Young Social Entrepreneurs and Social Challenges

2022 ◽  
pp. 48-70
Author(s):  
Alessia Pisoni ◽  
Nicoletta Sciutti

The chapter is focused on social entrepreneurship and, after providing a comprehensive literature review on the topics, aims at providing evidence of the decision-making process of social entrepreneurs and of the strategies they implement by focusing on a single case study, namely “Parallelo.” Parallelo was founded in 2017 by four young Italian social entrepreneurs with the aim of promoting social inclusion of fragile categories and foreign people. Their “formula” is the “social lab” involving creative craftsmen that collaborate in the design and creation of sustainable products based on recyclable/discarded materials. By implementing a narrative approach, the case study is developed following step by step the social enterprise establishment and development. In doing so, the study aims at contributing to the social entrepreneurship field of research and at providing insights for practitioners about how decisions are made and strategies implemented within social entrepreneurial teams.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oly Mishra

Purpose This study aims to focus on implementing frugal innovation and its principles by social entrepreneurs to face the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research paper discusses the case of an Indian social entrepreneur who works for menstrual health and hygiene of unprivileged and rural women in India. The social entrepreneur’s constant endeavor is to create an ecosystem to ensure rural women’s economic and social upliftment through financial inclusion and livelihood training. When faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, the social entrepreneur re-purposed the manufacturing process to produce masks that were the need of the hour. Design/methodology/approach The research paper is qualitative and follows an inductive case study approach. The underlying principles of frugal innovation are established through content analysis of the social entrepreneur’s interviews and her team members. Findings The study discusses how adversity can be an opportunity for social entrepreneurs by implementing frugal innovation principles, i.e. re-use, re-purpose, re-combine and rapidity, in times of crisis. Research limitations/implications One of the major limitations of this study is that it is based on a single case study, as, in the current scenario, this case appeared to be the most suitable one. There is no way to generalize the assumptions of this model. Researchers will have to study the phenomena of frugal innovation in adversity across multiple cases in the future. Also, the study is based on a single emerging economy, i.e. India. Further research may be carried out with such cases from other countries. Practical implications The proposition of this research paper will help new and established social entrepreneurs understand that the four principles of frugal innovation and their practical application by a social entrepreneur. This will act as a guiding light for the present and future entrepreneurs regarding how one can respond to a crisis. This will also help advance our understanding of the distinct ways in which social entrepreneurs’ activities can help society in times of crisis. The findings of this research paper provide timely implications for social entrepreneurs. To respond efficiently to various crises, it is important to consider its effect on social entrepreneurship. Social implications The research paper shows that the social enterprise has implemented frugal innovation principles to manufacture the COVID-19 protection items supplied through existing supply chain networks. Also, a social entrepreneur is not intimidated by the sudden changes in the business environment; instead, they look at the situation as an opportunity to do something new. They are always willing to take the risk to innovate a solution that will address people’s problems. frugal innovation, due to its highly collaborative nature and its ability to make the most from limited resources, is the only way social entrepreneurs can create an inclusive, secure and sustainable future. Originality/value There are several challenges in social entrepreneurship, especially in emerging economies like India. During the pandemic, availability of resources was the major challenge, due to which social entrepreneurs had to find solutions through frugal innovation. This paper provides the practical application of the four principles of frugal innovation implemented by a social enterprise to manufacture and supply Covid protection items. It also presents the practical and managerial implications of the principles of frugal innovation by social entrepreneurs in low resource settings.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayna Rodger ◽  
Nicola Callaghan ◽  
Craig Thomson

Purpose Sustainably addressing the social and economic demands from an ageing population is a major global challenge, with significant implications for policy and practice. This is resultant of the increasing demand for housing adaptations to prevent increased pressure upon acute health services. Through the lens of institutional theory, this paper aims to explore the levels of joined-up retrofit practice within a Scottish social housing provider, under a constructivist approach. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory single case study of a Scottish local authority was undertaken. Within this, nine key stakeholders were interviewed, taking a hierarchical approach, from director to repair and maintenance staff. Results were analysed by using Braun and Clarke’s six stages of thematic analysis. Findings There is a need for greater levels of integration within retrofit practice to not only improve the health and well-being of the older population but also increase efficiency and economic savings within public services. Currently, there are key issues surrounding silo-based decision-making, poor data infrastructure, power struggles and a dereliction of built environment knowledge and expertise, preventing both internal and external collaboration. However, housing, energy and health have interlinking agendas which are integral to achieving ageing in place. Therefore, there must be system-wide recognition of the potential benefits of improved cross-sector collaboration, preventing unintended consequences whilst providing socioeconomic outcomes. Originality/value This research provides a new perspective surrounding retrofit practice within the context of an ageing population. It highlights the requirement for improved cross sector collaboration and the social and economic cost of poor quality practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianna Sigala

Literature on social entrepreneurship provides a limited understanding of how to generate social value. The article expands on a “learning with the market” approach for developing a framework, explaining how social entrepreneurs can manage, get engaged with, form, and create (new) markets for co-creating social value and transformation. The applicability and implications of the framework are examined through a case study of a social restaurant (Mageires). Data collected from various restaurant stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, owners/founders, and other business partners) identified three market capabilities for generating social value and change: network structure (building networks with various stakeholders), market practices (e.g. institutionalization of “new currencies” for conducting economic transactions, adoption of ethical, flexible, and all inclusive recruiting practices), and market pictures (e.g. use of a common terminology and performance metrics and generation of stakeholders’ dialogues for creating intersubjective meanings).


2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 261-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Sequeiros

This paper discusses how public library readers in Almeida Garrett, Porto, create a reading atmosphere, focusing on meanings associated with aural conditions. Through a qualitative, single case study, ethnographic and interview techniques were applied. Readers’ actual practices and discourses, through a theoretical sample, and those of managers, staff and architects were analysed; a spatial analysis was conducted within the framework of social inequalities and power relations. The paper proposes the concept of reading atmosphere and suggests that its social production is based on a tacit, informal code of conduct in which some regular readers played an influential role. Some recommendations on service provision are made.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1834
Author(s):  
Ridvan Cinar

Natural resource-based innovations (NRBIs), especially through the valorization of waste and side streams, have recently become a significant element of the bioeconomy agenda in several countries across the world. Accordingly, a variety of institutions, including universities, have been expected to contribute to such innovations. While there have been serious efforts within universities to play a key role in NRBIs, questions of the extent of institutional continuity of these efforts over time and how this can be achieved remain unanswered in the literature. This paper, therefore, seeks to identify the determinants of a highly institutionalized structure that is supportive of NRBIs in universities. By mobilizing a literature in which the level of structuration is conceptualized as the degree of institutionalization and by using a single case study of a Portuguese public university, it was found that several internal and external factors have contributed to the institutionalization process, which has led to the emergence of a sedimented structure. Despite a high degree of institutionalization, several challenges that have either impeded the harnessing of the full potential of NRBIs or that have posed a threat to the university’s highly institutionalized structure were also found. The paper concludes that the institutionalization of NRBIs within universities not only requires orchestrated organizational efforts but also more consideration of the social, economic, and political dynamics that have recently engulfed universities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Nataliia ABLIAZOVA ◽  
Svitlana KOZLOVSKA

Introduction. This paper is devoted research to the social entrepreneurship. The research: the nature, classification, business structure, problems and prospects management of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new instrument that, through the application of innovative entrepreneurial income generation concepts, addresses both local and state social challenges. Social entrepreneurship signals the imperative to drive social change, and it is that potential payoff, with its lasting, transformational benefit to society, that sets the field and its practitioners apart. The purpose of the paper is to improve the definition of "social entrepreneurship" as an innovative mechanism for doing business, to determine the classification characteristics of such enterprises and the formation of approaches to optimal management of them with the achievement of a certain social effect. Results. The paper defines the concept of "social entrepreneurship" as a tool for solving existing social problems on an innovative basis using the principles of creativity and self-sufficiency. The necessity of using the institution of social entrepreneurship for the development, financing and implementation of innovative solutions in terms of social, cultural or environmental problems is proved. The main features of social entrepreneurship are highlighted. The features of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine are investigated and the main problems that impede the spread of social entrepreneurship are identified, ways of solving them are proposed. Conclusion. The determining factor in the growth of social entrepreneurship is social pressure, which encourages people to do something for society, but, at the same time, does not exclude the factor of monetary gain, without which it is difficult to survive in this world. The necessity of forming a legislative mechanism for the regulation of social entrepreneurship is justified. For the development of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine needs to create an extensive legislative framework regulating social entrepreneurship; increasing the state's role in financing social projects in the initial stages; informing the public and authorities about the role and activities of social entrepreneurs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lara Penco ◽  
Andrea Ciacci ◽  
Clara Benevolo ◽  
Teresina Torre

PurposeThe study analyses the role that open social innovation (OSI) perspective played for Fondazione Banco Alimentare Onlus (FBAO), a food bank in Italy, in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. It answers the following research question: how does a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, stimulate the adoption of OSI practices to revamp the activities of FBAO and facilitate appropriate solutions to carry out its social mission?Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a qualitative approach. It is based on a single case study.FindingsThe study shows how COVID-19 has stimulated the adoption of OSI practices to continue to meet the social mission, creating innovative projects or finding new ways to do the same things.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on a single case study.Practical implicationsThe paper contributes insights into the literature on OSI, examining how inbound and outbound OSI mechanisms can modify business models and increase the adaptation capacity of food banks and their effectiveness. In addition, it provides a rich context in which the social value drivers provided by OSI are studied.Originality/valueThis paper applies the OSI to a food bank to evaluate what this action mode produces for the food bank during a health crisis. Specifically, this is the first paper that studies the COVID-19 crisis response of a food bank from the OSI perspective, focusing on the inbound and outbound OSI processes that characterized the entire network of relationships.


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.


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