an article by Anthony Samuel (Cardiff University Business School, UK), Gareth R.T. White (University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK) and Paul Jones and Rebecca Fisher (Coventry University, UK) published in Social Enterprise Journal Volume 14 Issue 1 (2018)
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the factors that influence and collectively conspire to inhibit social enterprises’ abilities to flourish in geographies of economic and social deprivation. Drawing upon the extant literature, it deploys a Delphi study to rank the relative importance of these factors.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-round Delphi study has been used to assess the relative importance of the issues that beset social enterprises. The research panel consisted of owner-managers of nine social enterprises from South Wales (UK).
Findings
The findings indicate that the prime challenge faced by social enterprise owner-managers is balancing their dual mission. The difficulties faced in delivering social value while remaining financially viable is one that appears to impinge upon the other strategic and operational challenges they face.
Research limitations/implications
The generalizability of this study that utilizes expert insight is dependent upon the nature of the panel. In this instance, social enterprise owner-managers studied operated within a socially deprived region of the UK. The relative influence of the tensions that affect social enterprises in less impoverished areas of the UK or other geographies may well differ.
Originality/value
Drawing upon the extant literature that examines the tensions that surround social enterprises, the prevailing factors are considered and ranked of significance. The resulting ranking provides a crystallised vantage point for policy and support. This could be used to better inform the allocation of resources to facilitate a favourable eco system capable of supporting social enterprises who operate in areas troubled by economic and social deprivation.
Showing posts with label social_enterprise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social_enterprise. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 March 2018
Sunday, 25 February 2018
Roots of social enterprise: entrepreneurial philanthropy, England 1600-1908
an article by Matthew MacDonald (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) and Carole Howorth (University of York, UK) published in Social Enterprise Journal Volume 14 Issue 1 (2018)
Abstract
Purpose
Insights into the roots of social enterprise from before the term was adopted are provided by examining histories of charitable service and comparing current understandings of social enterprise. Social enterprise models of welfare provision are evidenced from the seventeenth century onwards. Persistent themes are identified that provide insights for current practice and understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
This historiography examines interpretations from 1905 to the present day of examples of welfare provision between two watershed points: 1600, just prior to the Poor Laws and 1908, when the Old Age Pensions Act shifted emphasis in public sector provision.
Findings
Activities that would nowadays be termed social enterprise are evidenced in histories of charitable philanthropy covering each century since 1600. Prevailing attitudes uncritically demarcated deserving and undeserving poor. Histories contributed to a heroic narrative of social entrepreneurs, describing activities dependent on well-networked, politically active individuals that rarely continued beyond their involvement. The political environment was recognised to influence the types of organisations, governance and resourcing.
Research limitations/implications
The historiography takes examples from three centuries between 1600 and1908 but is not comprehensive. Recurrent themes are identified for further research.
Originality/value
Social enterprise is a twenty-first-century label but not a new phenomenon. Identification of prevailing themes provides insights for the understanding of social enterprises in the twenty-first century.
Abstract
Purpose
Insights into the roots of social enterprise from before the term was adopted are provided by examining histories of charitable service and comparing current understandings of social enterprise. Social enterprise models of welfare provision are evidenced from the seventeenth century onwards. Persistent themes are identified that provide insights for current practice and understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
This historiography examines interpretations from 1905 to the present day of examples of welfare provision between two watershed points: 1600, just prior to the Poor Laws and 1908, when the Old Age Pensions Act shifted emphasis in public sector provision.
Findings
Activities that would nowadays be termed social enterprise are evidenced in histories of charitable philanthropy covering each century since 1600. Prevailing attitudes uncritically demarcated deserving and undeserving poor. Histories contributed to a heroic narrative of social entrepreneurs, describing activities dependent on well-networked, politically active individuals that rarely continued beyond their involvement. The political environment was recognised to influence the types of organisations, governance and resourcing.
Research limitations/implications
The historiography takes examples from three centuries between 1600 and1908 but is not comprehensive. Recurrent themes are identified for further research.
Originality/value
Social enterprise is a twenty-first-century label but not a new phenomenon. Identification of prevailing themes provides insights for the understanding of social enterprises in the twenty-first century.
Friday, 3 November 2017
Where have all the radicals gone?: How normative pressures can blunt the radical edge of a social enterprise
an article by Peter Francis Wheeler (Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK) published in Social Enterprise Journal Volume 13 Issue 2
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to track the operations of a radical social enterprise, “New Horizon”, which attempted to provide a different approach to improve the independent living and employment opportunities for disabled people. The longitudinal study covers a period from the new labour project in the late 1990s to current austerity measures.
Design/methodology/approach
The project applied an emancipatory disability research agenda which places both the social and material relations of knowledge in the hands of the disabled participants.
Findings
Under the neo-liberal marketisation of public services, the radical nature of the organisation needed to be tempered, as different stakeholder groupings required different and not always complementary approaches to be undertaken to maintain legitimacy. Neo-institutional pressures tended to drive the organisation towards conformity with similar more mainstream rivals meaning the radical approach which assisted the formation of the organisation became less observable.
Social/implications
This research provides a unique insight into the systemic challenges faced by a social enterprise attempting to improve the independent living/employment prospects of disabled people. The longitudinal nature of the study illustrates how similar radical social enterprises, policymakers and researchers can understand how normative forces act in opposition to radical agendas.
Originality/value
This longitudinal study of a radical disability organisation which is undertaken through an emancipatory disability research agenda provides a unique insight into a marginalised and largely disenfranchised group in society. The paper provides a voice for the disabled stakeholders of New Horizon and hence differs from the majority of social research in that interpretations and analyses arise from the knowing subjects of research as opposed to the more traditional non-disabled academic research community.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to track the operations of a radical social enterprise, “New Horizon”, which attempted to provide a different approach to improve the independent living and employment opportunities for disabled people. The longitudinal study covers a period from the new labour project in the late 1990s to current austerity measures.
Design/methodology/approach
The project applied an emancipatory disability research agenda which places both the social and material relations of knowledge in the hands of the disabled participants.
Findings
Under the neo-liberal marketisation of public services, the radical nature of the organisation needed to be tempered, as different stakeholder groupings required different and not always complementary approaches to be undertaken to maintain legitimacy. Neo-institutional pressures tended to drive the organisation towards conformity with similar more mainstream rivals meaning the radical approach which assisted the formation of the organisation became less observable.
Social/implications
This research provides a unique insight into the systemic challenges faced by a social enterprise attempting to improve the independent living/employment prospects of disabled people. The longitudinal nature of the study illustrates how similar radical social enterprises, policymakers and researchers can understand how normative forces act in opposition to radical agendas.
Originality/value
This longitudinal study of a radical disability organisation which is undertaken through an emancipatory disability research agenda provides a unique insight into a marginalised and largely disenfranchised group in society. The paper provides a voice for the disabled stakeholders of New Horizon and hence differs from the majority of social research in that interpretations and analyses arise from the knowing subjects of research as opposed to the more traditional non-disabled academic research community.
Friday, 27 October 2017
The support paradox in community enterprise experiments in the Netherlands
an article by Reinout Kleinhans (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) and Maarten Van Ham (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands; University of St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland)
published in International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Volume 31 Number 4 (2017)
Abstract
In many European countries, community-based entrepreneurship is increasingly considered as a means to initiate small-scale urban regeneration. However, residents in deprived neighbourhoods are often viewed to lack key entrepreneurial skills.
Most research on community entrepreneurship support is based on cross-sectional studies and overly focused on government support. This paper extends current knowledge by reporting a unique national experiment in the Netherlands with community enterprises receiving support from a private foundation.
The paper aims to investigate how active citizens perceive the benefits and drawbacks of this support. Using a unique longitudinal approach, the paper analyses transcriptions of repeated semi-structured interviews (panel design) from community enterprises in several neighbourhoods.
While positive feedback is found, the study provides strong evidence for a 'support paradox': the support that was intended to overcome a number of entry barriers and difficulties on the road to community entrepreneurship has significantly hampered progress among several community enterprises.
Abstract
In many European countries, community-based entrepreneurship is increasingly considered as a means to initiate small-scale urban regeneration. However, residents in deprived neighbourhoods are often viewed to lack key entrepreneurial skills.
Most research on community entrepreneurship support is based on cross-sectional studies and overly focused on government support. This paper extends current knowledge by reporting a unique national experiment in the Netherlands with community enterprises receiving support from a private foundation.
The paper aims to investigate how active citizens perceive the benefits and drawbacks of this support. Using a unique longitudinal approach, the paper analyses transcriptions of repeated semi-structured interviews (panel design) from community enterprises in several neighbourhoods.
While positive feedback is found, the study provides strong evidence for a 'support paradox': the support that was intended to overcome a number of entry barriers and difficulties on the road to community entrepreneurship has significantly hampered progress among several community enterprises.
Thursday, 19 October 2017
Neoliberalism by stealth? Exploring continuity and change within the UK social enterprise policy paradigm
an article by Alex Nicholls (University of Oxford, UK) and Simon Teasdale (Glasgow Caledonian University, UK)
published in Policy & Politics Volume 45 Number 3 (July 2017)
Abstract
Social enterprise has been portrayed as challenging neoliberalism, and alternatively, as neoliberalism by stealth. Here we conceptualise social enterprise as a microparadigm nested within wider political and economic frameworks.
Our analysis of continuity and change over a period of political and economic crisis in England demonstrates considerable evidence of normative change in the ideas underpinning social enterprise policies. However, further analysis reveals that the (neoliberal) cognitive ideas underpinning the social enterprise paradigm remained intact.
This suggests that policy paradigms can accommodate normative differences within a shared cognitive framework, and hence, are more fluid, and have greater longevity, than previously recognised.
Abstract
Social enterprise has been portrayed as challenging neoliberalism, and alternatively, as neoliberalism by stealth. Here we conceptualise social enterprise as a microparadigm nested within wider political and economic frameworks.
Our analysis of continuity and change over a period of political and economic crisis in England demonstrates considerable evidence of normative change in the ideas underpinning social enterprise policies. However, further analysis reveals that the (neoliberal) cognitive ideas underpinning the social enterprise paradigm remained intact.
This suggests that policy paradigms can accommodate normative differences within a shared cognitive framework, and hence, are more fluid, and have greater longevity, than previously recognised.
Thursday, 8 June 2017
Welfare rights, self-help and social enterprise: Unpicking neoliberalism’s mess
an article by Jessica Gerrard (University of Melbourne, Australia) published in Journal of Sociology Volume 53 Issue 1 (March 2017)
Abstract
Neoliberalism is often represented as a fundamental intrusion of individualism into post-war welfare policy settlements. This article seeks to unpick this understanding through a case study of the intersections between the welfare rights and self-help approaches of the homeless and community sectors in the 1970s and 1980s, and the emergence of social enterprise and The Big Issue in the 1990s.
First, I outline the development of a dedicated ‘homeless sector’ in the 1970s.
Second, the ways in which this sector developed in relation to challenges to state authority in social welfare is examined.
Finally, I explore the discursive intersections between the critiques of the welfare state, and the rise of neoliberalism and social enterprise.
I suggest the emergence of social enterprise is emblematic of wider claims to individual agency, while also interwoven with the rise of neoliberalism and the capitalist recuperation of self-help and welfare rights challenges to state strategies.
Abstract
Neoliberalism is often represented as a fundamental intrusion of individualism into post-war welfare policy settlements. This article seeks to unpick this understanding through a case study of the intersections between the welfare rights and self-help approaches of the homeless and community sectors in the 1970s and 1980s, and the emergence of social enterprise and The Big Issue in the 1990s.
First, I outline the development of a dedicated ‘homeless sector’ in the 1970s.
Second, the ways in which this sector developed in relation to challenges to state authority in social welfare is examined.
Finally, I explore the discursive intersections between the critiques of the welfare state, and the rise of neoliberalism and social enterprise.
I suggest the emergence of social enterprise is emblematic of wider claims to individual agency, while also interwoven with the rise of neoliberalism and the capitalist recuperation of self-help and welfare rights challenges to state strategies.
Thursday, 17 September 2015
Social enterprises as enabling workplaces for people with psychiatric disabilities
an article by Pearl Buhariwala, Robert Wilton (McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) and Joshua Evans (Athabasca University, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada) published in Disability & Society Volume 30 Issue 6 (July 2015)
Abstract
In recent years, western governments influenced by neoliberalism have emphasized paid work as a key route to social inclusion and community participation for people with psychiatric disabilities.
Although paid work can offer many rewards, access to mainstream employment for people with psychiatric disabilities is difficult as they continue to encounter discrimination and a lack of workplace accommodation. One response to these challenges has been the creation of social enterprises as ‘alternative spaces’ of employment for people with psychiatric disabilities.
On the basis of interviews with key informants from 21 different social enterprises across Ontario, Canada, this paper critically analyzes the strategies used by organizations to create jobs that are both accommodating for people, but also conducive to the ongoing success of the business.
Abstract
In recent years, western governments influenced by neoliberalism have emphasized paid work as a key route to social inclusion and community participation for people with psychiatric disabilities.
Although paid work can offer many rewards, access to mainstream employment for people with psychiatric disabilities is difficult as they continue to encounter discrimination and a lack of workplace accommodation. One response to these challenges has been the creation of social enterprises as ‘alternative spaces’ of employment for people with psychiatric disabilities.
On the basis of interviews with key informants from 21 different social enterprises across Ontario, Canada, this paper critically analyzes the strategies used by organizations to create jobs that are both accommodating for people, but also conducive to the ongoing success of the business.
Monday, 15 December 2014
An Analysis of Work Engagement Among Workers With Mental Disorders Recently Integrated to Work
an article by Patrizia Villotti, Sara Zaniboni and Franco Fraccaroli (University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy), Cristian Balducci (University of Bologna, Italy) and Marc Corbière (Centre for Action in Work Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation, Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada) published in Journal of Career Assessment Volume 22 Number 1 (February 2014)
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the work engagement construct among mentally ill workers and to develop a nomological network delineating the relationship of work engagement with its antecedents, and its consequences in this specific population.
Three hundred and ten people with mental disorders employed in Italian social enterprises accepted to take part in this longitudinal study and filled out the Utrecht Work Engagement scale (UWES-9) and questionnaires on severity of symptoms perceived, social support from coworkers and supervisor, and occupational self-efficacy. Individuals who were still eligible at the 12-month follow-up phase of the study completed a questionnaire on future working plans.
Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to validate the UWES-9 and test its nomological network. The results indicated how work engagement, as well as its drivers, impacted important work outcomes, such as to work in the open labor market, in workers with mental disorders.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to determine the validity of the work engagement construct among mentally ill workers and to develop a nomological network delineating the relationship of work engagement with its antecedents, and its consequences in this specific population.
Three hundred and ten people with mental disorders employed in Italian social enterprises accepted to take part in this longitudinal study and filled out the Utrecht Work Engagement scale (UWES-9) and questionnaires on severity of symptoms perceived, social support from coworkers and supervisor, and occupational self-efficacy. Individuals who were still eligible at the 12-month follow-up phase of the study completed a questionnaire on future working plans.
Confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to validate the UWES-9 and test its nomological network. The results indicated how work engagement, as well as its drivers, impacted important work outcomes, such as to work in the open labor market, in workers with mental disorders.
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Examining the labor market presence of US WISEs
an article by Kate Cooney (Yale University School of Management, Connecticut, USA) published in Social Enterprise Journal Volume 9 Issue 2 (2013)
Abstract
Purpose
Work integration social enterprises (WISEs) create jobs through business ventures that function as locations for training and employment of disadvantaged workers. A key challenge for US WISEs is that the businesses that are easiest to launch and best suited to absorb large numbers of unskilled workers may be located in the same low wage labour market sectors out of which these interventions are designed to catapult workers. This paper aims to present data on an understudied aspect of WISEs: the labour market niches where they are active, the occupations associated with these labour market positions, and the work conditions offered through their WISE businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
Data presented in this paper are from a national WISE database developed by the author that includes 254 businesses associated with 123 WISEs, and a pilot study of 15 WISEs testing an instrument for use in a national survey of US WISEs. Each business associated with the WISEs in the national database was coded for industry, occupation and wage data using categories developed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each WISE business was further coded as preparing its workers for either low or middle skill jobs. These data were analysed using frequency counts, chi square tests of association and a two-step cluster analysis. To explore employment conditions inside WISE businesses, the pilot study data were analysed using a multiple case study analysis approach. Through focused coding techniques, descriptions of the employment conditions associated with the WISE jobs are reviewed.
Findings
Analysis at the level of occupation category reveals that about 72 percent of the jobs that WISEs train clients to perform exist in low skill occupations. Chi-square tests of association between NTEE code (a proxy for target population) and job skill level are not significant suggesting that low skill training is utilised by organisations serving clients facing a range of disadvantage. Cluster analyses indicate that for WISEs targeting disabled populations and for newer organisations targeting the general unemployed populations, low skill job training pervades but for education organisation and for older employment organisations, middle skill job training is more prevalent. The pilot data analyses show that the WISEs offer minimum wage or higher wage positions but many without guaranteed hours or a clear pathway out of WISE employment.
Practical implications
These data suggest WISEs in the USA have grown well beyond their earlier, narrower niche working with the disabled to employ a much broader portfolio of client populations, many higher functioning. However, the findings that many WISEs are positioned in the low skill labour market and on some dimensions can mirror the low skill labour market employment conditions suggest that additional aspects of WISE workforce development strategy should be taken into account.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on the labour market niches where WISEs are active, the occupations associated with these labour market positions, and the work conditions offered.
Hazel’s comment:
I could not find a similar study on social enterprises in the UK. If there is one then please let us know in the comments.
Abstract
Purpose
Work integration social enterprises (WISEs) create jobs through business ventures that function as locations for training and employment of disadvantaged workers. A key challenge for US WISEs is that the businesses that are easiest to launch and best suited to absorb large numbers of unskilled workers may be located in the same low wage labour market sectors out of which these interventions are designed to catapult workers. This paper aims to present data on an understudied aspect of WISEs: the labour market niches where they are active, the occupations associated with these labour market positions, and the work conditions offered through their WISE businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
Data presented in this paper are from a national WISE database developed by the author that includes 254 businesses associated with 123 WISEs, and a pilot study of 15 WISEs testing an instrument for use in a national survey of US WISEs. Each business associated with the WISEs in the national database was coded for industry, occupation and wage data using categories developed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Each WISE business was further coded as preparing its workers for either low or middle skill jobs. These data were analysed using frequency counts, chi square tests of association and a two-step cluster analysis. To explore employment conditions inside WISE businesses, the pilot study data were analysed using a multiple case study analysis approach. Through focused coding techniques, descriptions of the employment conditions associated with the WISE jobs are reviewed.
Findings
Analysis at the level of occupation category reveals that about 72 percent of the jobs that WISEs train clients to perform exist in low skill occupations. Chi-square tests of association between NTEE code (a proxy for target population) and job skill level are not significant suggesting that low skill training is utilised by organisations serving clients facing a range of disadvantage. Cluster analyses indicate that for WISEs targeting disabled populations and for newer organisations targeting the general unemployed populations, low skill job training pervades but for education organisation and for older employment organisations, middle skill job training is more prevalent. The pilot data analyses show that the WISEs offer minimum wage or higher wage positions but many without guaranteed hours or a clear pathway out of WISE employment.
Practical implications
These data suggest WISEs in the USA have grown well beyond their earlier, narrower niche working with the disabled to employ a much broader portfolio of client populations, many higher functioning. However, the findings that many WISEs are positioned in the low skill labour market and on some dimensions can mirror the low skill labour market employment conditions suggest that additional aspects of WISE workforce development strategy should be taken into account.
Originality/value
The paper focuses on the labour market niches where WISEs are active, the occupations associated with these labour market positions, and the work conditions offered.
Hazel’s comment:
I could not find a similar study on social enterprises in the UK. If there is one then please let us know in the comments.
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Understanding the place based social value created by new-start social enterprises: evidence from ten rural UK communities
an article by Chris Dayson (Sheffield Hallam University) published in People, Place & Policy Online Volume 7 Issue 1 (2013)
Summary
Social enterprise, characterised by organisations enacting a hybrid mix of non-profit and for-profit characteristics, is increasingly regarded as an important component in the regeneration of areas affected by social and economic deprivation. In parallel there has been growing academic, practitioner and policy interest in “social value” and “social impact” within the broader “social economy”.
This paper engages with these debates through analysis of resident perceptions of the social value created by National Lottery funded new-start social enterprise projects in ten rural UK communities.
In particular it considers what can be learnt about the relationship between different approaches to social enterprise activity in rural contexts and the social value created for local people and communities.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
Summary
Social enterprise, characterised by organisations enacting a hybrid mix of non-profit and for-profit characteristics, is increasingly regarded as an important component in the regeneration of areas affected by social and economic deprivation. In parallel there has been growing academic, practitioner and policy interest in “social value” and “social impact” within the broader “social economy”.
This paper engages with these debates through analysis of resident perceptions of the social value created by National Lottery funded new-start social enterprise projects in ten rural UK communities.
In particular it considers what can be learnt about the relationship between different approaches to social enterprise activity in rural contexts and the social value created for local people and communities.
Full text (PDF 16pp)
Monday, 22 April 2013
Valuing the social? The nature and controversies of measuring social return on investment (SROI)
an article by Malin Arvidson, Fergus Lyon, Stephen McKay and Domenico Moro (affiliation(s) not provided) published in Voluntary Sector Review Volume 4 Number 1 (March 2013)
Abstract
The concept of “social return on investment” (SROI) has come to play an important role in debates about how social enterprises and charities conceptualise, measure and communicate their achievements.
In this paper we analyse the nature and role of SROI as used in the United Kingdom for impact assessment of such organisations.
The paper offers insight into methodological and procedural aspects of the framework.
Key issues explored include the quantification of benefits, the valuing of volunteering and the ways in which judgement and discretion are exercised. There is a particular tension between the participatory element in the design of each SROI exercise and its use for the purpose of competition.
The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda that includes an examination of the context in which discretion and judgement are applied and the use and usefulness of SROI in the new policy and funding environment in which third sector organisations currently find themselves.
Abstract
The concept of “social return on investment” (SROI) has come to play an important role in debates about how social enterprises and charities conceptualise, measure and communicate their achievements.
In this paper we analyse the nature and role of SROI as used in the United Kingdom for impact assessment of such organisations.
The paper offers insight into methodological and procedural aspects of the framework.
Key issues explored include the quantification of benefits, the valuing of volunteering and the ways in which judgement and discretion are exercised. There is a particular tension between the participatory element in the design of each SROI exercise and its use for the purpose of competition.
The paper concludes by proposing a research agenda that includes an examination of the context in which discretion and judgement are applied and the use and usefulness of SROI in the new policy and funding environment in which third sector organisations currently find themselves.
Monday, 4 February 2013
Social innovation: An exploration of the barriers faced by innovating organizations in the social economy
an article by Dominic Chalmers (University of Strathclyde, UK) published in Local Economy Volume 28 Number 1 (February 2013)
Abstract
Social and community-based organisations are increasingly viewed as wellsprings of valuable social innovations.
Government policies, most notably David Cameron’s Big Society initiative, have entrenched the concept of localism across the UK, and the move towards smaller government has placed the onus on communities to creatively tackle their own problems.
While antecedent research on social innovation has largely concentrated on success stories, few have stopped to consider the profound nature of this shift and the operational obstacles it may pose for small resource-constrained organisations.
This article seeks to contribute to current debates on social innovation by critically reviewing extant literature and proposing a model of ‘open’ social innovation.
Furthermore, it serves as a tool to stimulate further discussion around the ‘opening up’ of the social innovation process and raises some timely questions about the efficacy of localism policy measures.
Abstract
Social and community-based organisations are increasingly viewed as wellsprings of valuable social innovations.
Government policies, most notably David Cameron’s Big Society initiative, have entrenched the concept of localism across the UK, and the move towards smaller government has placed the onus on communities to creatively tackle their own problems.
While antecedent research on social innovation has largely concentrated on success stories, few have stopped to consider the profound nature of this shift and the operational obstacles it may pose for small resource-constrained organisations.
This article seeks to contribute to current debates on social innovation by critically reviewing extant literature and proposing a model of ‘open’ social innovation.
Furthermore, it serves as a tool to stimulate further discussion around the ‘opening up’ of the social innovation process and raises some timely questions about the efficacy of localism policy measures.
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Whose failure? Learning from the financial collapse of a social enterprise in 'Steeltown'
an article by Duncan Scott (affiliation(s) not known) and Simon Teasdale (Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham) published in Voluntary Sector Review Volume 3 Number 2 (July 2012)
Abstract
The social enterprise literature is dominated by stories of good practice and heroic achievement. Failure has not been widely researched.
The limited policy and practice literature presents failure as the flipside of good practice. Explanations for failure are almost wholly individualistic, and related to poor governance. However, organisational studies literature shows that failure cannot be understood without reference to the wider environment within which organisations operate.
This article is based on a nine-year in-depth case study of an organisation previously characterised in the policy and practitioner literature as an example of good practice and heroic achievement. We seek to explain its “failure” through studying the interaction between the organisation and its wider environment. We show that simple individualistic explanations are not sufficient by which to understand social enterprise failure and outline the implications for academic understanding of social enterprise.
Abstract
The social enterprise literature is dominated by stories of good practice and heroic achievement. Failure has not been widely researched.
The limited policy and practice literature presents failure as the flipside of good practice. Explanations for failure are almost wholly individualistic, and related to poor governance. However, organisational studies literature shows that failure cannot be understood without reference to the wider environment within which organisations operate.
This article is based on a nine-year in-depth case study of an organisation previously characterised in the policy and practitioner literature as an example of good practice and heroic achievement. We seek to explain its “failure” through studying the interaction between the organisation and its wider environment. We show that simple individualistic explanations are not sufficient by which to understand social enterprise failure and outline the implications for academic understanding of social enterprise.
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Starting a new career at 60
via Entrepreneurial by Reuters Staff
The following is an interesting guest post on Entrepreneurial by Marci Alboher, vice president at Civic Ventures, a think tank making it easier for millions to find encore careers with personal meaning and social impact. This is part of the kickoff to a series on social entrepreneurship. The views expressed are the author's own.
Yes, it is American but that does not, at least in this instance, make it irrelevant.
OUCH! I’m not saying that American views are irrelevant but that business and education are very different the other side of the Atlantic and that, therefore, many of the careers articles become irrelevant to UK readers.
Mark Goldsmith created Getting Out and Staying Out, a program that reduces the recidivism rate of young men released from prisons and jails.
Elaine Santore founded Umbrella of the Capital District, a service that pairs retired handy people with aging homeowners who need help with small home repairs.
Adele Douglass created Humane Farm Animal Care, the nation's first programme to certify that farming practices are humane from birth to slaughter.
They are all social entrepreneurs – creative, inventive, enterprising individuals who bring their talent and passion to solving the problems of our day – and they are all over the age of 55.
Read the full post on Reuters blog
The following is an interesting guest post on Entrepreneurial by Marci Alboher, vice president at Civic Ventures, a think tank making it easier for millions to find encore careers with personal meaning and social impact. This is part of the kickoff to a series on social entrepreneurship. The views expressed are the author's own.
Yes, it is American but that does not, at least in this instance, make it irrelevant.
OUCH! I’m not saying that American views are irrelevant but that business and education are very different the other side of the Atlantic and that, therefore, many of the careers articles become irrelevant to UK readers.
Mark Goldsmith created Getting Out and Staying Out, a program that reduces the recidivism rate of young men released from prisons and jails.
Elaine Santore founded Umbrella of the Capital District, a service that pairs retired handy people with aging homeowners who need help with small home repairs.
Adele Douglass created Humane Farm Animal Care, the nation's first programme to certify that farming practices are humane from birth to slaughter.
They are all social entrepreneurs – creative, inventive, enterprising individuals who bring their talent and passion to solving the problems of our day – and they are all over the age of 55.
Read the full post on Reuters blog
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