Selected Observations and Lessons Learned for 21st-Century Supports for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprises

Key propositions and recommendations for support of social enterprises and entrepreneurship are presented in this chapter on “Selected Observations and Lessons Learned for 21st-Century Supports for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprises.” These are derived from snapshots of developments in the nations and regions discussed in prior chapters. In addition, warning signs about these innovations are offered. Some recommend more social protection and social supports for social entrepreneurs. Others suggest more, not less, government intervention in support of sustainable social and economic development. Key domains for further exploration include the premises on which social enterprises and social entrepreneurship are built. In addition, more contextual understanding is needed, as well as a balancing of social and economic development for human well-being. Moreover, selected findings for social enterprises and their role in social inclusion and economic development are offered. Lessons learned are highlighted along with recommendations for future research.

Social Enterprise in Taiwan

In “Social Enterprise in Taiwan: Economic and Social Welfare Transition,” the author introduces the economic and welfare journey of Taiwan over the past century and discusses how the newly blossomed business model of social enterprise shapes the social welfare and economic disciplines in the modern development of Taiwan. The implication of social enterprise starts in 2007. The planning process reveals the interdependency between economic and welfare development and extends the discussions to public–private collaboration on resolving social problems. In 2014, the government announced its phase-one plan “2014–2016 Social Enterprise Action Plan.” The Ministries of Labor, Economic Affairs, Interior, and Health and Welfare have collaborated for policy integration and action planning since then. By the end of 2019, there were 455 various-sized enterprises registered on the list of social innovative organizations. Many social enterprises progress to become B corporations. By November 2019, there were already 25 B corporations in Taiwan, with 8 of them honored as “the best for the world 2019.”

Sustaining and Growing Social Innovations Using Integrated Development Models

In this chapter on “Sustaining and Growing Social Innovations Using Integrated Development Models,” development models are considered to be integrated when activities that are primarily directed toward delivering positive social outcomes also generate income to cover their financial costs, thus providing scope for sustaining and scaling the activities and their social benefits. It identifies harbingers of integrated development models emerging through the efforts of some social innovators. Insights are drawn from the experiences of time bank success cases. The chapter explores their business models and, more generally, their contributions to the development of complementary local community economies that might offer structured, coherent, and coordinated approaches to asset-based community development. The chapter recommends that policy-makers legitimize experiments with complementary economies and currencies, digital currency platforms, and governance arrangements for these. It proposes a community laboratory approach to innovation, learning, and evidence gathering through experiments co-produced with local communities and stakeholders.

Where There Is No Formal Social Welfare System for an Indigenous People

This chapter on “Where There Is No Formal Social Welfare System for an Indigenous People: Entrepreneurship, Watchmen, and the Reinvention of the Maasai Warrior” addresses the transformation of the Maasai moranism (warrior society). As a marginalized indigenous group, the Maasai have not benefitted from any important social welfare or safety net programs. The chapter interrogates the evolution of an entrepreneurial spirit among young Maasai men who have joined the ranks of the massive informal sector to become watchmen (security guards) in cities and small townships in both Kenya and Tanzania. The chapter draws from ethnographic narratives about the “fierceness” of the Maasai in global capitalist expansion and their economic marginalization. The overriding question is: In what ways is the proliferation of the phenomenon of Maasai watchmen a reaction to the community’s marginalization?

Redefining Silk Roads

In this chapter on “Redefining Silk Roads: Social Businesses and Crafts as Approaches for Improving Women’s Situations in Central Asia,” the authors show how social entrepreneurship is only starting to evolve in Central Asian countries. Women experience multiple barriers to starting and carrying out social businesses successfully: a lack of capital, underdeveloped policies, and limited access to markets within the region and beyond. Despite these significant challenges, there are factors suggesting strong potential for success in the long term, such as local expertise and skills, access to training, and the support of international development organizations. Projects that have been implemented previously suggest the need for intermediary organizations that can increase access to global markets, advocate on behalf of social businesses, and improve access to capital investments. Improving social entrepreneurship models in the region will have not only financial and social gains for women and their communities; importantly, these models can provide psychosocial benefits as well, such as increasing women’s autonomy within the household and their ability for collective efficacy.

Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Russian Federation

Implementing social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts in Russia is discussed in this chapter. CSR and social enterprises have been developing dynamically in Russia since the mid-2000s, and the author believes that they can be used to foster further social and economic transition. The issues related to the Russian success stories of social enterprises and socially responsible corporate behavior are outlined. An emphasis is made on identifying government and private institutions and instruments supporting the social activity of profit and nonprofit organizations. Techniques for evaluating CSR in Russia are described. Due to incomplete data in nonfinancial reports it is difficult to derive a cost-benefit analysis for CSR projects. Instead, indicators for nonfinancial reports are selected and indices are constructed by measuring the quality and frequency of their disclosure. The chapter concludes by outlining the main challenges and potential drivers to promote further development.

Organizational Entrepreneurial Orientation

This chapter addresses “Organizational Entrepreneurial Orientation: Implications for Social Impact and Social Enterprise.” All too often social entrepreneurship is focused on celebrating individual entrepreneurs while excluding organizations with impactful change-making missions. Rather than being developed fully by a single entrepreneurial “hero,” impactful solutions are likely developed through social interactions aided by organizational frameworks. This research raises and explores several important questions. How is a strategic orientation toward entrepreneurial activity, or entrepreneurial orientation (EO), conceptualized in social enterprises? What are the antecedents and outcomes of EO within social enterprises? And how do we measure EO within social enterprises? Addressing these questions is important to understanding organizational entrepreneurship within the context of social enterprises pursuing prominent social missions. In sum, this chapter examines the critical manifestation of EO within social enterprise.

Socioeconomic Development in India

This chapter on “Socioeconomic Development in India: Lessons from the Third Sector” is a broad overview of India’s economic growth and human development since independence in 1947. It traces the evolving role of government, market, and civil society in navigating the global political economy and the creative tension in which they have coexisted. The chapter dives deeply into the civil society sector which once inspired the founding of Ashoka and is now referred to as a hotbed of social enterprises. The sector which once had firm foundations in pluralist social movements and a focus on social innovation now struggles to distinguish social business from social entrepreneurship. The current ecosystem, while extensive, lacks focus, disregards questions of power, and lacks accountability mechanisms. The goals of improving lives and affecting social change would be better served by focusing on social innovation, treating people as stakeholders rather than clients, and protecting and promoting citizen participation in a democratic economy, society, and polity.

Failing My Way to Success

This chapter on “Failing My Way to Success” offers an “in the trenches” account of social entrepreneurship drawn from the 2015 memoir Failing My Way to Success: Life Lessons of an Entrepreneur. The book chronicles personal and professional disappointments, betrayals, and bankruptcies from which grew the author’s hard-won lessons of failure and the climb back to success. These lessons range from business best-practices to interpersonal skills to philosophical truths, but at their heart lie two ancient principles. The first warns against self-deception, expressed as the axiom “know thyself” and is perhaps the toughest challenge that the beginning entrepreneur faces. The second is the Jewish concept of tikkun olam—“repair of the world”—the belief that we bear responsibility not only for ourselves and our immediate circle but for the world at large. This essay argues that perhaps the most important definition of “success” is the capacity both of means and spirit to fulfill this command.

The Odd Couple

This chapter on “The Odd Couple: ‘Incomplete Socialism’ and Social Enterprises in Cuba,” uses an incomplete socialism and social enterprise framework to examine the impact of the 2011 Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the VI Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba on Cuban society. It posits that market elements will exist in socialist societies throughout the age of capitalism, but that these market forces can be harnessed and used to produce desirable social outcomes. The 2011 Guidelines produced market forces and social policies that weakened egalitarianism in Cuba, triggered increments in racism, and increased hardship among Afro-Cubans, but they did not spark capitalist restoration. Cuba kept its eyes on the prize of social and human development and made improvements in these areas despite economic challenges. The conclusion is that market reforms will not necessarily generate capitalist restoration because they can be used to complement socialist construction by generating positive social outcomes.