Social enterprise dualities: implications for social marketing

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to build understanding of the concept of social enterprise in the social marketing community and to report on empirical research designed to develop an understanding the perceptions and practices of marketing within social enterprises. This addresses a significant gap in the current literature base and also provides insights for social marketers seeking to pursue social change initiatives through social enterprise.Design/methodology/approach– This empirical investigation uses a qualitative investigation of 15 social enterprises informed by a grounded theory approach. Researchers conducted interviews with senior decision-makers responsible for marketing activities and strategic policy, and gathered additional data regarding the organizations in the form of archival materials, including strategic planning documents, promotional materials and firm-generated online content.Findings– Strategic marketing practices used by social enterprises are shaped by moral, pragmatic and cognitive legitimacy influences stemming from imperatives to achieve congruence with institutional norms. This study exposes the challenges social enterprises face in developing strategic marketing activities that address business needs, while balancing stakeholder interests linked to the social missions of such organizations.Research limitations/implications– This qualitative study pursues depth of understanding through focused investigation of a small, regional sample of Canadian social enterprises. The findings demonstrate that social enterprises are similar to both not-for-profit and small- and medium-sized firms in terms of their marketing approaches, but face particular institutional legitimacy challenges when developing and implementing strategic marketing activities.Practical implications– This paper highlights the influences of institutional legitimacy on marketing practices and approaches in social enterprises. Understanding these influences is crucial for social marketing practitioners, as they develop strategic activities. The findings from the research provide a baseline upon which to begin to build both our theoretical and practical understanding of the potential utilization of social marketing through social enterprises.Social implications– Understanding the challenges social enterprises face in developing their strategic marketing activities provides deeper insights into social enterprises for social marketers, who might consider using social marketing in such organizations to achieve social change.Originality/value– This paper offers empirical evidence grounded in depth investigations of 15 social enterprises operating in a Canadian context. The findings help to extend our understanding of the complex institutional influences impacting marketing practices within social enterprise organizations. These institutional influences help to attune social marketers to the potential opportunities and challenges of using social enterprise as an organizational form for launching social marketing programs.

A social enterprise organisation seeks business solutions to social problems. It identifies social needs and uses the market to address them. Existing literature presents a variety of concepts and frameworks to connect market sector organisations with social amelioration agendas, including corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management. Yet, the demand for such organisations to contribute to resolving social problems remains, and international business and management scholarship in this area needs to be supplemented by literature on governance and regulation. The central objective of this thesis is to examine the potential of the social enterprise as a market sector organisation, to address social problems principally by examining a case study of a market sector organisation dealing directly with the climate crisis. The primary argument of the thesis is that the social enterprise has a unique internal context, which it harnesses to formulate strategies and to manage its external context consistent with a social mission. The unique features of its internal context enable the social enterprise organisation to enact the concept of social enterprise. These features include an explicit and solely social mission, social capital, social entrepreneurship, a stakeholder-ownership structure, and organisational hybridity and heterogeneity. In discussion of the principal case study findings, the thesis highlights that through a social mission, a stakeholder-ownership structure, hybridity and heterogeneity, the social enterprise can operate beyond stereotypes of market sector organisations. It does not have to focus purely on mechanisms for increasing individual, private wealth and can pursue social agendas as its purpose. Using its social capital and social entrepreneurship, the social enterprise can cooperate with other actors in constructing, through regulation and governance, a ‘choice architecture’ persuading actors to make socially ameliorative decisions. This lowers the complexity and uncertainty that characterise the social arena and can lead to opportunities for further cooperation for problem resolution. The central implications of the case study and the literature review are discussed in this thesis by examining the thesis findings in the context of the climate crisis. Through its unique features the social enterprise organisation is able to enact concepts proposed as opportunities for pursuing organisational resolutions to the climate crisis, perceived to be the realignment of incentives to which cooperation, politics and regulation can contribute. These concepts include ‘transformative leadership’ to pursue social equity and justice as a path towards resolution of the climate crisis, and ‘natural capitalism’, the realignment of capitalism with the value of ecosystems and natural resources. The social enterprise organisation possesses the motivation and capability to enact these concepts.

INTRODUCTION: In the eco and responsible tourism sector, social enterprises (organisations which fund their social mission through market activities) can meaningfully engage with local communities in their pursuit of social impact. OBJECTIVES: This paper explores the trade-offs social enterprises make to balance market viability and social mission within the eco and responsible tourism context, focusing on how these trade-offs intersect and impact organisational strategies. METHODS: The research adopts a thematic analysis of data collected from nine social enterprise organisations who partook in semi-structured interviews. RESULTS: Two intersecting axes of trade-offs are presented: how beneficiaries are included in the development of market outputs, and the second on how its social value is dispersed. CONCLUSION: A framework is developed to enable self-reflection and evaluation of the trade-offs and risks involved to social mission and market viability.

Theories on social capital and their effects on social entrepreneurship has mainly underlined the power of social capital to generate enterprises and to foster good relations between third sector organizations and public sector. This paper proposes a different perspective to consider role in build social capital of a third sector enterprise: multistakeholder social cooperative are seen, at the same time, as social capital result, creators, and incubators. To represent this perspective we’ll use a qualitative system dynamic approach in which social capital is measured throw some proxy. Italian Social cooperatives has become during last twenty years main producers of social welfare service: some of them adopt a multistakeholder governance model and declare themselves as “community enterprise” choosing to represent “general interest of the community and integrating in an enterprise activity”. Sometimes they operate integrating disadvantaged people in work activities,these are work integration social enterprise, some of them, as effect of local authorities contracts. are involved in managing public services. Often these typology of social enterprises are engaged by people who come from third sector organizations and this is the way in which they continue their personal commitment in social enterprises. These people bring their relation and these “personal weak ties” are fundamental in developing cooperatives: so social capital developed in other third sector entities is transferred in multistakeholder cooperative. Cooperation of voluntary, customers, community leaders and third sector local organizations are fundamental to establish trust relations between cooperative and public local authorities. These relations help cooperatives to have long term contracts with local authorities contract as provider of social services and make them possible to innovate the services, developing experiences and management models and exchanging them with the public officers. The long-term relations and the organizational relations that linked social cooperatives and public organizations contribute to create and renovate social capital. In this way multistakeholder cooperatives originated by social capital developed in third sector organizations produce new social capital within the cooperatives and between cooperatives (entrepreneurial components of third sector) and public sector. In their entrepreneurial life cooperatives has to contrast the “working drift” in which only workers remain as members of the cooperative while others stakeholders (volunteers, customer, local social leaders) don’t continue their participation in cooperative. These people different from workers are (stake)holders of “weak ties” fundamental to make a worker’s cooperative an authentic social multistakeholders cooperative. To maintain the multistakeholders governance, and the relations with third sector and civil society, social cooperative has to reinforce participation and dialogue with civil society through continue effort of inclusion of people bringing social proposal. We try to represent these process in a system dynamic model, measuring social capital created by social cooperatives through some proxy as number of volunteers and deep cooperation with public institution. Using a reverse-engineering approach we can individuate the determinants of the creation of social capital and so give support to governance that create social capital. In this way, relations between third sector, public sector are at the same time in a social multistakeholder enterprise resulting and building social capital.

Social enterprise has become a global phenomenon, changing the lives of millions of people and addressing social issues that have previously been outside of the reach of governments or the private sector. Many higher education institutions have engaged with social enterprise in a variety of ways, including providing facilities to external social enterprises, supporting and advising student and faculty social enterprises, providing placements and internships for students in social enterprise organizations and embedding social enterprise directly into the curriculum. This chapter reviews the current relationship between higher education and the social enterprise phenomenon. While there is a growing body of research on the concept of social enterprise itself, there is a paucity of research on the pedagogical aspects of teaching and embedding social enterprise into the curriculum. From related literatures on curriculum design, it is clear that a flexible, holistic approach is needed to embed experiential learning about social enterprise to produce learning environments that foster high levels of student engagement and enhanced employability.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the well-being impacts of social enterprise, beyond a social enterpriseper se, in everyday community life.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory case study was used. The study’s underpinning theory is from relational geography, including Spaces of Wellbeing Theory and therapeutic assemblage. These theories underpin data collection methods. Nine social enterprise participants were engaged in mental mapping and walking interviews. Four other informants with “boundary-spanning” roles involving knowledge of the social enterprise and the community were interviewed. Data were managed using NVivo, and analysed thematically.FindingsWell-being realised from “being inside” a social enterprise organisation was further developed for participants, in the community, through positive interactions with people, material objects, stories and performances of well-being that occurred in everyday community life. Boundary spanning community members had roles in referring participants to social enterprise, mediating between participants and structures of community life and normalising social enterprise in the community. They also gained benefit from social enterprise involvement.Originality/valueThis paper uses relational geography and aligned methods to reveal the intricate connections between social enterprise and well-being realisation in community life. There is potential to pursue this research on a larger scale to provide needed evidence about how well-being is realised in social enterprises and then extends into communities.

Social Entrepreneurship and COVID‐19

This dissertation delineates the state-induced emergence and mainstreaming of South Korea’s (hereinafter, ‘Korea’) social enterprise sector following the enactment of a social enterprise promotion act in 2007. In particular, this dissertation contextualizes the public sector-led popularization and mobilization of social enterprises and studies the outcomes of this intervention. This dissertation includes analyses of networks, discourse, and geographic agglomerations, and it highlights the pressures, mechanisms, institutions, and organizations that have been integral to this process of state-induced innovation. It contributes to the literature on interactions between the state and social economy organizations, such as social enterprises. The relationship between the state and social economy organizations has been subject to much academic scrutiny, and the Korean case contributes to this literature by illustrating how the state has induced the emergence and scaling of social enterprises as a private organizational form and also by showing where social enterprises have flourished. The Korean case contrasts with the North American and European cases in that in Korea the state purposively popularized social enterprise, as opposed to the North American and European traditions where the origins of social enterprise are more closely linked to civil society. This has implications for how states can induce the founding of private organizational forms that serve their interests. Korea is an especially intriguing case study given that ‘social enterprise’ as an organizational form was almost entirely absent from Korean society prior to 2007, yet has now become embedded into society in the sense that social enterprises are found in nearly every industry and municipal district. There are now thousands of social enterprises in Korea a little more than a decade after the enactment of social enterprise promotion legislation. Civil society has, evidently, accepted social enterprises as a valid organizational form. This dissertation seeks to establish an empirical platform and a theoretical framework which can be utilized for a more theoretical analysis of social enterprise and other social economy organizations in Korea in future studies. Nevertheless, this dissertation does reveal how actors can manipulate the path dependencies imposed by history, and the capabilities bequeathed by it, to forge new possibilities in novel and strategic ways. The Korean state’s ability to induce social innovation is a tangible illustration of such.

COVID-19 and the role of Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprises in northern England in responding to the needs of marginalised communities: a qualitative focus group study

This thesis examines five cases of social enterprise organisations from Nepal, a geographically challenged, politically volatile country with poor infrastructure, a high poverty gradient, and high levels of social and gender disparity. The study aims to explore how organisations following principles of social enterprise can address the multifaceted challenges of youth unemployment. Specifically, the study aims to understand the contribution of social enterprise organisations to the improvement of livelihoods of young people in Nepal, through job creation and market integration, fundamentally adopting market principles to address development challenges. The research contributes to the body of empirical literature on social enterprises from Nepal, and social value creation processes through the use of empirical evidence. It uses the qualitative method of analysing the social value creation processes which subsequently informs a range of challenges faced by young people attempting to participate in the market. In terms of methodology, the research implemented a three-step process: literature review, an organisational survey, and five qualitative case studies. Thirty-four self-identified social enterprise organisations were used for survey analysis. Five organisations were selected for detailed case analysis. Using cross-case analysis methods, interviews from 17 representatives and 30 young men and women aged 18– 30 were analysed . A combination of development theory, the theory of social entrepreneurship, and youth perspectives, is used in establishing the contribution of social enterprises to the improvement of the livelihoods of young people in Nepal. The overall contribution of social enterprises is unfolding in two distinct ways. The first level of contribution is revealed in the form of organisations attempting to become financially self-sustainable and market-competitive. The second level of contribution is demonstrated by limited social and economic change as immediate outcomes, and chances of significant and sustainable social change in the longer term. By demonstrating the change process at an organisational level as well as at the participants’ level, the study presents a meaningful explanation of a social enterprise model of development in improving livelihood of young people in Nepal.

PurposeTo study the ways in which the people involve in social enterprises make sense out of what they are trying to do.Design/methodology/approachThe study focused on the issues and concerns of participants in a social enterprise network in Bradford, UK, where the network includes both social enterprises and agencies offering them support. Explains that the study aimed to examine the relationship between the development of social enterprise and organizational identity, processes and problems to determine what shared meanings and sense of shared identity are used by participants to make sense of social enterprise, how these are related to actions and projects within the social enterprise sector, and whether there is network integrity in responding and adapting to changes. Reports on a case study involving exploratory semi‐structured interviews, between November 2005 and February 2006, with 11 key actors involved in social enterprise networks in Bradford, all of which were involved in either delivering services to the community or from agencies tasked with supporting these groups.FindingsFive key themes emerged from the interviews: identifying as a social entrepreneur; organizational identity; common language; growth; and networking. Concludes that the factors involved in the way that actors in social enterprises make sense of their activities include: identity, where most organizations did not identify a heroic leader nor would they choose to become social entrepreneurs; lack of a common metaphor; staying small; and fragmentation.Originality/valueProvides a useful starting point from which to explore the problems faced by social enterprise organizations.

Social enterprises seek solutions for some of society's most pressing problems through the development of commercially viable businesses. However, pursuing social impact is often at odds with financial viability, and social enterprises need to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to access tangible and intangible resources to overcome this tension. Although the current literature emphasizes the need for social capital within social enterprises' supply chain relationships, it does not consider the costs associated with the development of such capital. This article examines how social enterprises develop social capital in their supply chain relationships and how this social capital affects their ability to pursue impact and viability. Using data from in‐depth interviews with nine social enterprises, the findings indicate that the roles and positions of beneficiaries in supply chains determine the appropriate forms of social capital needed to sustain simultaneous impact and viability. The empirical insights highlight that structural and relational capital are most valuable within core supply chain relationships, whereas cognitive capital is most beneficial within peripheral relationships aimed at enhancing competitiveness. Further, social enterprises sometimes relinquish power in their supply chain relationships to prioritize impact but develop relational capital to mitigate threats of opportunism. This study advances a contingent view of social capital in cross‐sectoral supply chain relationships and provides valuable implications for managers pursuing impact.

Subject area The subject areas are social entrepreneurship and marketing in social enterprises. Study level/applicability This study is applicable to undergraduate or MBA-level courses; possibly executive programs as well. Case overview Farm Shop was established in 2012 as a not-for-profit trust, with an aim of developing a distribution platform for poor, rural communities across sub-Saharan Africa so that smallholder farmers could get the farm inputs and services needed to increase their productivity and income. Attempting to reach scale, this social enterprise is in the process of building a micro-franchise network. Unlike franchises in industrialized countries where the franchisor starts with a vetted and replicable turnkey business, Farm Shop was created from scratch. After prototyping the shop concept and validating the business model in Kiambu County of Kenya, Farm Shop has 10 fully operational shops and is keen to start its growth phase, aiming to have 120 shops in its network within the next 12-18 months. It is only at that point that break-even will be achieved. Recognizing the key role of marketing in Farm Shop’s growth efforts, the founders are now focused on finalizing their go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Having initiated and measured the results of a number of marketing activities over the past six months, it is now time to decide which of these activities should be incorporated into their micro-franchise system. The management team knows that to provide advice, training and quality products to farmers, they first needed to develop awareness, interest and desire for what Farm Shop has to offer, not to mention the need to gain the farmers’ trust. Fundamentally, farmers needed to be convinced that Farm Shop can help them improve their productivity and income. Expected learning outcomes The study enables to gain an overall understanding of the range of challenges and opportunities associated with establishing a micro-franchise in an emerging market context; to gain a better understanding of social marketing, including the four types of behavioral influence it attempts to achieve and the similarities and differences between social and commercial marketing; to introduce the “theory of change” concept, providing a framework for understanding how and why change will occur; to introduce the concept of business models and explore the differences between “traditional” and “social entrepreneurship” business models; to understand how a competitive advantage is created; to introduce basic marketing concepts and the GTM concept and its role and application in a business model for a new social enterprise and to understand how marketing contributes to the social enterprise’s strategic goals and sustainability, thereby gaining an understanding of how “social marketing” is differentiated from commercial marketing. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

PurposeDrawing on an accountability framework developed for social enterprise organizations (SEOs), this paper examines the annual report disclosure practices of SEOs in the United Kingdom in order to investigate the types of accountability disclosed by SEOs.Design/methodology/approachAfter developing a SEO database, and utilizing a bespoke document coding checklist, the annual reports of 129 SEOs were examined.FindingsThe results indicate that while SEOs would be expected to account in line with normative stakeholder theory, many do not provide constructive and voluntary accountability information to their stakeholders, at least through the annual report, and that their focus is on satisfying legal obligations.Originality/valueIn response to calls for research to better understand accountability in new organizational contexts, this paper makes two contributions: firstly, by extending prior accountability research in the NFP sector to consider organizational hybrids, it raises questions about organizational accountability and how it is discharged in situations where an organization operates as a business and yet is accountable for its social mission; secondly, assuming these organizations are driven by their business and social logics, the findings suggest that SEO accountability disclosure practices are inconsistent with the social objectives on which they are based.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight conceptual and technical difficulties in mapping “social enterprise” and “social purpose business” organizations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reflects on the design and administration of a social enterprise population survey in Ontario, Canada.FindingsNumerous approaches used to frame social enterprise organizations were seriously flawed and fundamentally problematic, and criteria to distinguish social enterprise from other organizations were seemingly arbitrary, unstable, or unworkable.Originality/valueThis paper both contributes to those attempting to empirically research social enterprise organizations, and to the broader discussion concerning whether social enterprise is usefully approached as a distinctive organizational form.