Title: Social Entrepreneurship
1Social Entrepreneurship
- What does it mean and how useful is the concept?
2Idealisation
- too few men and women here in Britain - a third
less than the proportion in the US - have started
or grown a business or become self-employed and
so it is time to remove the financial, cultural
and other barriers to enterprise so that in
Britain starting a business becomes the ambition
not just of an elite few but of many the
greatest constraint on the growth of Britain's
productivity and prosperity today is now our
failure to realise the educational and
entrepreneurial potential of our own people. - Gordon Brown, Mansion House speech 2002
3And Social Entrepreneurs?
- Social entrepreneurship is not a new phenomenon.
Whilst it may represent a newly coined term, it
is hardly a novel concept. Innovative individuals
and enterprising groups have been addressing
social issues for centuries, as is demonstrated
by the activities of extraordinary public
innovators such as Florence Nightingale, Susan B.
Anthony, and Mahatma Gandhi, as well as the
collective efforts of groups like the Rochdale
Pioneers, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People
4A typical example of blurring
- In these examples, the individual or groups
acted as catalysts challenging the status quo by
identifying an apparently insoluble social
problem and tackling it with tenacity and vision.
Their outstanding leadership towards a social end
and their ability to see opportunities where
others saw only hurdles further single out these
charismatic figures. - (Nicholls, 2005 2).
5A critical view of entrepreneurship
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7What do people really think?
- The entrepreneur as defined by British TV
comedies a study in semiotics and iconography
'understanding the entrepreneur as socially
constructed'. - Smith, R. (2006), Towards a More Mature
Entrepreneurial Iconology, paper presented to
the 29th ISBE conference in Cardiff, 31 Oct. to 2
Nov.
8Arthur Daly as Flash Harry
9Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses
10Loadsamoney
11Chris the Crafty Cockney
12Arent they all crafty cockneys?
- What can we say about education and class?
- Popular image is associated with London
- Conflation between enterprise and criminality?
- Link between the icon of the entrepreneur and the
barrow boy
13How useful is the management literature?
Burns, P. (2001), Entrepreneurship and Small
Business (Basingstoke Palgrave)
14- Attribute Manifestation (mainstream economy)
- Independence Individualism
- Achievement Profitability and longevity of
business growth - Profit drive Maximum financial return
- Risk-taking Borrowing money moving into new
- sectors
- Opportunism Identifying new sectors
- Innovation Exploring new technologies or
- management techniques
- Confidence Ability to go it alone sometimes
- against expert advice
- Energy Willingness to work long hours,
travel widely - Self-motivation Creating own job rather than
seeking - work through application
- Vision Forseeing future business
- developments
15- Attribute Manifestation (sustainable economy)
- Independence Insulation of community against
- destructive forces of globalisation
- Achievement Sustainability
- Profitability Sufficient surplus to ensure
- continuation of business activity
- Risk-taking Balancing job survival against
- innovation
- Opportunism Identifying new sectors
- Innovation Exploring new forms of organization
- structure
- Confidence Based on mutual support
- Energy Willingness to work long hours
- Self-motivation Based on mutual support
- Vision Foreseeing and envisioning
- environmental sustainability
16Williams, C. C. (2006), The Hidden Enterprise
Culture Entrepreneurship in the Underground
Economy (Cheltenham Edward Elgar), chap. 2.
- Three classic requirement of the entrepreneur
are - to prioritise the accumulation of money
- to spot opportunities
- to innovate.
- The inadequacy of the standard view is
demonstrated by the need to develop
sub-categories.
17Defining social entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurs are change agents in the economy.
By serving new markets or creating new ways of
doing things, they move the economy forward
(Dees, 1998). - Social entrepreneurship reaches the parts of
society other policy initiatives do not reach,
that social entrepreneurs are unsung heroes and
alchemists with magical qualities who can build
things from nothing (Dees, 2004). - This is largely proselytisingand coming from US.
- Issue of ownership and control ignored
18US definition of Dees
- Focus of literature on individual characteristics
of people involved in the social economy. - Begins with market-based entrepreneurs who
mobilize the resources of others to achieve
their entrepreneurial objectives. - The social entrepreneur can therefore be defined
as someone who acts as a change agent in the
social sector by - Adopting a mission
- Pursuing new opportunities to achieve that
mission - Continually innovating, adapting and learning
- Avoiding limitations of current resources
- Being concerned with accountability to their
clients and community
19Policy focus on development of social capital
- Provision of work and through such activity
empowering people to build up their social
capital - Scottish Executive emphasises this role without
exploring the definition or usage of the concept - Social economy and social enterprise strategies
are directed at providing products, services and
employment to deprived regions and areas - Supposed to assist in producing regional
sustainability in weak development terms
relating to economic growth and strong
development terms in relation to social cohesion
20The entrepreneur as lone hero
21Is it an individual decision?
- A paper on the characteristics of the
entrepreneurial personality (Littunen, 2000) that
has, in its published electronic form, been
downloaded more than any other in the Emerald
system, begins by stating that Starting up a new
firm is very much an individual decision, a
conclusion which it is the central purpose of
this paper to challenge
22Or iconic local champion?
23Associative entrepreneurship?
- Based on mutual values
- Involves the sharing of skills by groups of
individuals to achieve the best outcomes for
those in their group and the wider community - Central role of ownership and control
- Particularly relevant in areas that have
historically been dominated by nationalized
industries and/or single employers, or where
there has been a strong radical tradition? - Prototypical example co-operatively-owned
coal-mine Tower Colliery in the South Wales
Valleys.
24Do Social Entrepreneurs wish to be identified by
this label?
- What do you tell people you do?
- Obviously, Im a mother! giggle I dont know
really. Depends on my mood. I dont mention
that Im married to a vet ever! because then
they want to pull in the favours. If Im on my
own, thats the last thing I mention. I just say
I work for the credit union, you know. I dont
like titles and things - How do you feel about the term social
entrepreneur? - No, I dont see myself as an entrepreneur.
- Why not?
- I just dont! giggle I dont know, Id have to
think about that. - What springs to mind when you hear the term
social entrepreneur? - ummaking things up, making it a success, you
know, out of nothing and then you make this big
thing, and help people basically.
25Howorth, C., Parkinson, C. and Coupland, C.
(2006), Resisting the Identity of Social
Entrepreneur, paper presented to the 29th ISBE
conference in Cardiff, 31 Oct.
- There was a great deal of resistance to the label
of social entrepreneur. Overall, only two
responded positively to the label and they
treated their public acceptance of it with some
caution. Some of the participants avoided the
word social in association with entrepreneur
as if the two did not go together. The vehement
rejection of the term social entrepreneur by over
half the participants is notable. Explanations
might include a greater affinity with the
community collective and seeing entrepreneurs as
individuals viewing entrepreneurs as heroic
other people not associating with the popular
myth of entrepreneurship. Alternative identities
that emerged were around community activists,
managers and caretakers.
26Questions to think about
- Is the label entrepreneur attractive or
unattractive? - Is the term social entrepreneur helpful or
unhelpful to those actually out there, doing it? - Is the icon and reputation of the entrepreneur
limiting economic growth and/or social benefit?