Search results
21 – 30 of over 87000Anita Ranjan Singh and Nitin Pangarkar
This paper aimed to study business model innovation by a work-integration social enterprise (WISE). Specifically, the study investigated how the organization developed novel value…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aimed to study business model innovation by a work-integration social enterprise (WISE). Specifically, the study investigated how the organization developed novel value propositions and created and delivered value for multiple stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth qualitative study was conducted at Foreword, a for-profit organization that uses persons with disabilities, mental health conditions and special needs. Data was drawn from semi-structured interviews with stakeholders of the organization and several secondary information sources.
Findings
The authors’ inductive analysis revealed the existence of an innovative and powerful business model that is integrated by the organization’s overarching social mission and anchors its ability to deal with multiple conflicting logics such as economic, social, ecological sustainability and community development, to co-create value with and for multiple stakeholders.
Research limitations/implications
The study underscores the need for business model innovation through enhancing value creation for multiple stakeholders for for-profit WISEs. Since the analysis and resulting model in the study are based on a single organization in a geographically small, affluent country with a hands-on government, they may need to be modified before applying in other contexts.
Practical implications
The study identifies several pointers for other social enterprises – specifically the need for managers to build business models appropriate for their organizational and environmental contexts.
Originality/value
The study’s originality stems from the adoption of a stakeholder lens to examine business model innovation. It also proposes an integrative conceptual model of the antecedents and outcomes of business model innovation.
Details
Keywords
Jo Barraket, Heather Douglas, Robyn Eversole, Chris Mason, Joanne McNeill and Bronwen Morgan
This paper aims to document the nature of social enterprise models in Australia, their evolution and institutional drivers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to document the nature of social enterprise models in Australia, their evolution and institutional drivers.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on secondary analysis of source materials and the existing literature on social enterprise in Australia. Analysis was verified through consultation with key actors in the social enterprise ecosystem.
Findings
With its historical roots in an enterprising non-profit sector and the presence of cooperative and mutual businesses, the practice of social enterprise in Australia is relatively mature. Yet, the language of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship remains marginal and contested. The nature of social enterprise activity in Australia reflects the role of an internally diverse civil society within an economically privileged society and in response to an increasingly residualised welfare state. Australia’s geography and demography have also played determining roles in the function and presence of social enterprise, particularly in rural and remote communities.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to comparative understandings of social enterprise and provides the first detailed account of social enterprise development in Australia.
Details
Keywords
There is much current policy and practitioner enthusiasm for using social enterprise to tackle the problems faced by homeless people. However, there is no evidence base to support…
Abstract
Purpose
There is much current policy and practitioner enthusiasm for using social enterprise to tackle the problems faced by homeless people. However, there is no evidence base to support (or negate) this policy focus. The purpose of this paper is to identify the different ways in which social enterprise responds to the needs of homeless people, and some of the challenges faced by social enterprises in the homelessness field.
Design/methodology/approach
Desk‐based research of the grey literature identified different models of social enterprise in the homelessness field. A review of the two sets of literature on homelessness and social enterprise was conducted to identify the implications of these models for homeless people.
Findings
Six models of social enterprise in the homelessness field are identified. Social enterprise involves balancing social and economic objectives. As third sector organisations become more business focused, there is a risk that those homeless people with the most complex or acute needs are abandoned as they are not profitable to work with.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to bring together two sets of literature in order to identify how social enterprise responds to homelessness. The paper is of use to policy makers aiming to develop targeted approaches to tackling homelessness. It is also of use to organisations in the homelessness field looking to develop social enterprise models.
Details
Keywords
Muhammet Emre Coskun, Thema Monroe-White and Janelle Kerlin
This paper aims to improve upon the initial quantitative assessment of Kerlin’s macro-institutional social enterprise (MISE) framework (Monroe-White et al., 2015) to test for the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to improve upon the initial quantitative assessment of Kerlin’s macro-institutional social enterprise (MISE) framework (Monroe-White et al., 2015) to test for the effect of country-level institutions on the social enterprise sector. Major improvements are the inclusion of the civil society variable and expansion of the culture component in the analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
By following Kerlin’s (2013) original work that draws on the theory of historical institutionalism, this paper employs multi-level regression analysis to test the effect of country-level institutional factors on organizational-level social enterprise across countries. This analysis uses new macro-level data specifically for civil society and culture components.
Findings
The initial assessment of the framework found that several country-level factors had a significant effect on the variance in the size of the social enterprise sector across countries. The analysis provided here additionally shows a significant positive influence of civil society on the size of the social enterprise sector and shows that formal institutions capture the effect of informal cultural institutions when included in the model together.
Practical/implications
This analysis provides policymakers, development actors and researchers with a better understanding of the influence of civil society on social enterprises and the interaction between formal and informal institutional underlying factors.
Originality/value
This paper’s significant contribution is the addition of civil society in the MISE analysis, which was not possible before owing to lack of data, and additional cultural analysis.
Details
Keywords
Charlotte Moreau and Sybille Mertens
The management of an organisation and the context within which this organisation evolves are recognised as two important aspects of any organisation. Few studies have been…
Abstract
Purpose
The management of an organisation and the context within which this organisation evolves are recognised as two important aspects of any organisation. Few studies have been conducted however on the management function within the specific context of social enterprises, organisations that mix social goals and economic imperatives. This paper aims to examine the specific competences of management in social enterprises, by constructing a competence model, the emblematic tool of competence‐based management, relevant to the management of social enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors hypothesise that certain competences required of managers in social enterprises are specific, regarding the particular internal and external context of social enterprises, the governance model, etc. The methodology used is based on four main steps: a review of the literature and the conducting of exploratory interviews, the construction of a first draft of the competence model, the conducting of group interviews with managers of social enterprises in six European countries as this research takes place within the framework of a European research project on lifelong learning, and the final adaptation and validation of the competence model.
Findings
Seven main competences specific to the context of social enterprises emerge, each one being further developed as knowledge, skills, and competences.
Originality/value
The paper illustrates the interest in building up a competence model for the management of social enterprises.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to summarise a contribution to the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) Project from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It particularly…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to summarise a contribution to the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) Project from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It particularly highlights the relevance of the social constructionist approach adopted in the study to investigate and make sense of the social enterprise concept as an imported concept in a new environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This approach is used as a thread to follow through the structure proposed by the ICSEM Project, namely, to look at the concept in context, to identify social enterprise models and establish a typology, as well as to describe institutional trajectories shaping the models. This paper highlights the constructs and institutional trajectories shaping the concept, and the main findings of the study when identifying the models and establishing the typology, based on an in-depth survey of 12 social enterprises in the UAE.
Findings
While this typology can be considered as a preliminary one, it reveals creative recurrent models, with the state and private sector involved as incubators. Although the UAE offers a tax-free environment, the lack of a legal and regulatory system conducive to social enterprises seems to hamper the opportunities for them to develop and scale up.
Originality/value
This contribution is the first study to investigate the ecosystem of social enterprise and its deriving models, and to propose a preliminary typology in the UAE.
Details
Keywords
Ramon Fisac and Ana Moreno-Romero
The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical institutional context of Spain in the past 40 years and to analyze the influence of institutional factors in the current…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical institutional context of Spain in the past 40 years and to analyze the influence of institutional factors in the current model of social enterprise existing in the country.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on the theory of historical institutionalism, national-level empirical data and Kerlin conceptual framework (2013) that informs models of social enterprise.
Findings
This paper describe some traits of Spain’s social enterprise that can be explained by the evolution of its institutional context in the past 40 years. It helps to validate, from a historical institutionalistic perspective, aspects of the Kerlin framework for social enterprise models. It also begins to show that the analysis of regional differences in the context should be taken into consideration when examining a country’s social enterprise space.
Research limitations/implications
This discussion paper encourages academics to analyze regional differences in the emergence of social enterprise within a country. The main limitation of the paper is the lack of an “official” definition of social enterprise in Spain.
Originality/value
This paper applies a valuable framework to a country with a unique political and economic history in the past 40 years. It contributes to enrich the research on the emergence and development of social enterprises in a variety of contexts and advances understanding of how regional differences inside a country influence the development of social enterprises.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the growth of social enterprise in the UK in the context of the renewed interest in the creative use of organisations with a social mission…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the growth of social enterprise in the UK in the context of the renewed interest in the creative use of organisations with a social mission to complement public service delivery. Given the impact of globalisation and increased demands for effective social welfare interventions, this paper specifically focuses on the nature and type of social enterprise governance models and how they influence their outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilises a mixed method approach involving the complementary use of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
Findings
The paper finds that the way in which the social enterprise governance structure is designed ultimately influences its outcomes. In particular, those with stewardship governance models tend to perform better than those with democratic models of governance. This leads to a conclusion that in the social context of the UK, social enterprise should aim for a paradigm shift in the design and selection of governance models.
Research limitations/implications
Comparative regional experiences in other regions or social contexts could enrich our understanding of whether these results are applicable across the board.
Practical implications
This paper is of potential benefit to researchers and particularly those designing policies for the governance of social enterprise.
Originality/value
The study employs innovative analytical theoretical lenses not normally associated with the social economy, namely agency, stewardship and resource dependency theories to provide a more in-depth analysis of the governance of contemporary social enterprise.
Details