Social entrepreneurship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneurship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Social entrepreneurship is the attempt to draw upon business techniques and private sector approaches to find
solutions to social, cultural, or environmental problems.[1] This concept may be applied to a variety of
organizations with different sizes, aims, and beliefs.[2] Conventional entrepreneurs typically measure
performance in profit, revenues and increases in stock prices, but social entrepreneurs also take into account a
positive "return to society". Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural, and
environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector.[3] At times, profit also may be a consideration for
social enterprises, but not as an end in itself, but rather as a means to further the social or cultural goals of the
organization. In the 2010s, social entrepreneurship is facilitated by the use of the Internet, which helps people
who are not geographically close yet who share the same goals to collaborate to achieve social goals and
facilitates the dissemination of information.

1 Modern definition
2 History
3 Current practice
3.1 Major organizations
3.2 Types
4 International presence
5 Role of technology
6 Public opinion
6.1 Controversy
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading

There are continuing arguments over which individuals can be defined as social entrepreneurs. Thus far, there
has been no consensus on the definition of social entrepreneurship, as so many different sorts of fields and
disciplines are associated with social entrepreneurship. Philanthropists, social activists, environmentalists, and
other socially oriented practitioners are referred to as social entrepreneurs. The fact that social entrepreneurs fall
under various career types is part of the reason it is difficult to determine who is truly a social entrepreneur.
David Bornstein has even used the term "social innovator" interchangeably with social entrepreneur, due to the
creative, non-traditional strategies that many social entrepreneurs use.[4] For a clearer definition of what social
entrepreneurship entails, it is necessary to set the function of social entrepreneurship apart from other voluntary
sector and charity-oriented activities and identify the boundaries within which social entrepreneurs operate.[5]
Some have advocated restricting the term to founders of organizations that primarily rely on earned income
meaning income earned directly from paying consumers. Others have extended this to include contracted work
for public authorities, while still others include grants and donations.
Social entrepreneurship in modern society offers an altruistic form of entrepreneurship that focuses on the

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benefits that society may reap.[6] Simply put, entrepreneurship becomes a

social endeavor when it transforms social capital in a way that affects
society positively.[7] It is viewed as advantageous because the success of
social entrepreneurship depends on many factors related to social impact
that traditional corporate businesses do not prioritize. Social
entrepreneurs recognize immediate social problems, but also seek to
understand the broader context of an issue that crosses disciplines, fields,
and theories.[7] Gaining a larger understanding of how an issue relates to
society allows social entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions and
mobilize available resources to affect the greater global society. Unlike
traditional corporate businesses, social entrepreneurship ventures focus
on maximizing gains in social satisfaction, rather than maximizing profit
gains.[8] Both private and public agencies worldwide have had billiondollar initiatives to empower deprived communities and individuals.[7]
Such support from organizations in society, such as government-aid
agencies or private firms, may catalyze innovative ideas to reach a larger
audience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_entrepreneurship

Muhammad Yunus, founder of

Grameen Bank

Prominent individuals associated with the term include Pakistani Akhter Hameed Khan and Bangladeshi
Muhammad Yunus. Yunus was the founder of Grameen Bank, which pioneered the concept of microcredit for
supporting innovators in multiple developing countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.[9] He received a
Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Others, such as former Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith addressed social
efforts on a local level by using the private sector to provide city services.[10][11]

Social entrepreneurship is distinct from the concept of entrepreneurship, yet still shares several similarities with
the classic concept. Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist, defined an entrepreneur as a person who
"undertakes" an idea and shifts perspectives in a way that it alters the effect that an idea has on society.[9] An
entrepreneur is further defined by Say as someone who "shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and
into an area of higher productivity and greater yield."[12] The difference between "entrepreneurship" and "social
entrepreneurship", however, stems from the purpose of a creation. Social entrepreneurs seek to transform
societies at large, rather than transforming their profit margin, as classic entrepreneurs typically seek to do.
Social entrepreneurs use a variety of resources to bring societies into a better state of well-being.
The concept of "social entrepreneurship" is not a novel idea, but it recently has become more popular among
society and academic research, notably after the publication of "The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur" by Charles
Leadbeater.[6] Many activities related to community development and higher social purpose fall within the
modern definition of social entrepreneurship. Despite the established definition nowadays, social
entrepreneurship remains a difficult concept to define, since it may be manifested in multiple forms.[13] A broad
definition of the concept allows interdisciplinary research efforts to understand further and constantly challenge
the notion behind social entrepreneurship. No matter in which sector of society certain organizations are (i.e.
corporations or unincorporated associations and societies), social entrepreneurship focuses on the social impact
that an endeavor carries.[6] Whether social entrepreneurship is altruistic or not is less important than the effect it
has on society.
The terms social entrepreneur and social entrepreneurship were used first in the literature in 1953 by H.Bowen
on his book "Social Responsibilities of the Businessman".[14] The terms came into widespread use in the 1980s

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and 1990s, promoted by Bill Drayton,[15] Charles Leadbeater, and others.[16] From the 1950s to the 1990s
Michael Young was a leading promoter of social entrepreneurship and in the 1980s, was described by Professor
Daniel Bell at Harvard as 'the world's most successful entrepreneur of social enterprises' because of his role in
creating more than sixty new organizations worldwide, including the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE)
which exists in the UK, Australia, and Canada and which supports individuals to realize their potential and to
establish, scale, and sustain, social enterprises and social businesses. Another notable British social entrepreneur
is Andrew Mawson OBE, who was given a peerage in 2007 because of his regeneration work including the
Bromley by Bow Centre in East London.
Although the terms are relatively new, social entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurship may be found throughout
history. A list of a few noteworthy people whose work exemplifies the modern definition of "social
entrepreneurship" includes Florence Nightingale, founder of the first nursing school and developer of modern
nursing practices; Robert Owen, founder of the cooperative movement; and Vinoba Bhave, founder of India's
Land Gift Movement. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries some of the most successful social
entrepreneurs effectively straddled the civic, governmental, and business worlds. Such pioneers promoted ideas
that were taken up by mainstream public services in welfare, schools, and health care.

Major organizations
Groups focused on social entrepreneurship may be divided into several categories: community-based enterprises,
socially responsible enterprises, social services industry professionals, and socio-economic enterprises.[6]
Community-based enterprises are based on the social ventures of an entire community that uses its culture and
capital to empower itself as an entire enterprise.[17] Socially responsible enterprises focus on creating sustainable
development through their initiatives that focus mostly on societal gains.[6] Social service industry professionals
work specifically in the sector of social services to expand social capital for different individuals, communities,
and organizations. Socio-economic enterprises include corporations that balance earning profits and nonprofit
social change for communities. In addition, there are organizations dedicated to empowering social
entrepreneurs, connecting them with mentors, strengthening their enterprise models, and preparing them for
capital investments. These accelerators help take social entrepreneurs to global scale.
One well-known contemporary social entrepreneur is Muhammad Yunus, who founded the Grameen Bank in
1976. He is known as the "father of microcredit," and established the microfinance movement, which aims to
help millions of people rural communities access small loans.[9] For his work, he was awarded a Nobel Peace
Prize in 2006.[18] The work that Yunus did through Grameen Bank has been described as a major influence on
later social entrepreneurs.[19] Larger countries in Europe and South America have tended to work more closely
with public organizations at both the national and local level.

Types
In The Power of Unreasonable People, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan describe social entrepreneurs'
business structures as falling under three different models, applicable in different situations and economic
climates:
1. The Leveraged Non-Profit: This business model leverages resources in order to respond to social needs.
Leveraged non-profits make innovative use of available funds, in order to respond to a need. These
leveraged non-profits are more traditional ways of dealing with issues, though are distinguished by their
innovative approaches.[20]

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2. The Hybrid Non-Profit: This organizational structure can take on a variety of forms, but is distinctive
because the hybrid non-profit is willing to use profit to sustain its operations. Hybrid non-profits are often
created to deal with government failures or market failures, as they generate revenue to sustain the
operation outside of loans, grants, and other forms of traditional funding.[21]
3. The Social Business Venture: These models are set up as businesses designed to create change through
social means. Social business ventures evolved through a lack of funding. Social entrepreneurs in this
situation were forced to become for-profit ventures.[22]
There are also hybrid profit models, where a conventional business invests some portion of its profits on socially,
culturally or environmenally beneficial activities. The term "Philanthropreneurship" has been applied to this type
of activity. Corporate employees can also engage in social entrepreneurship, which may or may not be officially
sanctioned by the company. This has been described as corporate social entrepreneurship.[23]

Organizations such as Ashoka, the Skoll Foundation, the Omidyar Network, the Schwab Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship, Athgo, New Profit Inc., National Social Entrepreneurship Forum, Echoing Green, and the
Global Social Benefit Institute among others, focus on highlighting these hidden change-makers who are
scattered throughout the world, and providing various levels of resources to advance their initiatives.[13]
The North American organizations tend to have a strongly individualistic stance focused on a handful of
exceptional leaders. For example, The Skoll Foundation, created by eBay's first president, Jeff Skoll, makes
capacity-building "mezzanine level" grants to social entrepreneurial organizations that already have reached a
certain level of effectiveness.[24]

The Internet and social networking websites have been pivotal resources for the success and collaboration of
many social entrepreneurs.[25] In the twenty-first century, the Internet has become especially useful in
disseminating information in short amounts of time. In addition to this, the Internet allows for the pooling of
design resources using open source principles. These media allow ideas to be heard by broader audiences, help
networks and investors to develop globally, and to achieve their goals with little or no start-up capital. For
example, the rise of open-source appropriate technology as a sustainable development paradigm enables people
all over the world to collaborate on solving local problems just as open source software development leverages
collaboration.

Controversy
Many initiatives carried out with social entrepreneurs while innovative, have had problems becoming sustainable
and effective initiatives that ultimately are able to branch out and reach the larger society as a whole (versus a
small community or group of people).[7] Studies over the qualities encompassed in a social entrepreneur have
shown that very few individuals possess the talent and skills of entrepreneurs with a primarily socially motivated
outlook.[26] Thus, compromises in social initiatives developed, often do not reach large audiences. Since the
concept of social entrepreneurship has been popularized only recently, some advocates suggest that there needs
to be some standardization of the process in scaling up social endeavors to increase impact across the globe.[7]

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A need for policymakers around the globe to understand social initiatives further is useful in increasing
sustainability, effectiveness, and efficiency.[6] Involvement and collaboration between private corporations and
government agencies allow for increased monetary gain for carrying out initiatives, increased accountability on
both ends, and increased connections with communities, individuals, or agencies in need. For example, private
organizations or nonprofit organizations have tackled unemployment issues in communities in the past.[27] Only
short-term solutions are presented, however, or solutions are unable to scale up to a larger degree in order to
maximize the number of people affected.[27] Government policies in the financial sector are able to tackle such a
large issue; however, the little collaboration that has occurred between the two modes that serve society has
stagnated the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship. This stagnation primarily rests in the motives and goals of
social enterprises and of those in policy-making.[28] Those in policy-making naturally tend to have different
priorities than social entrepreneurs, resulting in slow growth and expansion of social initiatives.
Since social entrepreneurship has only recently started to gain momentum, current social entrepreneurs are
encouraging social advocates and activists to step up as innovative social entrepreneurs.[28] Increasing the scope
of social entrepreneurship naturally increases the likelihood of an efficient, sustainable, and effective initiative.
Increased participation draws more attention, especially from policymakers and privately owned corporations
that may help shape social entrepreneurs through policy changes, training programs, and leadership development
focused on developing social entrepreneurs. Simultaneously research shows that as social entrepreneurs attempt
to widen their impact and scale their efforts, institutions will have a key role to play in their success.[29]

B Corporation (certification)
Collaborative method
List of social entrepreneurs
Social innovation
Social Venture Capital
Geotourism
Appropriate technology
Triple bottom line business theory
Microfranchising

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