What is the primary driver of the social entrepreneur?
The primary driver for a social entrepreneur is addressing social issues and providing what he believes is a solution.
Should green or cleantech ventures be classified as social enterprises? If so, why?
Yes. Because they are concerned about the environment. And even though their aim might be to make profit, they are still considered a social venture.
What are some of the negatives of forming the social venture as a nonprofit?
- Expensive
- Time consuming
- Too many legal requirements
- Cannot keep information “private”
Why do stakeholders view the social venture differently from a traditional venture?
Because they tend to always associate social ventures to non-profit not knowing for example that a social venture even though it focuses on societal change, can also be a money making venture.
What are some of the growth challenges of a social venture?
- Not being able to find the funding/convince the investors in order to grow
- Transparency expectations
- Venture goals/ideas not aligned with those of the employees
The differences between Social Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Philanthropy
Philanthropy one of the many tools the company can use as part of it’s CSR agenda. Furthermore, philanthropy can be occasional. A company doing a donation to an organization and that’s it. Where CSR tends to focus on the long run.
Social entrepreneurship is completely building the “change” factor into the company’s business model whereas a company CSR is something a company decides to undertake or not.
The differences between Social Entrepreneurship and Business Entrepreneurs
The main difference is the reward. A business entrepreneur tend to see the reward in terms of money (profits) whereas the social entrepreneur focuses on his impact on the community. But probably because there are different factors that influence them. A business entrepreneur might get pressure from the partners/investors/banks whereas someone who puts his money in a social venture would tend to have different motivations than making profit.
I really like your post! concise and brief answers with the main ideas…
Thank you.
In regards to the difference between BE and SE, ultimately I do see the “rewards” of each venture as the big defining difference among the businesses. Their end goals and how they measure performance both vary.
First of all, I love your comments to others!! They are very insightful and interactive. Hope the conversations continues.
This is also a great post, very concise and to the point! I also like how you view CSR, philanthropy and SE from the time duration angle. It’s creative.
For the last question, do you think that more fundamentally, it’s the intention and mission but not the reward?
Yes it’s true. I think the words intention and mission could be better even though for a business person they might be contradictory: you’re intention can be for example to do the right thing/giving back but your mission is to maximize profit therefore making it difficult to align both all the time.
The negatives for a non-profit are right on! It is better to do another type of social venture so as not to have to rely on donations which are not guaranteed.
I think all future businesses should have some type of social benefit. We should not be selfish with a world that we are living in and using all its resources, as well as helping others in need.