The Role of ICT in Scaling Up the Impact of Social Enterprises

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can help social enterprises and other organizations working on global sustainability issues and in the human development sector in general scale their social impact. The flexibility, dynamism, and ubiquity of ICTs make them powerful tools for improving relationships among organizations and their beneficiaries, multiplying the effects of action against many, if not all, aspects of global unsustainability, including poverty and exclusion. The scaling of social impact occurs in two different dimensions. On one hand, ICTs can increase the value proposition of a program or action (depth scaling) in different ways: providing accurate and fast needs recognition, adapting products and services, creating opportunities, building fairer markets, mobilizing actions on environmental and social issues, and creating social capital. On the other hand, ICTs can also increase the number of people reached by the organization (breadth scaling) by accessing new resources, creating synergies and networks, improving organizational efficiency, increasing its visibility, and designing new access channels to beneficiaries. This article analyzes the role of ICT in the depth and breadth scaling of social impact

Medindo os Benefícios das TICs nas Empresas Sociais: Um Estudo Exploratório

The study presented in this article aims to identify what are, in fact, the social missions of companies called “social companies”, and what are the benefits obtained from the use of ICTs by these companies. The research methods employed were bibliographic research and case study. The bibliographic research was elaborated from a systematic analysis and the use of a theoretical framework related to performance indicators, as proposed by Hutchinson and Molla (2009). The case study was carried out based on four social companies, with which observations were made in loco, application of interviews and analysis of the respective websites. The results indicated that the social mission of this type of company can be explained by the use of six indicators: access to markets, income generation, employment opportunities, social training, strengthening of relations with the sponsor and social outsourcing; and that these indicators require the use of ICTs to be developed. It is concluded that, if at least one of the indicators is present in these companies, ICTs can bring some kind of benefit.O estudo apresentado neste artigo tem por objetivo identificar qual é, de fato, a missão social de empresas denominadas “empresas sociais”, e quais são os benefícios obtidos com o uso das TICs por essas empresas. Os métodos de pesquisa empregados foram pesquisa bibliográfica e estudo de caso. A pesquisa bibliográfica foi elaborada a partir de uma análise sistemática e da utilização de um framework teórico relacionado a indicadores de desempenho, conforme proposta de Hutchinson e Molla (2009). O estudo de caso foi realizado tendo por base quatro empresas sociais, com as quais foram realizadas observações in loco, aplicação de entrevistas e análise dos respectivos websites. Os resultados indicaram que a missão social desse tipo de empresa pode ser explicada a partir do emprego de seis indicadores: acesso aos mercados, geração de renda, oportunidades de emprego, capacitação social, fortalecimento das relações com o Patrocinador e outsourcing social; e que esses indicadores requerem o uso de TICs para serem desenvolvidos. Conclui-se que, se pelo menos um dos indicadores estiver presente nessas empresas, as TICs poderão trazer algum tipo de benefício

Social enterprise and community development : theory into practice in two Cambodian villages

Social enterprise (or business driven by social objectives) is a prominent focus of development policy. In higher income countries it has become a strategy for regional development or regeneration by creating optimal levels of social value out of under-utilised resources. In developing countries, social enterprise is seen to offer hope for sustainable development by reducing dependency on aid, developing markets and improving the basis for economic growth. Social enterprise is widely linked to microfinance, corporate social responsibility and ‘business at the bottom of the pyramid’ and there is particular attention to heroic, socially entrepreneurial individuals. But critical literature shows there is a tension between the top-down ‘development’ driven view of social enterprise and a bottom-upwards grassroots community development approach driven by wellbeing. This thesis explores the second agenda in the context of Cambodia, a post-colonial and post-conflict, aid dependent developing country that has undergone rapid economic transition since the late 1990’s. Support for the top down, development driven view of social enterprise in Cambodia has become a prominent focus of international development institutions while NGO’s are increasingly turning to social enterprise as a substitute for grants as the nature of developmental aid assigned to the country has changed. The thesis asks – How are social enterprises likely to be understood at the grassroots community level in Cambodia? and What discourses of social enterprise are likely to yield sustainable effects at this level of society? This research is multi-disciplinary, drawing from economic geography and substantive economic anthropology as well as the social enterprise management and social entrepreneurship literature. It engages with and critiques some of the most widely held theoretical approaches concerning social value and economic value, social capital, collectivity and solidarity, the attributes of social entrepreneurs and the naturalised ethics of social entrepreneurs. Theoretically, I make the case for seeing social value in pragmatic terms as an embodied process that is situated in context. This allows for an historicised analysis of reciprocity and mutual self-help that is oriented towards contextualised outcomes vis-a-vis wellbeing. The actions of some socially entrepreneurial actors give hope for social economies at the grassroots but they also call ethics into the question. It has to be appreciated that economic solidarity is processed through a host of competing interests and obligations. This thesis was undertaken using an action research project in two adjacent peri-urban villages in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The project was undertaken in collaboration with ten villagers with different skills and a partially shared interest in community development. It began with activities to stimulate new economic subjectivities and to amplify latent subjectivities and moved onto opportunities for social enterprise development that could foster sustainable and democratic development pathways. Significant barriers to grassroots led, cooperatively managed social enterprises were encountered. But in the research process ‘little narratives’ were uncovered, embodied within basic economic activities that underwrite villagers’ survival while also having social, stabilising effects within the villages. The findings court controversy, as far as past traumatic events are found to have an enduring impact on economic subjectivities and grassroots reciprocity which intermeshes with the more recent impact of development strategies including microfinance and ‘free trade zones.’ The research has implications for how projects to promote social enterprise development within village communities might be approached by Third Sector organisations in Cambodia

Social Enterprise in Asia

In the absence of a widely accepted and common definition of social enterprise (SE), a large research project, the ""International Comparative Social Enterprise Models"" (ICSEM) Project, was carried out over a five-year period; it involved more than 200 researchers from 55 countries and relied on bottom-up approaches to capture the SE phenomenon. This strategy made it possible to take into account and give legitimacy to locally embedded approaches, thus resulting in an analysis encompassing a wide diversity of social enterprises, while simultaneously allowing for the identification of major SE models to delineate the field on common grounds at the international level. These SE models reveal or confirm an overall trend towards new ways of sharing the responsibility for the common good in today’s economies and societies. We tend to consider as good news the fact that social enterprises actually stem from all parts of the economy. Indeed, societies are facing many complex challenges at all levels, from the local to the global level. The diversity and internal variety of SE models are a sign of a broadly shared willingness to develop appropriate—although sometimes embryonic—responses to these challenges, on the basis of innovative economic/business models driven by a social mission. In spite of their weaknesses, social enterprises may be seen as advocates for and vehicles of the general interest across the whole economy. Of course, the debate about privatisation, deregulation and globalised market competition—all factors that may hinder efforts in the search for the common good–has to be addressed as well. The first of a series of four ICSEM books, Social Enterprise in Asia will serve as a key reference and resource for teachers, researchers, students, experts, policy makers, journalists and other categories of people who want to acquire a broad understanding of the phenomena of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship as they emerge and develop across the world

Social Enterprise in Asia

In the absence of a widely accepted and common definition of social enterprise (SE), a large research project, the ""International Comparative Social Enterprise Models"" (ICSEM) Project, was carried out over a five-year period; it involved more than 200 researchers from 55 countries and relied on bottom-up approaches to capture the SE phenomenon. This strategy made it possible to take into account and give legitimacy to locally embedded approaches, thus resulting in an analysis encompassing a wide diversity of social enterprises, while simultaneously allowing for the identification of major SE models to delineate the field on common grounds at the international level. These SE models reveal or confirm an overall trend towards new ways of sharing the responsibility for the common good in today’s economies and societies. We tend to consider as good news the fact that social enterprises actually stem from all parts of the economy. Indeed, societies are facing many complex challenges at all levels, from the local to the global level. The diversity and internal variety of SE models are a sign of a broadly shared willingness to develop appropriate—although sometimes embryonic—responses to these challenges, on the basis of innovative economic/business models driven by a social mission. In spite of their weaknesses, social enterprises may be seen as advocates for and vehicles of the general interest across the whole economy. Of course, the debate about privatisation, deregulation and globalised market competition—all factors that may hinder efforts in the search for the common good–has to be addressed as well. The first of a series of four ICSEM books, Social Enterprise in Asia will serve as a key reference and resource for teachers, researchers, students, experts, policy makers, journalists and other categories of people who want to acquire a broad understanding of the phenomena of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship as they emerge and develop across the world