A hybrid approach to innovation by social enterprises: lessons from Africa
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a detailed analysis of the key capabilities needed for social enterprises to succeed in the context of extreme poverty. Facilitating growth and alleviating poverty in the world’s most impoverished regions requires introducing innovative solutions to achieve social impact while generating financial returns.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper studies two social enterprises operating in Africa. Semi-structured interviewers were conducted with co-founders of the organizations. The transcribed interviews were analyzed through an open coding process, iterated to overarching categories, and compared between the organizations using a grounded theory approach. Secondary archival data and respondent validation were used to triangulate these findings.
Findings
This paper proposes a model that highlights five key capabilities social enterprises need to tackle complex societal challenges while overcoming resource constraints and institutional voids. The processes followed to develop and deploy these capabilities are delineated, and the necessity of hybrid mechanisms that blend non-profit and private-sector approaches is shown as a key enabler for social enterprises to meet their dual objectives.
Research limitations/implications
This research is limited to two cases studies from two different industries in Africa. Future research would refine and extend the proposed model to increase generalizability.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a gap in the literature on understanding innovation and entrepreneurship in Africa, and it proposes a model for innovation derived from data. This paper also offers insights to the growing community of social entrepreneurs looking to develop sustainable solutions to societal challenges.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
External research funding was provided by Infosys Labs. Representatives of this company were involved in conducting and recording the interviews and analyzing the data. Research funding was also provided by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and by the Jack Austin Centre for Asia Pacific Business Studies at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC.
Citation
Gupta, S., Beninger, S. and Ganesh, J. (2015), "A hybrid approach to innovation by social enterprises: lessons from Africa", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 89-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-04-2014-0023
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited