Social innovation and entrepreneurship Flashcards
Social entrepreneurship is
An innovative, social value creating activity that can occur within or across non-profit, business or government sectors
Growth of interest in social entrepreneurship due to
- Retreat of state and supra-state institutions from tackling social needs directly
- Inability of institutions to generate new and innovative solutions
Logic of social entrepreneurship
- The world is growing and with it, so is are social issues
- Governments struggle to solve these issues - lack of innovation, bureaucracy
- So social entrepreneurs are enrolled to help solve
Examples of social enterprises - Grameen Bank
Founded in 1983 in Bangladesh. The bank removed the need for collateral and created a system based on accountability, mutual trust and participation. Credit is used to fight poverty, not create it. Socio-economic conditions are attempted to be improved by allowing the poor into banking orbits
Examples of social enterprises - One laptop per child
Provide each child with a rugged, low cost, low power, connected laptop. Designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful and self-empowered learning
Examples of social enterprises - Toms shoes
Toms shoes operate a “one for one” policy, whereby for every pair of shoes bought, one is donated to someone in need. They have a “double bottom line” and reinvest their income from sales into improving lives
Commercial VS. Social
Commercial entrepreneurship is focussed on breakthroughs, and new needs.
Social entrepreneurship is focussed on serving basic, longstanding needs more effectively through innovative approaches
Difference in people/resources
- Have to provide value more explicitly with a much more heterogeneous set of stakeholders than in private companies
- Social enterprises mission often provides a common anchor for diverse shareholders
- Social entrepreneurs may need to spend a significant proportion of time networking/fundraising
- Duration of funding may be shorter
How is social entrepreneurship measured?
- Performance is measured against social and financial goods
- Simultaneous assessment of performance against: financial and shareholder performance, internal and external shareholder expectations and responsibilities