Universities and their partner organisations are promising that short-term work placements in social entrepreneurial organisations will increase student employability, leadership skills, and knowledge of socially innovative practice, while providing students meaningful opportunities to ‘change the world;’ yet theory and empirical studies are lacking that show what is beneficial and important to students, how students develop, and what influences their development through these cross-cultural and interdisciplinary experiential learning programs. This is the first study to explore the value of UK and US students participating in international internships and fellowships related to social entrepreneurship from a socioeconomic perspective. For this study, a value heuristic was developed from organisational models in the social entrepreneurship and educational philosophy literature followed by a qualitative longitudinal multiple case study. Fifteen individual student cases were chosen from two programmes involving two UK and three US universities, taking place in eleven host countries over five distinct data collection intervals. Findings across cases show a broad range of perceived value to students: from research skills and cross-cultural understanding, to critical thinking and self-confidence. Findings also show how student perspectives changed as a result of the placement experience and what ‘internal’ and ‘context-embedded’ features of the placements influenced students’ personal and professional lives. However, the ambiguity of social impact measures raises ethical questions about engaging students with limited knowledge, skills, and preparation on projects where they are unprepared to create long-term value for beneficiaries. This study contributes to the literature on higher education and international non-profit and business education by: providing an expansive matrix of value to students engaging in international placements; initiating a ‘hybridisation’ theory of personal value; creating a rigorous methodology transferable to similar programmes; outlining embedded features that programme developers can integrate in order to improve their own social and educational impact; raising ethical questions related to theory and practice; and including the researcher’s own multi-continent journey into the substance of the work.

This dissertation is one of the earliest to systematically apply and empirically test the resource-based view (RBV) in the context of nascent social ventures in a large scale study. Social ventures are entrepreneurial ventures organized as nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid organizations whose primary purpose is to address unmet social needs and create social value. Nascent social ventures face resource gaps and engage in partnerships or alliances as one means to access external resources. These partnerships with different sectors facilitate social venture innovative and earned income strategies, and assist in the development of adequate heterogeneous resource conditions that impact competitive advantage. Competitive advantage in the context of nascent social ventures is achieved through the creation of value and the achievement of venture development activities and launching. The relationships between partnerships, heterogeneous resource conditions, strategies, and competitive advantage are analyzed in the context of nascent social ventures that participated in business plan competitions. A content analysis of 179 social venture business plans and an exploratory follow-up survey of 72 of these ventures are used to analyze these relationships using regression, ANOVA, correlations, t-tests, and non-parametric statistics. The findings suggest a significant positive relationship between competitive advantage and partnership diversity, heterogeneous resource conditions, social innovation, and earned income. Social capital is the type of resource most significantly related to competitive advantage. Founder previous start-up experience, client location, and business plan completeness are also found to be significant in the relationship between partnership diversity and competitive advantage. Finally the findings suggest that hybrid social ventures create a greater competitive advantage than nonprofit or for-profit social ventures. Consequently, this dissertation not only provides academics further insight into the factors that impact nascent social value creation, venture development, and ability to launch, but also offers practitioners guidance on how best to organize certain processes to create a competitive advantage. As a result more insight is gained into the nascent social venture creation process and how these ventures can have a greater impact on society.

In times of scarce resources, frugal innovation can be a driving engine for growth and market success, as it is a practical concept established in developing countries. Nonetheless, the available literature also emphasizes a potential importance for Western countries. Accordingly, our thesis and research add to the lack of literature that connects frugal innovation to developed countries and its specific underlying conditions. The review of available literature and further discussions led to the following research questions: 1. What is the current application status of frugal innovation in Germany? 2. What characteristics should frugal innovations have to serve the BoP in the context of the German market? A preliminary theoretical framework was created from the relevant literature streams stressing the fragmented nature of frugal innovation. As the concept and research addressing this issue are in a nascent stage, one unifying definition was not found. For the course of this thesis, the definition of frugal innovation was therefore chosen to be "thrifty, modest and affordable innovations, valuable for BoP customers”. One major derivation from the literature review is that frugal innovation can be of major importance in developed countries, not only for customers for getting access to certain products, but also for companies addressing untapped markets. The empirical investigation and explorative data collection was undertaken within the market context of Germany based on eight companies from different industry backgrounds. Therefore, interviews were held with representatives of companies that offer frugal products (thereafter also including services) according to the definition from above. Within the scope of the grounded theory analyzation techniques, the interviews supported our aim to gain rich and meaningful data to extend the substantive theory about the concept of frugal innovation. Our study results (based on our eight interviews) prove the existence of frugal products in the German market, while the term and the concept have previously been unknown. Even though frugal innovations were still to be confirmed, they were not labeled as such to connect them to the concept. The study also indicates the existence of a bottom of a pyramid in Germany, despite its original connection to emerging market population. Our findings resulted in a revised framework that connects relevant fragments to a logical comprehension of the concept of frugal innovation. Finally, characteristics for frugal products and requirements could be validated and improved to be economically successful in developed market contexts. The major contribution of our thesis is its general investigation of a rather unknown concept and its presence in other markets than originally laid down. The thorough literature review, the creation and revision of the framework and our study results will serve as a fruitful ground for further exploration of this innovation type.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the current situation of social entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic. It emphasizes the importance of social economy, the field between the public sector and the private market sector. This thesis is interested in existing companies which consider themselves as "social" and describes their common features. It presents the social companies' founding years, what their legal forms are, their areas of business and why they consider themselves social. This paper also examines social entrepreneurship in an international context, it endeavours to identify where and how the Czech Republic could inspire itself to improve. Social entrepreneurship in Ireland is analyzed in detail according to the same criteria as social entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic. The purpose of this work is to create an overview of social entrepreneurship.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au concept d'entrepreneuriat social qui combine un projet économique et une finalité sociale. Durant les premières étapes de développement du projet, les startups sociales sont souvent confrontées à une évolution de leur business model (BM) pour faire face aux contraintes organisationnelles mais également aux menaces et aux opportunités de leur environnement. Notre objectif dans cette recherche est d'identifier les mécanismes qui permettent de concilier l'« économique » et le « social » à travers la problématique suivante : comment garder l'équilibre entre la dimension économique et la dimension sociale du BM de l'entreprise sociale face à son environnement ? Ainsi, nous avons mobilisé une approche mixte (contenu et processus) pour étudier l'évolution du BM des startups sociales. Cela nous a permis de répondre aux questions subsidiaires du « pourquoi » et « comment » ainsi du « quoi » de l'évolution du BM des entreprises sociales. Pour répondre à cette problématique, nous adoptons une approche qualitative par une étude comparative de startups sociales des TIC (technologies de l'information et de la communication) en France et au Sénégal. Les données collectées par entretiens semi-directifs (55 au total) et lors d'évènements (meet-up, conférences, panels, salons, etc.) sont enrichies de données secondaires (sites web, documents internes, rapports, etc.). Ce corpus de données a fait l'objet d'un traitement avec le logiciel Nvivo 11. Les résultats de ce travail de recherche peuvent être déclinés comme suit : D'abord, notre recherche enrichit la littérature de nouveaux facteurs externes et internes qui influencent l'évolution du business model à savoir la levée de fonds, les subventions, l'augmentation de l'impact social et l'autonomie financière. Ensuite, nous avons identifié les éléments du BM qui évoluent avec les phases de développement des startups de même que leurs logiques d'évolution. Puis, notre principale contribution consiste en l'identification des principaux mécanismes qui peuvent permettre de garder un bon équilibre entre la dimension économique et la dimension sociale du BM lorsque ce dernier évolue. Enfin, nos résultats montrent les différences et les similitudes de l'évolution des BM des cas en France et au Sénégal en analysant leur écosystème entrepreneurial. / This thesis focuses on the concept of social entrepreneurship, which combines an economic project and a social purpose. During the early stages of project development, social startups often face challenges in their business model (BM) due to organizational constraints, but also threats and opportunities of their environment. Our goal in this research is to identify the mechanisms that allow to reconcile the 'economic' and 'social' through the following issue: How to keep balance between the economic and the social dimension of social enterprise's BM in the face of its environment? Thus, we have mobilized a mixed approach (content and process) to study the evolution of the BM of social startups. This has allowed us to meet the ancillary issues of the 'why' and 'how' as well as the "what" of the evolution of the BM of social enterprises. To answer our research question, we have adopted a qualitative approach by conducting a comparative study of social startups of ICT (information and communication technologies) in France and Senegal. Fifty five (55) in-depth interviews supplemented with secondary data (websites, internal documents, reports, etc.) was analyzed thanks to the assistance of the software Nvivo 11. As regards our results : first, our research enriches the literature of new internal and external factors that influence the evolution of the BM like fundraising, grants, the increase of the social impact and financial independence. Second, we have identified the elements of the BM that change with the startups development phases, as well as their logical evolution. On the other hand, our main contribution remains on the identification of main mechanisms that can allow to keep a good balance between the economic dimension and the social dimension of the BM when the latter evolves. Finally, our results show the differences and similarities in the evolution of the BM between the Senegal and France thanks to their entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Recently, there has been a growth in digital technology use and an upward trend in the adoption and use of social media by individuals and corporations, changing the way people communicate and interact. Despite this evolution, little is known about how the adoption of online social interaction affects entrepreneurial processes, especially opportunity evaluation. This empirical study sought to fill the gap in the literature by investigating the effect of social interaction via social media on opportunity evaluation. In reviewing the studies done on opportunity evaluation as indicated in the paper by Wood and Mckelvie (2015), it would seem that the effect of online social interaction on opportunity evaluation has not been studied and hence, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, there was no model in the literature to measure the effect. The study used a mixed-method approach. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data from a random sample of young entrepreneurs in Ghana. The questions were evaluated with SPSS and later exported to STATA for data analysis. Factor analysis and various normality tests were performed to ensure the accuracy of the data. A total of 383 questionnaires were analysed. This was then followed by key informant interviews with 13 entrepreneurs, and the analysis done using Nvivo 11. The main contribution of this research is the development of a model that measures the effect of online social interaction on opportunity evaluation. The study found that online social interaction helps entrepreneurs build networks which subsequently has an impact on opportunity evaluation either directly, or indirectly through mediation by resource availability. This study has made an important contribution to practice by showing the positive effect that basic tools that aid daily activities, like social media, has on entrepreneurial opportunity evaluation. ii It is recommended that future research understands other factors that may facilitate the opportunity evaluation process and the extent to which those factors facilitate the opportunity evaluation process, as this may lead to better insight with regards to targeting entrepreneurial training for optimum results. The use of the mediation analysis process was adopted for this study because of evidence from other disciplines that suggest the efficacy of targeting interventions at the intermediate process. Using this approach for future studies will help target interventions, taking into consideration mediation mechanisms for more impact. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / D.B. L.

Community-based tourism (CBT), according to Dodds, R. Ali, A. & Galaski, K. (2016), has historically been developed based on a host community’s assets and objectives due to the fact that the "core of CBT planning has been to determine how best to use it as a development tool." As a result, the established CBT development model typically prioritizes community potential as supply at the expense of the market potential of tourism (demand), disregarding to a certain extent the commercial aspects of tourism. From this perspective, questions regarding product strategy, idea generation, business analysis, and how cross-sectoral knowledge production and exchange can strengthen the sustainability and viability of the CBT product have not yet been fully answered in academic literature. This paper builds on the academic literature regarding market access and is further supported by interviews and participant observation conducted in Brazil. This research indicates that these analyses should be complemented with additional questions about product development, capacity-building, knowledge co-production, collaborative networking, and more. The business life cycle of CBT could be considered a foundational pillar in understanding the business viability of community-based tourism projects, and therefore, the expected findings of this study include the proposal of an amended CBT model and practical recommendations that may be implemented into existing CBT projects. / Le tourisme communautaire (CBT), selon Dodds, R. Ali, A. et Galaski, K. (2016), a été largement développé sur la base des atouts et des objectifs d'une communauté en raison du fait que le en raison du fait que “le cœur de la planification de le tourisme communautaire a été de déterminer la meilleure façon de l'utiliser comme outil de développement” (p. 16). En conséquence, le développement du CBT a donné la priorité au potentiel communautaire (offre) au détriment du potentiel touristique (demande), sans tenir compte, dans une certaine mesure, des aspects commerciaux du tourisme. Dans cette perspective, les questions concernant la stratégie de produit, la génération d'idées, l'analyse commerciale et les moyens par lesquels la production et l'échange de connaissances intersectorielles peuvent renforcer la durabilité et la viabilité du produit CBT n'ont pas encore trouvé de réponse complète dans la littérature universitaire. Bien que les analyses concernant l'accès aux marchés soient abondantes dans la littérature (Dodds et al. 2016; Mitchell & Hall, 2005; Mitchell & Muckosy, 2008; Forstner, 2004; Iorio & Corsale, 2014), cet article, informé par des entretiens semi-structurés et l'observation des participants menée pendant le séjour de deux ans de l'auteur au Brésil, soutient que ces analyses devraient être complétées par des questions supplémentaires sur le développement de produits, la formation des capacités, la coproduction de connaissances, le réseautage collaboratif et plus encore. Le cycle de vie des entreprises du tourisme communautaire pourrait être considéré comme un pilier fondamental de la compréhension de la viabilité commerciale des projets de tourisme communautaire, et par conséquent, les conclusions attendues de cette étude incluent la proposition d'un modèle CBT modifié et des recommandations pratiques qui pourraient être mises en œuvre. dans les projets CBT existants. / Doctorat en Sciences / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The theme of the social economy is currently very topical at EU level and therefore in its member states. The emphasisis is on supporting development of social economy, because creates new jobs and leads to economic growth. The thesis aim is to describe the forms of promotion the social economy by EU institutions and their bodies, which is provided in the context of EU employment policy in period 2010-2015. The thesis identifies both forms of support and also justificatin in documents of european institutions and the supprort of social economy in Czech Republic.

Bc. Pavla Svobodová: Financial resources of social enterprises - vision and reality (2012) Abstract The theme of my thesis is looking into problems with social enterprise financing. Well set up concept of social enterprise financing is equally maintained with it's importance in foreign countries as well as the Czech republic. Based on research, my aim was to find the ideal concept of social enterprise financing and to test it on a chosen sample of Czech social enterprises. In the section "Social enterprise in the third sector and its funding" I explain the overview of financial definitions of foreign social enterprise and their focus on the funding. In here I am also deciding on my own perception of this issue - well mainly the ideal funding resources for social enterprise. This section also covers a "lighter" version of the ideal concept of social enterprise financing from a Czech point of view and explains various studies focusing on social enterprise financing currently available. The empirical section focuses on analysis of financing of chosen social enterprises and verifies the ideal concept in the Czech republic. The escalation of my thesis is a devised proposal which could seriously support the financial stability for Czech social enterprise.

Dans un contexte où les procédés industriels polluants et mobilisant des ressources non renouvelables sont sans cesse remis en cause, des modifications structurelles en vue de mettre en place des modes de production durables et d’assoir la croissance sur une base pérenne, s’imposent notamment aux pays en développement dans leurs stratégies d’industrialisation.Dans ce contexte, la valorisation de la spiruline, une ressource naturelle renouvelable, à usage multiple et aux propriétés exceptionnelles s’inscrit dans cette logique.Outre ses vertus thérapeutiques et nutritionnelles, la spiruline est non seulement sans danger pour l’environnement, mais elle présente également un intérêt écologique du fait de ses propriétés photosynthétiques.Sur le plan socio-économique, la spiruline pourrait apporter une réponse significative aux problèmes du sous-développement et notamment la malnutrition et la pauvreté. En effet, sa valorisation permet de générer des revenus réguliers aux personnes qui s’y emploient et permet ainsi, l’autonomisation financière des couches vulnérables.Aujourd’hui, la valorisation de la spiruline se répand un peu partout en Afrique mais la viabilité et le succès des projets dépendent de divers défis à relever.L’objectif de notre travail est donc de montrer en quoi, comment et sous quelles conditions les stratégies de développement durable basées sur la valorisation de la spiruline peuvent être un vecteur de développement pour les pays d’Afrique Subsaharienne. / In a context of major questioning about polluting industrial processes and mobilising non-renewable resources, structural modifications in order to set up sustainable production methods and to establish the economical growth in a long-term base, are namely necessary for african countries in their development stratégies.In this way, spirulina valorisation, a renewable resource, for multiple use and with outstanding properties, belongs in this logical.Besides its therapeutic values and nutritional qualities, spirulina is not only safe for environment, but also it presents interest due to photosynthesis.In terms of socio-economics, spirulina could bring significant response to underdevelopment problems, and namely malnutrition and poverty. Indeed, its valorisation permit to generate regular incomes to the persons who work in and also, permit financial empowerment of vulnerable population groups.Nowadays, spirulina valorisation spread accross Africa but continuity and succes of spirulina projects depend on various challenges to be met.Therefore, the aim of this work is to demonstrate in what way, how and under which conditions, sustainable development strategies based on spirulina valorisation can be a vector of development for Subsahara Africa countries.