(s):  
In Lee

While there have been a significant number of studies in the management and operational side of social enterprise, the current theoretical framework of the business model in the strategic management area does not adequately take into consideration the unique characteristics of social enterprise and the context within which they must operate. By applying theoretical foundations in the strategic management, this paper fills the current research gap and develops a social enterprise business model. The proposed social enterprise business model is illustrated with a case study of Pacific Community Ventures. Finally, management guidelines of the social enterprise business model are discussed for social entrepreneurs.

2019 ◽  
pp. 328-350
Author(s):  
In Lee

While there have been a significant number of studies in the management and operational side of social enterprise, the current theoretical framework of the business model in the strategic management area does not adequately take into consideration the unique characteristics of social enterprise and the context within which they must operate. By applying theoretical foundations in the strategic management, this paper fills the current research gap and develops a social enterprise business model. The proposed social enterprise business model is illustrated with a case study of Pacific Community Ventures. Finally, management guidelines of the social enterprise business model are discussed for social entrepreneurs.


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):  
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.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Cucari ◽  
Eugenio D’Angelo ◽  
Eduardo Esposito ◽  
Maria Vincenza Ciasullo

AbstractSocial entrepreneurship (SE) has gained prominence in recent years, becoming a primary field of study and providing rich research opportunities that are both challenging and intriguing. This paper seeks to fill the knowledge gap in this field by improving the understanding of business models of SE and, more specifically, investigating how social entrepreneurs design their business models in order to create both social and economic value. Using the abductive approach method, the paper explores a single case study that enquires about the business model of the social enterprise named “La Paranza Cooperative”, located in southern Italy and operating in the cultural heritage industry. Our main theoretical contribution lies in illustrating and formalising the ambidexterity perspective through which social enterprises simultaneously pursue goals that are apparently contradictory, such as economic and social ones. Furthermore, on the practical side, we assess the win–win managerial mechanisms that benefit social enterprises through their external environment as a bundle of distinctive resources while contributing to its requalification. Finally, our explorative study opens-up for deeper and more detailed future research on the business model of SE.


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.


Author(s):  
Aaron Turpin ◽  
Micheal Shier ◽  
Kate Scowen

The following study sought to examine the social impact of a social enterprise mental health services model by assessing its impact on service accessibility and mental health stigma.  A novel approach to case study – a mixed methods design was developed by collecting data from service users, counsellors, and community members of a social enterprise in Toronto, Ontario, using qualitative interviews and the Mental Health Knowledge Schedule (MAKS) survey.  Findings show how the social enterprise increases service access and challenges mental health stigma by engaging in a variety of activities, including providing low--cost counselling, diversifying services, offering a positive and safe non--clinical environment, and engaging with the public directly by utilizing a storefront model. As a result of data triangulation analysis, common themes and discrepancies between respondent groups are identified and discussed. No significant relationships were found between mental health stigma and community member demographic characteristics. Insights on replication of this social impact assessment model are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Lene Pettersen

<p>This article addresses knowledge professionals’ experiences of being in and using social enterprise media, which is characterized by a social, people-centric, dynamic and non-hierarchical information architecture. Rather than studying the social enterprise media from a typical STS-perspective in terms of ‘scripts’, ‘antiprogram’, or as ‘configuring design processes based on the user’, the paper direct its analytical lens to the users’ experiences, practices and routines when they are making sense of the virtual space in social enterprise media. As theoretical framework, unexplored corners of structuration theory where Giddens (1979, 1984) discusses spatiality (place) and temporality (time), where Giddens is inspired by the philosopher Wittgenstein (1972), the micro-sociologist Goffman (1959), and the time-geographer Hägerstrand (1975, 1978) are employed. With this approach, dynamic social processes are included in our studies of technology. Qualitative insights from a comprehensive and longitudinal case study of a multinational organization with entities in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were used in order to get an in-depth understanding of how people experienced using virtual and social architectural spaces. The findings show that the social architecture and people-centric model in the virtual space in social enterprise media does not provide an intuitive spatial sense, nor does it provide logics that correspond with known and familiar logics or established communication and interaction practices among employees. Key features in social enterprise media (e.g., transparency) collide with how space is constructed in the physical world and with the logics at play in offline conversations and social interactions (e.g. turn-taking in conversations or the opportunity to withdraw from conversations).  </p>


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Balashankar Mulloth ◽  
Stefano Rumi

PurposeDespite the prevalence of academic literature debating and proposing competing conceptions of social value creation through socially driven enterprises, there is a lack of empirical studies on established impact measurement methodologies in the context of real-world ventures. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a structured process of conducting social impact assessments (SIAs) through the real-world case of Richmond, Virginia Works Enterprise Support (RVA Works), a social enterprise in Richmond, Virginia, that provides educational programming on small business ownership to minorities and lower-income individuals.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research study incorporates an in-depth case study methodology. Evidence was collected through interpretive/qualitative interviews and direct observations by the researchers.FindingsUsing the example of RVA Works, the authors show that there is a lack of standardization and guidance for social entrepreneurs in choosing methods to assess their organizational performance, and that leading conceptions of social impact continue to face key weaknesses in their methodologies.Practical implicationsBy incorporating a qualitative case study approach, the authors present a real-world study of a social enterprise – specifically a microenterprise development organization – that may serve as a valuable example to social entrepreneurs and not-for-profit leaders facing similar challenges of social value creation and impact measurement.Originality/valueIn studying the experience of conducting SIAs by social enterprises, the authors illustrate the real-world challenges faced by entrepreneurs in applying theoretical conceptions of social value to the outcomes of their ventures, thus illustrating a need for additional clarity and discussion around a more comprehensive, standardized and broadly applicable measurement approach.


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