Showing papers on "Social business published in 2023"
TL;DR: The authors explored the influence of different norms, goals, and practices on care social enterprises and the extent to which they are aligned with those of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.
Abstract: Social enterprises, which are businesses with social objectives, have been championed by the UK government as an opportunity to deliver more innovative, socially oriented, and commercially sustainable public services. However, very little is known about them, especially in a social care context. This paper therefore aims to answer the following three questions: (1) What are care social enterprises?, (2) What are their distinctive qualities?, and (3) How can they contribute to the adult social care sector? It presents evidence from a “mapping” of care social enterprises in three English local authorities, and from interviews with 35 stakeholders from across the social care and social enterprise sectors. Drawing on an institutional logics framework, we explore the influence of different norms, goals, and practices on care social enterprises and the extent to which they are aligned with those of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. We found that their unique combination of business and social logics, along with an entrepreneurial mindset, may make them more flexible, innovative, and able to diversify their income than public and not-for-profit care organisations. They were also considered more trustworthy than private care services. However, their competing social and business logics can create internal tensions and bring uncertainty about what organisational model they are. These tensions can make it challenging for us to define what a care social enterprise is and in turn for social enterprises to promote themselves and attract funding.
1 citations
19 Jun 2023
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors explore the concept of social business, its importance and how a postgraduate degree in social business can be useful for those entrepreneurs looking to develop skills and knowledge within this innovative area.
Abstract: Inside the new theories and learning models, we can identify social business as a valuable tool to develop entrepreneurial skills focused on solving social problems effectively and profitably, and also create innovative solutions that generate a positive impact on community. A social business arises with the purpose of solving a social problem using the market system; It is created on a non-profit basis. Even so, the business model is sustainable, guaranteeing its operability. Social businesses combine social and economic objectives, seeking to generate a positive impact on society and the environment. They emerge as an alternative to the traditional way of doing business. The following paper aims to explore the concept of social business, its importance and how a postgraduate degree in social business can be useful for those entrepreneurs looking to develop skills and knowledge within this innovative area.
05 Jun 2023
TL;DR: In this article , the authors present a case study of a social business based on the sustainable development goals of the United Nations, in which there is the encouragement of social equity and the search for the development of communities.
Abstract: The creation of new business models is an emerging topic within several research areas, and part of them has been directed to real contexts, to solve social problems. As an example of the application of this principle, there is Yunus Social Business, an institution that aims to expand the concepts of Social Business. This type of model is based on generating an enterprise that has the purpose of solving a social problem and, many times, of community interest. Therefore, in this article, characterized by a case study methodology, the bases of Social Business and the involvement of this enterprise with Strategic Design are presented. It brings a discussion about how these concepts relate to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, both applied in the case of Yunus, in which there is the encouragement of social equity and the search for the development of communities.
TL;DR: In this article , an integrated, comprehensive financial model that can provide startup capital to socially committed business ventures, such as social enterprises and Yunus Social Business (YSB), by using Islamic social funds (ISFs), Zakat (almsgiving), Waqf (endowments), Sadaqat (charity), and Qard Hasan (interest-free benevolent loans).
Abstract: This paper proposes an integrated, comprehensive financial model that can provide startup capital to socially committed business ventures, such as social enterprises and Yunus Social Business (YSB), by using Islamic social funds (ISFs), Zakat (almsgiving), Waqf (endowments), Sadaqat (charity), and Qard Hasan (interest-free benevolent loans). The literature review method was adopted to explain this model’s architecture, applications, implications, and viability. On the basis of logical reasoning, it concludes that ISFs can yield greater social wellbeing if utilised in SEs and YSB than in unconditional charity because both business models work for social betterment in entrepreneurial ways while remaining operationally self-reliant and economically sustainable. Additionally, ISFs can complement Yunus Social Business’s zero-return investment approach to make it more robust towards social contributions. The implementation of the model orchestrated in this paper would enhance societal business practices and, hence, scale up social wellbeing while helping rejuvenate pandemic-stricken economies. It paves the way for new research too.
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors investigated how food design, technology, and business strategy can solve social problems as part of a social business initiative and found that the primary elements in successful business strategies through social business are communication, trust, resource allocation, and matching technology tools.
Abstract: This impact-driven research investigated how food design, technology, and business strategy can solve social problems as part of a social business initiative. A total of 20 street food vendors and home-based food entrepreneurs were selected, and group-focused discussions were conducted based on the study's purpose. They were assessed and advised through the Mystic Kitchen model and social business concept to make their operations more productive and increase sales to cope with lifestyle changes due to the pandemic. The study found that the primary elements in successful business strategies through social business are communication, trust, resource allocation, and matching technology tools.
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors describe the emergence of this form of entrepreneurship and its principal traits, raising some critical issues, based on far-reaching empirical research, and describe how social enterprises are pushed by the logic of the market and forced to reconvert themselves into commercial companies to survive, so that social or environmental objectives take a back seat.
Abstract: As in many other developed countries, social entrepreneurship in Catalonia (Spain) is booming. It represents an alternative, revolutionary way of doing business that intends to make economic and social aims compatible – thus, profit is not the only goal. As such, it is a desirable and advantageous option for (neoliberal) states, since it targets and solves both social and environmental problems and contributes to job creation and tax revenues, while at the same time enriching and diversifying the local economic fabric. During the last two financial crises (2008 and post-pandemic), this line of business has attracted an increasing number of post-materialist entrepreneurs in Catalonia, i.e., those whose objectives, beyond earning an income, focus on self-realization, social transformation, and ecological impact reduction. These initiatives have proved to be initially resilient to the economic crisis. Over time, however, many social enterprises are being pushed by the logic of the market and forced to reconvert themselves into commercial companies to survive, so that social or environmental objectives take a back seat. Based on far-reaching empirical research, this paper describes the emergence of this form of entrepreneurship and its principal traits, raising some critical issues.
TL;DR: In this article , a review of development policy literature on social business and thinking and working politically (TWP) is combined with data collected from fieldwork in Cambodia from November 2018 to February 2019.
Abstract: Motivation Social business is business that aims primarily to achieve social ends, while at least covering its costs. Social business has been proposed to achieve development aims, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thinking and Working Politically (TWP) is an approach to ensure development interventions are politically feasible, and not stymied by political opposition. Are the two approaches compatible? Purpose The paper asks whether social business can ally with TWP insights for more effective development, taking a social business for water provision in Cambodia as a case in point. Methods and approach A review of development policy literature on social business and TWP is combined with data we collected from fieldwork in Cambodia from November 2018 to February 2019. We interviewed key informants from the social business, UNICEF, and government in the capital. At two water kiosks in eastern Cambodia, one successful the other less so, we interviewed (2) kiosk operators, (20) customers, and local leaders; we held four focus groups of customers; and we observed operations at the kiosks. Data was analysed using an ethnographic, or immersive, qualitative approach. Findings In this case, UNICEF intuitively used TWP to connect a social business to government departments. Water kiosks depended heavily on local political dynamics. We found Commune officials mindful of their standing in local society who often had the interests of the local community in their hearts, but the compatibility of TWP and social business at the local project level is sometimes questionable. Policy implications: TWP potentially can help development actors supporting social business to make political connections, in this case to local government. The key, however, is to understand context. The danger is to view social business as a turnkey intervention that can be used without adaptation to context, without consideration of local politics. Donors supporting social business need to appraise each business, case by case. Donors might also want to consider the motivations of international companies partnering with social business, particularly when different development objectives might be in conflict.
01 Jan 2023
TL;DR: In this article , the authors argue that a corporation cannot be understood by itself but in connection with its social environment and the social agents around, and that it is important to include in business theory subjects related to citizenship, public ethics or social behaviour.
Abstract: In the last times corporations have put emphasis in certain areas such as corporate reputation, social responsibility and new human resources policies. This is something quite relevant considering the current crisis that is affecting many institutions, also business. However, it is not common to include in business theory subjects related to citizenship, public ethics or social behaviour, what is key if corporations need to dialogue (and understand) each and every stakeholder. We believe that we do not need merely technical approach but a wider one that includes several areas from Social Sciences, because a corporation cannot be understood by itself but in connection with its social environment and the social agents around.
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors identify criteria for a legal definition of Lithuanian social business enterprises that form the defining attributes of the identity of these enterprises, important for the organizational communication of the social business enterprise.
Abstract: In Lithuania social enterprise as a social category is formed through defined legal social enterprise criteria and their detailed requirements. This suggests that the criteria for the legal definition of a social business enterprise form the identity referents of a social enterprise as a social category.
Between 2018 and 2021, seven law projects were submitted to the parliament of Lithuania that aimed to establish criteria defining social business enterprises. Study of these documents aims to identify criteria for a legal definition of Lithuanian social business enterprises that form the defining attributes of the identity of these enterprises, important for the organizational communication of the social business enterprise. The study revealed that the set of legal criteria – entrepreneurship (doing business), social goals aimed at solving social problems and activity stakeholder involvement – define social business enterprises. This exhibits that Lithuanian social business enterprises are institutionalized as hybrid organizations. The assessment of these identity referents showed that their use in the communication of the organization does not ensure the separation of the social enterprise from the subjects of the non-market subsector of the social economy. It has been observed that the exclusion of a social enterprise from other entities can be constructed by elements detailing the referents, often depending on the success of the company’s activities. This ultimately indicates shortcomings in the legal definition of social economic enterprises in Lithuania.
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TL;DR: In this article , the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) project, four major social enterprise models have been theorized and tested across the world and three of them have been confirmed based on empirical data: the social cooperative model, the entrepreneurial non-profit model, and the social business model.
Abstract: Even though not all the practices they designate are new, the - recent - concept of social enterprise (SE) is clearly fashionable and continues to diversify, be it in its organisational, sectoral, geographical or other expressions. Social enterprises combine an entrepreneurial dynamic to provide services or goods with the primacy of a social mission. Beyond this minimal consensus, various tentative definitions have been put forward according to different "schools of thought". In response to this conceptual diversity, various authors tried to identify SE categories and propose typologies. In the framework of the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) project, four major social enterprise models have been theorized and tested across the world. Three of the four SE models have been confirmed based on empirical data: the social-cooperative model, the entrepreneurial non-profit model, and the social-business model. Far from aiming at any "unification", these results highlight very different major models and show in a structured way that social entrepreneurship can emerge from all parts of our economies, including those - different from one part of the world to the other - that were considered previously.