The future of funding for social enterprises

The funding of social enterprises has undergone significant transformation over the last 20 years shifting from direct grants provided by government and philanthropic foundation sources, to earned revenues from a broader range of sources. In addition, the global economic crisis in 2008 has created new challenges and opportunities for the social enterprise sector. Fiscal tightening by traditional social funding sources was exacerbated by investor wariness of investments without clear reporting transparency and impact accountability. However, the high volatility of conventional markets has led investors to consider diversification strategies and counter-cyclical investments, benefiting many types of social enterprise. This paper describes the challenges and opportunities for funding faced by the social enterprise sector post-economic crisis. It also proposes recommendations for social enterprise managers and policy makers that are intended to increase the pool of funding available to the social enterprise sector

Does Social Conflict in Rural Regions Decrease Firm Ownership? Evidence from the Mining Sector in Latin America

Using firm-level data for five countries in Latin America, we find a negative and statistically significant link between social conflict in rural areas and ownership of mines. We apply an instrumental variables approach and find that this link may be causal. The instrument employed is altitude of the mine location—which we claim is uncorrelated with the dependent variable, firm ownership—but is correlated with social conflict. This variable serves as an ideal instrument, as it complies with the exclusion restriction. Our results hold to a formal test of changes in specification

The Hypercube Model of E-Commerce Strategies

Embracing the Electronic Commerce (EC), many firms have vigorously aligned their business strategies to leverage on the enormous market potential while at the same time enhancing business processes and redefining business governance. Yet, these firms’ performances to date have been mixed with little evidence that their technological investments had borne any dividends. This paper aims to examine this EC paradox by proposing a hypercube model that can be used to analyze firms’ EC strategies in relation to the variability of the virtual organization structure, the activity development and technology cycle, and the strategic orientation of key decision-makers towards the market

Electrical control of metallic heavy-metal/ferromagnet interfacial states

Voltage control effects provide an energy-efficient means of tailoring material properties, especially in highly integrated nanoscale devices. However, only insulating and semiconducting systems can be controlled so far. In metallic systems, there is no electric field due to electron screening effects and thus no such control effect exists. Here we demonstrate that metallic systems can also be controlled electrically through ionic not electronic effects. In a Pt/Co structure, the control of the metallic Pt/Co interface can lead to unprecedented control effects on the magnetic properties of the entire structure. Consequently, the magnetization and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the Co layer can be independently manipulated to any desired state, the efficient spin toques can be enhanced about 3.5 times, and the switching current can be reduced about one order of magnitude. This ability to control a metallic system may be extended to control other physical phenomena.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, Accepted by Physical Review Applied (2017