Pathway Learning Objectives
After reviewing the content and learning activities for this Learning Pathway you should:
- Be able to define key concepts and understand the differences between them
Key Concepts: social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and social innovation
Many of you may already be familiar with the terms social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and social innovation. We are certainly seeing these terms used more frequently, both in the community more widely, and in academia where new journals have been created in the fields of both social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. Whilst the hype surrounding social entrepreneurship and social enterprise may be growing, many of the activities and organisational forms associated with these concepts have in fact been around for a very long time. It is the language that is used to describe and conceptualise them which is new. The discussion that exists around these concepts is quite complex, and in many cases, a common definition has yet to be agreed upon. With this complexity in mind, the following lecture seeks to introduce these concepts and provide an illustration of the connections between them.
Social entrepreneurship is a global phenomenon, and we are seeing social enterprises emerge from all corners of the earth. The types of social issues they address are diverse, but the core unifying feature of these organisations is the desire to create positive social impact. The following short videos provide some insight into some of the important issues addressed by social entrepreneurs in their community.
Case Studies: social enterprise
The first video is of Bec Scott, who is the CEO and Co-founder of one of SEDA's favourite social enterprises - STREAT. This video provides a great snapshot into the motivations driving the formation of STREAT and the way in which this enterprise addresses the issue of youth homelessness.
The next video is an interview with Laura O'Reilly, founder of social enterprise Fighting Chance. Laura's motivation to establish this social enterprise is very personal and arose from the challenges faced her younger brother Shane, who had profound Cerebral Palsy, when trying to find work. Shane was bubbly, intelligent and had a passion for IT and computer work. At the time, no programs existed to help people like Shane build vocational skills, and be trained within a real business.
Learning pathway activities
Discussion board activities
Being an open education resource, you will be studying with students from around the world. We love to get to know our students, so please take the time to consider your interest in Social Entrepreneurship and contribute to your response to the online forums. Do you have personal experience with this issue? Is it something that you are interested in learning more about (and why)? Below is a list of issues that we will be focusing upon this course.
Please feel free to use the OERu Forums and this link to provide your insights.
- Social issue #1: No Poverty
- Social issue #2: Quality Education
- Social issue #3: Life on Land
- Social issue #4: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Learning Pathway Quiz
To help guide your learning throughout this unit, we have developed self-assessment quizzes which cover the content provided for each Learning Pathway. The quizzes are not assessed, and you can attempt the questions as many times it takes to answer correctly.
- Social entrepreneurship is a field that is distinct from the broader field of entrepreneurship because:
- social entrepreneurs aren't looking to set up an organisational form, whereas traditional entrepreneurs are
- Try again: Social entrepreneurs may look to establish a social enterprise; a vehicle through which they can organise their activities to achieve their social and commercial objectives
- innovation is inherent to social entrepreneurship, but not to entrepreneurship
- Try again: Innovation is inherent to both entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship
- social entrepreneurs don’t attempt to scale up their initiatives, but entrepreneurs typically attempt to scale up
- Try again: This isn't necessarily true. Plenty of social enterprises have in fact designed their enterprise to scale
- creating both social and economic value is a complex process that social entrepreneurs tackle, whereas entrepreneurs are typically driven to attain economic (profit-driven) outcomes
- Correct: social enterprises juggle both value appropriation (financial sustainability) and a value creation (social sustainability) objectives
- Social innovation is significant within socially entrepreneurial activity because:
- it makes a social enterprise viable, without it, a social enterprise will fail
- Try again: there are many factors which support the viability of a social enterprise. Innovative practices is only one component
- it minimises the impact that contextual factors may have on the socially entrepreneurial activity
- Try again: regardless of how socially innovative socially entrepreneurial activity is, if it contextually inappropriate, or not supported by macro-level factors, the entrepreneur will struggle to achieve their goals
- it is the one key component that leads to social entrepreneurship
- Try again: many factors contribute to socially entrepreneurial behaviour, including entrepreneurial orientation, sustainability orientation and connections with networks of individuals
- it is inherent to the processes by which social entrepreneurs use resources in new ways and ultimately can lead to system-level change
- Well done! You understand how social innovation supports socially entrepreneurial behaviour.
- Which of the following statements best describe social enterprise?
- Social enterprises do not strive to generate profits
- Try again: as per the FASES definition, social enterprises do indeed strive to generate profits - and these are then reinvested back into the social enterprise
- Social enterprises are driven by a primary desire to generate social impact, and they engage in trading activities to support their social mission
- Well done! These are fundamental characteristics of social enterprise are inherent within most definitions of social enterprise
- Social enterprises sell goods and services, these activities only take up a minor part of their overall business model
- Try again: Please refer to the definition of social enterprise according to the FASES study (Lecture 2)
- All social enterprises operate as a non-profit
- Try again: Social enterprises may emerge across the community, private and government sectors. Whilst they are most commonly structured as a non-profit, they can also be a for-profit enterprise
- In order to be socially innovative, an idea must be totally original (not already thought of or applied elsewhere).
- True
- Please refer to the slide on innovation in Lecture 2
- False
- Correct: this was addressed in the slide on social innovation in Lecture 2
Other sources of inspiration may also be found at:
