SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
LECTURE 1 :
Who are the social entreprises ? What are they doing ?
Issues :
- Covid 19, fires in the amazon rainforest, hunger, clean water, refugee crisis, global
warming
17 goals relating to the main issues of our planet
Social entrepreneurs are basically dealing to solve those issues
o Social entreprises focus on social or environmental issues and they then try to
find a creative way to resolve it
o They provide a solid business model
o During covid crisis : we saw why this type of solutions was necessary (issues of
digitalization, computers; even in Belgium with lockdown, Flemish government
estimated a need of 14.000 computers, kids having no computer at home)
o Social issues exist as well here
SE has been argued to be a powerful way to:
• Alleviate poverty (Alvarez, Barney, &Newman, 2015; Bloom, 2009; Ghauri et al., 2014;
Tobias, Mair, & Barbosa-Leiker, 2013)
• Empower women (Datta & Gailey, 2012),
• Catalyze social transformation (Alvord et al.,2004),
• Foster inclusive growth in subsistence marketplaces (Ansari et al., 2012; Azmat et
al.,2015),
• Bring institutional change (Nicholls, 2010).
A Little Entrepreneurship History
, - Entrepreneur – in French means “undertakes” as in a person who undertakes a
significant project or activity (17th century economics term)
- Jean Baptiste Say: “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of
lower and into an area of higher productivity” (19th century)
- Joseph Schumpeter: “Innovators who drive the “creative-destructive” process of
capitalism”( 20th century)
- Peter Drucker: “the entrepreneur always searches for change, response to it, and
exploits it as an opportunity.” (20th century)
Entrepreneur as a genus, Social as a species
Four Categories:
Conventional:
- Doing business just to do business , social/environmental issues are for the
government
- My job: doing business
Social Entrepreneurship as a Concept
• The concept of social entrepreneurship means different things to different people
and researchers.
• Social enterprises they become a group of social enterprises; they have a foundation,
ngo or private limited liability company,..
Currently three broad conceptions of social entrepreneurship in the literature:
• One group of researchers refers to social entrepreneurship as not-for-profit
initiatives in search of alternative funding strategies, or management schemes to
create social value. (sales or be more creative and their fundings aren’t donations or
subsidies)
, • A second group of researchers understands it as the socially responsible practice of
commercial businesses engaged in cross sector partnerships. (in Belgium no legal
structure in social enterprises, only ngo or limited libiability company; you can deduct
taxes) -> limited liability is developed with a commercial idea with a social purpose is
perfectly possible
• And a third group views social entrepreneurship as a means to alleviate social
problems and catalyze social transformation. (as a tool, tool that helps you resolve
problems ; poverty for example -> many organizations trying to resolve that, but still
not resolved) -> Even the more ambitious social enterprises as an alternative of other
ways to resolve problems
Definitions of Social Entrepreneurship
Focus on Four Key Factors
1. Individual Characteristics of SE’s (who’s taking the initiatives, why, which resources,..)
{Some similarities with ‘Traditional’ aka Conventional Entrepreneurs}
a. Opportunity recognition
b. Combine resources
c. Inspirational Leadership
Tend to focus on individuals identified as successful, skewing results
2. Operating Sector
1. Bridging profit and service goals
2. Activities that enhance social wealth
3. Processes and Resources
1. For-profit vs. Not-for profit (tax structure)
2. Social wealth creation vs. Economic wealth creation
3. Social entrepreneurial activities vs. Social services activities vs. Social activism
4. Primary Mission and Outcomes
1. Creating social value by providing solutions to social problems; hybrid mission ->
ambitious to grow a business model of a social enterprise to burn the social emission
2. Economic value maybe a byproduct
Social enterprises the focus is the solution of the social problem, business model and the
financials are a mean to reach a goal
In a normal business is the other way around
How can you recognize a social enterprise? -> they wouldn’t mind to have losses
Defining social entrepreneurship
Business model, economics sight that helps resolving a social problem
- Innovative aspect, business model aspect, aspect of social change/impact,…
A good definition:
Social entrepreneurship is an innovative, social value-creating activity that can occur within
or across the nonprofit, business, or government sector.
So every type of organization can be a social enterprise
Your turn:
Be sure to jump into the Discussion Board which asks the following:
1. How do you personally define social entrepreneurship?
2. Why are you interested in studying social entrepreneurship?
3. Share what you believe to be society's top three most pressing social issues.
Time: 15 mins / after this we will have a discussion in class
, Important to know: background of different social enterprises
- Base of the pyramid
- Church : supporting good causes Philanthropi
(it depends where you come from, catholic for
sts,
example -> help in education, food, Church
poverty,… where church is well developed, if
country church not well developed -> those things don’t exists, church don’t have
and State
enough money for their own organization)
- Philanthropists: Solvay for example designed our faculty -> he said : I don’t need
economist, I don’t need engineers, I need people who understand both -> he gave
money to educate people like this, bc he believed it was needed
- Social economy : European union for example
- Civil society initiatives and NGO’s
Movement Civil Society
Base of the
s Initiatives
Pyramid
of SEs and NGOs
Social Social
Economy Innovation
When you put different objectives of a social enterprise; you can see the different types
of business models
Levels of Analysis
Individual Organizational Institutional
(later we will talk about the hybridity of social enterprises, challenges and opportunities that
it brings)
3 levels of analysis in a social enterprise; i
o ndividual -> people, you and me, why do they want to do this, which
competences do they have,..
o organizational : different organizations, supportive
o institutional : the big picture, how well the economy is developed or not
Individual level of analysis
• A central characteristic of SE are their prosocial personality and emotions associated
with a prosocial personality, such as empathy, sympathy, and compassion (Penner &
Finkelstein, 1998)
• Entrepreneurial processes (individual level)
