People are often confused between social entrepreneurship and other forms of organizations such as non-governmental organizations or traditional for-profit organizations. Social enterprise is best described as an organisation which picks up an opportunity to provide a solution to a social problem to generate societal advantages, but with slight desire of producing the benefits needed by traditional for-profit companies (Wolk, 2007). Social entrepreneurships may take the form of a non-profit, business, or even government initiative. Unlike NGOs which rely primarily on charitable contributions of public funding, social entrepreneurship creates social programs to become self-sustaining and reduces the dependant on donor funds (Chhabra, 2015). …show more content…
Social entrepreneurship relies heavily on the desire of people to help correct social issues. This desire can be examined using management theory such as the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a theory in psychology that examines the needs of people across five (5) levels; physiological, safety, belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation (Taormina, & Gao, 2013). Today, as the basic needs of more people are fulfilled, the desire for people to pursue accomplishment through self-actualisation grows. This can be seen through increase in volunteerism and philanthropic causes in a bid to help create a world in which every person could pursue happiness, peace and …show more content…
Nevertheless, social entrepreneurs today will need to apply modern business models to generate more income to maximise social impact. For example, instead of relying on donations alone, social entrepreneurs will need to adopt a long term, self-sustaining approach towards generating income to fund its social initiatives. To maintain attraction of capital and draw the attentions of potential volunteers, social enterprises will need to manage the needs of all stakeholders, not only that of the donors. This is in line with the Stakeholder’s Theory by Edward Freeman, where he argued that many other parties are involved in an organisation and that their needs must be equally addressed. One important stakeholder in social enterprises is the volunteers. Equally important is for social enterprises today to strike a balance in managing income generation and executing social initiatives. Similar to for-profit organisations, social enterprises will need to manage product and service delivery, stakeholder communications, regulatory compliance and many other complex business
Social responsibility can be defined as “the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Mallen Baker, 2004). In addition, social responsibility has been defined differently by various corporate leaders that provide guidelines which impacts how one manages the core business. Social responsibility is an essential part of a business. If managed correctly should strengthen the competitive spirit of the company and provide prosperity to society.
Tesco has strived hard enough to incorporate other disadvantaged groups in the society in their social responsibility initiatives. This includes volunteering charity to Marie curie cancer center to the tune of 2.6 million (Tesco plc, 2009). They also conduct regular engagement and partnerships; this is aimed at value addition and incorporates competitors, NGOs and activists not forgetting academic bodies. This has enabled the firm to maintain a close relationship with its stakeholders improving social responsibility with the stakeholder’s perspective in mind. The benefits accrued to this can never be underestimated. One can conclusively say that social responsibility has been effectively implemented in Tesco PLC. This has been done with the stakeholders at the center of the initiative interest (Tesco plc, 2009).
There are slow adoption rates for internal corporate social networks for many reasons. Although management and organization plays a role, the technology factor is the main reasons why employees are refusing to use these internal networks. With the rate at which technology is becoming more and more advanced, social networking systems are constantly updating their software and user interface (Laudon & Laudon, 2013). This mean that employees who are used to traditional forms of networking such as email, have to take the time to learn new systems and keep up with more social networking than they would like. In the eyes of the employee, using traditional forms of networking is simply more efficient. In order to make these internal social networking programs work, companies need to make more user friendly and easily manageable sites (Altman, 2015). Management also plays a part in the slow adoption rates. Managers need to provide more incentive for employees to use these networks aside from basic social interaction. For example, instead of sending memo’s via email, or other traditional forms of communication, slowly veer employees to seek memos on the company’s social networking site. Making strides like this will give employees more incentive to at least use the sites more often and participate in discussions and posts related to the business. This will allow employees to explore the sites and discover other useful features that might help improve productivity within the office. Organization of the sites could also be greatly approved. Many companies try to mimic other popular social networking sites, this however, may not be a viable solution. Instead, IT personnel should format th...
Non-profit organizations have always been part of the so-called "social sector" to address social problems such as hunger, vagrants, environmental pollution, drug abuse and domestic violence. Another function is to provide basic social services that cannot be fully supplied by the market economy, such as education, arts, and health care. The challenge of resources is the biggest dilemma and bottom line for each organization, and the main source of funding for many non-profit organizations is government grants and private donations. When non-profit organizations cannot rely solely on donations and government subsidies as the main source of income, because of the lack of resources, may need to compromise and sacrifice part of the service receiver interests of the dilemma. Some non-profit organizations may choose to be commercialized to stay operational, but it may face
Social finance is seen as an approach aimed as mobilizing private capital in order to ensure the delivery of economic returns and social dividends to attain environmental and social goals (2). It also creates many opportunities for various investors to finance certain projects to benefit community and society organizations to access other sources of funds. The description of the policy issue, as social finance, is conveyed by the implementers who involve mainly political leaders, interest groups, state legislatures, congress, and government bureaucracies. The problem from the policy is defined based on the economic situation of the society before its introduction and implementation. Social finance, as an initiative, is a form of a business with the aim of bettering society economically and having a positive social impact such as creating new job opportunities and funding business development programs. Since 2004, over $67.7 million has been invested in over 7300 businesses and community development projects (3). The description of the problem also involves understanding of the situation in the absence of the initiative. The policy, as a problem,...
To supply the wants and needs of a consumer, society entrusts wealth-producing resources to the business enterprise.” (Santayana, George. Is The Tyranny Of Shareholder Value Finally Ending? So before we go into greater detail on the different perspectives related to social responsibility, one might question the meaning of social responsibility. It is generally agreed that social responsibility is defined as the business obligation to make decisions that benefit society.... ...
Nonprofit organizations provide socially desirable services without the intention of realizing a profit. They have no ownerships shares that can be sold or traded by individuals, and any excess revenues over expenses is used to enlarge the service capability of the organization. They are financed, at least partially, by taxes, contributions, grants and/or state contracts.
Maslow, created a pyramid that would describe each level of a humans need to survive, to grow, develop and become successful; he believed that the drive to accomplish each level becomes stronger when a level is not being fulfilled. One lever must be mastered or accomplished before an individual can move on to the next level. Each level, has an interdependency, each setting the stage for the next level; physiological, safety, emotional, esteem and self-actualization are the five stages of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The needs of each level are the “unconscious desires”’ (McLeod, 2014) that drive an individual to success.
Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Is "The Social Responsibility of Business... to Increase Its Profits"? Social Responsibility and Stakeholder Theory. Honest work: a business ethics reader (pp. 217-253). New York: Oxford University Press.
In this paper, the theories are generally divide into two lines of argument. The first focuses on the nonprofit commercial endeavors’ resemblance to business operations, and describes the development of social entrepreneurship. Accordingly, the social entrepreneurship literature stresses that the main purpose of nonprofit engagement in commercial activities is to achieve higher efficiency in its imitation of for-profit businesses. The second line of argument, generally concentrating on the financial needs of nonprofits, tends to note the perils of the shift and argues that commercialization is purely a reaction to a decline in funding. The social entrepreneurship line of argument bases its theories in the claim that commercialization seeks only to increase the efficiency of supplying the output for which it received its tax-exempt status—its “nonprofit” output.
Government support for social economy entities is recognized in European Union, Brazil and Argentina. While in countries of Africa and Asia support is built by the citizens forums and networks on sustainable development and by United Nations agencies. Among policy themes on social enterprises are: improving access to financial resources; research for increasing understanding and visibility; capacity building; ac¬cess to public procurement.
Business organizations regularly run into demands from various stakeholders groups when conducting day-to-day business. These demands are generated from employees, customers, suppliers, community groups, governments, and shareholders. Thus, according to Goodpaster, any person or group of people that can shape or can be shaped by attainment of the objectives by an organization is considered a stakeholder. Most business organizations recognize and understand their responsibilities to these groups and endeavor to honor and fulfill them. These responsibilities are often communicated to the public by a statement of principles or beliefs. For many business organizations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become an essential and integral part of their business. Thus, this paper discusses the two CSR views: the classical view and the stakeholder view. Furthermore, I believe that the stakeholder view has brought ethical concerns to the forefront of businesses, and an argument shall be made that businesses would improve both socially and economically if CSR, guided by God’s love, was integrated into their strategic planning.
Entrepreneurship for social change: Is the U.S. doing enough to encourage and support sustainable social innovation?
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions. ust as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss to improve systems, invent new approaches, and create solutions to change society for the better. While a business entrepreneur might create entirely new industries, a social entrepreneur develops innovative solutions to social problems and then implements them on a large scale.
Entrepreneurship is an important aspect of social, economic and community life. It can be viewed as a critical factor to economic growth as well as a way of addressing unemployment (Nolan, 2003).Entrepreneurs are people who are persistently focused on identifying opportunities, they seek to create something worthwhile while taking into account foreseeable risk and rewards associated with the efforts (Nolan, 2003). Furthermore, entrepreneurs are frequently understood to be individuals who discover market needs and establish new business to meet those identified opportunities. The following assignment will firstly discuss the types of entrepreneurship, secondly it will discuss the reasons people become entrepreneurs, and thirdly it will discuss the importance of entrepreneurship.