HarvestWISE:Harvesting Wisdom for Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_revisited/

http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/democ1.htm

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Strategy/Innovation/Market_rebels_and_radical_innovation_2292

INDIAN INNOVATION SYSTEM Perspective and Challenges

Case Studies in Social Enterprise

The term social enterprise was created by the American non-profit community in the 1970s, which began to create and operate their own businesses as ways to create job opportunities for the disadvantaged, homeless and other at-risk people. The idea is that a nonprofit business venture or revenue-generating activity can create positive social impact while operating with reference to a financial bottom line. Today, NGOs understand that only by establishing an independent means of support, can they continue to fulfill their mission. An NGO’s new vigor and growth enables it to provide and expand vital services to its constituents and members while moving the organization toward self-sufficiency.

Case Studies in Social Enterprise: Counterpart International’s Experience explains: (1) social enterprise, (2) its importance as a developmental tool in emerging economies around the world, and (3) through four in-depth case studies in Ukraine, highlights the beneficial impact of social enterprises on the non-profit sector, families and communities. These projects were developed and implemented by Counterpart under a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development between 1997 and 2002.

Counterpart’s experience demonstrates that social enterprises have high potential as a nonprofit sustainability strategy in emerging economies where markets are underdeveloped and entry barriers are low. Comprehensive and well-structured programs like the Counterpart Alliance for Partnership, which complements business training with loans, advocacy and legal advice and networking, increase the likelihood of NGOs’ successful creation of sustainable social enterprises that will achieve both financial viability and social impact in the long term. Counterpart’s social enterprise methodologies provide the tools and inputs that assist their NGO participants in their business activities. With Counterpart’s assistance, NGOs have successfully established or expanded their income-generating activities and, at the same time, are meeting their organizational mission.

Investigating social entrepreneurship: A multidimensional model

Social entrepreneurship is an emerging area of investigation within the entrepreneurship and not-for-profit marketing literatures. A review of the literature emerging from a number of domains reveals that it is fragmented and that there is no coherent theoretical framework. In particular, current conceptualizations of social entrepreneurship fail to adequately consider the unique characteristics of social entrepreneurs and the context within which they must operate. Using grounded theory method and drawing on nine in-depth case studies of social entrepreneurial not-for-profit organizations, this paper addresses this research gap and develops a bounded multidimensional model of social entrepreneurship. Implications for social entrepreneurship theory, management practice, and policy directions are discussed.

The Innovation Sandbox

Access to world class health care facilities is a big problem in India where 700 million live at bottom of the pyramid (bop). A need for innovations that could provide access to health care facilities and meet the requirements of the bop is now becoming obvious but designing a scalable product with world class quality yet affordable by the bop is no doubt an extremely challenging task. Due to such rigid constrains many companies do not consider the bop as a viable market. Despite of such rigid limitations health care providing organizations like Aravind Eye care Center etc. have not only tread into the bop but also successfully established themselves providing world class services to the poor with their break through innovations. This article analyzes the reasons behind the success of such organizations by illustrating a concept “innovation sand box” to show how innovation break through can be achieved if one demonstrates the exact knowledge and understanding of the needs and constrains at the bop.

SOCIAL INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP Developing Capacity to Reduce Poverty and Hunger

Social entrepreneurs are needed in adequate numbers in different spheres of development—that is, global, national, and community levels—to enable the effective design and implementation of poverty and hunger reduction programs. Yet, organized efforts to develop and promote the capacity for social innovation and entrepreneurship have been limited. This is in sharp contrast to the private sector, where entrepreneurship has been and continues to be a major force driving development. Recent experiences have shown that introducing entrepreneurial spirit into the development process can improve the effectiveness of intervention programs. This article discusses how social entrepreneurs at policy, business and programme levels could ensure the effective implementation of the programmes aimed at the poverty and hunger reduction and how the spirit and skills required could be infused through mainstream education programs. It is apparent that without new approaches and skills in regions where poverty and hunger are chronic, strategies and programs will continue to fall short of their intended goals.

Incubator Tool Kit

Business incubators have proven to be an effective way for fostering sustainable business growth and stimulating entrepreneurship. But establishing a business incubator is a challenging task. This section helps readers decide whether or not an incubator is the most appropriate business development tool for their circumstances, and sets out the feasibility and planning issues that underpin the establishment of a new incubator. This article is a one stop shop for all the information that could help in mentoring and fostering an incubator.

scaling-up-social-innovation

Most social innovations in modern times have arisen from the voluntary sector, in part because it is hard for individuals to pursue their passion in either state or market institutions. However, our hypothesis is that to scale up, social innovation has to move from the voluntary sector to state and market institutions. This article takes into account the social innovations that happened through out history and pan India and describes how voluntary agencies engineered the social innovations and scaled them up by actively engaging with state and market institutions.