Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The main aim of this study was to make contributions to the body of literature on social enterprises, and more specifically in an African context. The nascent nature of social enterprises as an organisational structure is one of the reasons that the body of research and literature is not as expansive as other more established research fields. Social enterprises differ from traditional commercial enterprises in that they bridge the gap between commercial growth, and social and economic development goals. For the purpose of this study, social enterprises refer to any business that pursues commercial activity to address a social problem. They are becoming more noticeable as a driver of sustainable job creation, service delivery, social development and economic growth. Ensuring their sustainability is expected to have positive economic consequences, which is why studying social enterprise sustainability is important and even more so for developing countries. Qualitative methodology was used to collect data. Purposive sampling was employed to select the sample that was included in the case study in Cape Town. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information. The data was analysed using content thematic analysis to explore and interpret the meaning of the participants’ views and experiences. A networking approach of the social capital theory was used as the theoretical framework that provided a guide on the discussion of the findings. For the purpose of this study, social capital was defined as the resources embedded in networks. The findings indicated that the social entrepreneurs’ did not consider networking as the sole contributing factor to social enterprise sustainability, but rather the contribution of multidimensional factors. The resources embedded in networks that were considered valuable were: 1. Information and innovation, 2. Credibility, 3. Mentorship and advice, and 4. Support. The participants also gave their opinions on policies that would create favourable conditions for sustainable social enterprises i.e. information accessibility, public-private partnerships, and education and training. This study makes contributions to literature in an African context and to social enterprise practice.

<p>Today the world faces a lot of societal challenges in the economical, social and environmental spheres that needs to be overcome. Global warming, poverty and increasing economic inequality are only some of these challenges. The public debate has been focused on finding solutions to them and one of these has been addressed as social entrepreneurship. This phenomenon is about the era of the new type of entrepreneurs – social entrepreneurs – that recognize these challenges as opportunities that can be exploited in a both profitable and sustainable manner. Social entrepreneurship has in this way emerged as an interesting phenomenon and a new area in the entrepreneurship research.</p><p> </p><p>This study examines the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship by scrutinizing the concept SIFE - Students In Free Enterprise. SIFE is a non-profit organization that claims to be actively engaged in working with social entrepreneurship. The general purpose of this study is to bring a deeper understanding of the social entrepreneurship phenomenon, by describing the particular purpose, the case of SIFE Umeå University as a social entrepreneurship model. Our study is a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Six respondents have been interviewed from different levels of the organization - SIFE Umeå University - in order to reflect the entire organization. We have used a deductive approach by establishing a theoretical framework that guided the interviews and has been used in the analysis of the empirical data.</p><p> </p><p>The main conclusions in this study show that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship is mainly about socioeconomic and personal development. Another conclusion is that cooperation with partners from different sectors of the society is an important fundament in their work with social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, SIFE Umeå University can be considered as hybrid of a voluntary organization and social enterprise since it includes similarities of both organizational forms. Moreover, the study shows that entrepreneurial skills play an important role in SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship. Finally, we can from this study draw the conclusion that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship can be divided in six steps: Target group, Job/life training, Commercial enterprises, Personal development, Socioeconomic development, Partnership Network.</p>

Today the world faces a lot of societal challenges in the economical, social and environmental spheres that needs to be overcome. Global warming, poverty and increasing economic inequality are only some of these challenges. The public debate has been focused on finding solutions to them and one of these has been addressed as social entrepreneurship. This phenomenon is about the era of the new type of entrepreneurs – social entrepreneurs – that recognize these challenges as opportunities that can be exploited in a both profitable and sustainable manner. Social entrepreneurship has in this way emerged as an interesting phenomenon and a new area in the entrepreneurship research.   This study examines the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship by scrutinizing the concept SIFE - Students In Free Enterprise. SIFE is a non-profit organization that claims to be actively engaged in working with social entrepreneurship. The general purpose of this study is to bring a deeper understanding of the social entrepreneurship phenomenon, by describing the particular purpose, the case of SIFE Umeå University as a social entrepreneurship model. Our study is a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Six respondents have been interviewed from different levels of the organization - SIFE Umeå University - in order to reflect the entire organization. We have used a deductive approach by establishing a theoretical framework that guided the interviews and has been used in the analysis of the empirical data.   The main conclusions in this study show that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship is mainly about socioeconomic and personal development. Another conclusion is that cooperation with partners from different sectors of the society is an important fundament in their work with social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, SIFE Umeå University can be considered as hybrid of a voluntary organization and social enterprise since it includes similarities of both organizational forms. Moreover, the study shows that entrepreneurial skills play an important role in SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship. Finally, we can from this study draw the conclusion that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship can be divided in six steps: Target group, Job/life training, Commercial enterprises, Personal development, Socioeconomic development, Partnership Network.

This thesis investigates the hypothesis that creative social entrepreneurs facilitate collaborative governance in the Saskatoon city-region by being the primary creators of social capital. Governance, both its quality and form, is essential in facilitating social, cultural, and economic development at the city-region level. Collaborative governance is a form of governance that enables a community to mobilize all of its assets (individuals, associations, and institutions) in all sectors of society (industry, government, and civil society) to address issues of need and to create new growth. The quality of governance at the city-region level is directly influenced by the level of social capital in the city-region. It is widely acknowledged that members of Richard Floridas creative class drive Promethean-like economic development. However, the creative class is not monolithic; members of the creative class can choose to be involved in society in many different ways. The benefits that members of the creative class can have on a society when they act socially have been largely ignored in the literature. Creative social entrepreneurs characterized by their creativity, horizontal hypermobility, preference for involvement in participatory activities, and desire for quasi-anonymity (weak ties)facilitate the governance of society by creating social capital (societal level social capital, associational level social capital, and individual level social capital). The thesis presents and analyses the output from a survey of 30 creative social entrepreneurs from government, business, civil society, and the university in the Saskatoon city-region. This survey was used to measure the level of creativity (professional and informal creativity) and entrepreneurial capacity of the participants, as well as map their social networks. Using social networks analysis (SNA) three measures of centrality (closeness centrality, betweens centrality, and eigenvector centrality) were used to examine the impact that creative social entrepreneurs play in social capital creation. The results from this analysis did not explicitly support the hypothesis that creative social entrepreneurs play a key role in social capital creation and the facilitation of governance at the city-region level. However, there was a positive correlation between professional creativity and all three measures of centrality. Not all innovators impact social capital creation. However, those professional innovators that do act socially are positioned in community networks to be the primary creators of social capital.

This thesis investigates the hypothesis that creative social entrepreneurs facilitate collaborative governance in the Saskatoon city-region by being the primary creators of social capital. Governance, both its quality and form, is essential in facilitating social, cultural, and economic development at the city-region level. Collaborative governance is a form of governance that enables a community to mobilize all of its assets (individuals, associations, and institutions) in all sectors of society (industry, government, and civil society) to address issues of need and to create new growth. The quality of governance at the city-region level is directly influenced by the level of social capital in the city-region. It is widely acknowledged that members of Richard Floridas creative class drive Promethean-like economic development. However, the creative class is not monolithic; members of the creative class can choose to be involved in society in many different ways. The benefits that members of the creative class can have on a society when they act socially have been largely ignored in the literature. Creative social entrepreneurs characterized by their creativity, horizontal hypermobility, preference for involvement in participatory activities, and desire for quasi-anonymity (weak ties)facilitate the governance of society by creating social capital (societal level social capital, associational level social capital, and individual level social capital). The thesis presents and analyses the output from a survey of 30 creative social entrepreneurs from government, business, civil society, and the university in the Saskatoon city-region. This survey was used to measure the level of creativity (professional and informal creativity) and entrepreneurial capacity of the participants, as well as map their social networks. Using social networks analysis (SNA) three measures of centrality (closeness centrality, betweens centrality, and eigenvector centrality) were used to examine the impact that creative social entrepreneurs play in social capital creation. The results from this analysis did not explicitly support the hypothesis that creative social entrepreneurs play a key role in social capital creation and the facilitation of governance at the city-region level. However, there was a positive correlation between professional creativity and all three measures of centrality. Not all innovators impact social capital creation. However, those professional innovators that do act socially are positioned in community networks to be the primary creators of social capital.

Abstract   Title: Strategies and tactics to stimulate Social enterprise business expansion-Swedish experience   Level: Final assignment for Master’s Degree in Business Administration   Author: GU Yanhao   Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama   Examiner: Lars Ekstrand   Date: 2013-10-17   Aim: This study aims to identify elements which can affect social enterprise business expansion. Based on study, suggestions for social enterprises to achieve long term development are exhibited.   Method: This research is a qualitative research based on case study. Relay on previous knowledge about social enterprises, I formulate questions which serve my study’s aim. There are three companies be selected in my case company list. Those three companies are divided in two categories: one type is social enterprise consultant company whose mission is to aid regional social enterprise to make health business operation; another type is social enterprise. There are four interview used in the research to ensure that the research result contains different perspectives and opinions.   Result &amp; Conclusions: This study depicts an overall view about social enterprise business expansion. Certain suggestions have been listed relay on the combination of previous literature result with case studies. In the study, various elements have been determined which have significant impacts on social enterprise business expansion operation. They are divided in two segments, internal and external. Internal aspects include human resource and social entrepreneur. External factors include third Part Company, non-profit charity groups and authority. Social enterprise who wants business expansion needs to integrate different resources from various social institutions. Meanwhile to enhance internal product capability as well as competitive advantage social enterprise needs to more emphasize on social entrepreneurs’ characteristics.   Suggestion for further research: Further study should emphasize on various sizes of social enterprises in multi-stakeholders co-operation model. This study mainly focuses on SMEs type of SE, but with the time passing by, due to SE can offer solutions to social crisis and economic crisis, SE will be popular, and this idea will spread quickly. Therefore, more and more large size SE will emerge which needs guide and help with business maintaining and expansion plans.   Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to three aspects. First, this study analyses the present situation of social enterprise, exhibit internal and external factors which affect social enterprise to make business expansion. It offers social enterprise a path to implement business expansion, and help social enterprise to identify its potential capabilities which could help them achieve long term development. Secondly, during this work, author explains the ideology of social enterprise, what are its contributions to society as well as the reason why it exists. Since the results offer an explicitly structured conclusion, they are valuable information to society as well as local municipality to re-considerate the important role social enterprise can play. Last not the least, this research presents a new model of key elements for social enterprise business expansion. It is critical and crucial for further research in academic study.

Os empreendedores sociais são protagonistas na abordagem de problemas sociais no Brasil. Contudo, mesmo com esse destaque, pouco ainda se sabe sobre as particularidades desses profissionais. A aprendizagem desses indivíduos é um dos assuntos que carecem da atenção dos acadêmicos. Desse modo, uma das teorias que oportuniza análises a respeito da aprendizagem desses indivíduos é a Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) de Kolb (1984), que relata que a aprendizagem é o processo de criação de conhecimentos a partir da transformação das experiências do indivíduo. Um dos subprodutos da ELT é o conceito dos estilos de aprendizagem: traços pessoais que servem como indicadores de como os indivíduos percebem, interagem e respondem aos ambientes de aprendizagem. Para Alonso et al. (1997), existem quatro diferentes tipos de estilos de aprendizagem: o pragmático, o teórico, o ativo e o reflexivo. Assim, os autores elaboraram o instrumento Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) para verificarem os estilos de aprendizagem dos indivíduos e realizarem análises relativas ao assunto. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa se propôs a analisar a aprendizagem dos empreendedores sociais brasileiros à luz da Experiential Learning Theory, utilizando, para isso, o instrumento CHAEA. Primeiramente, os 90 empreendedores sociais brasileiros pesquisados tiveram seus estilos de aprendizagem verificados e os resultados foram analisados por meio de análises estatísticas univariadas e bivariadas. Assim, foi constatado que o estilo pragmático, o estilo teórico, o estilo ativo e o estilo reflexivo somam, respectivamente, 36,7%, 31,1%, 24,4%, e 7,8% da preferência geral dos pesquisados. Num segundo momento, particularidades e tendências relativas à aprendizagem desses indivíduos foram discutidas, e hipóteses foram produzidas. Essas hipóteses oferecem margem para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos relacionados ao tema. É indicado que as futuras pesquisas procurem trabalhar com amostras mais numerosas e com outros tipos de análises estatísticas. À parte das descobertas em relação à aprendizagem dos pesquisados e das hipóteses desenvolvidas, esta pesquisa também teve outro desdobramento relacionado ao estudo do empreendedorismo social no Brasil: o delineamento do perfil do empreendedor social brasileiro. Foi encontrado que esse indivíduo se caracteriza, majoritariamente, por ser identificado com o gênero masculino, ser jovem, declarar-se da raça ou cor branca, possuir alto grau de escolaridade e estar envolvido há pouco tempo com iniciativas sociais. O perfil constatado corrobora o perfil encontrado por outros autores e traz maior solidez para a discussão do tema. De forma geral, esta pesquisa colaborou para o avanço das pesquisas relativas ao empreendedorismo social e à aprendizagem experiencial no Brasil. Também foi viabilizada para os empreendedores sociais brasileiros participantes a oportunidade de verificarem seus estilos de aprendizagem e, assim, entenderem melhor suas próprias particularidades quanto à aprendizagem. Por último, destaca-se a contribuição para com instituições voltadas à educação, que por meio dos resultados desta pesquisa poderão aprimorar seus cursos direcionados aos empreendedores sociais. / Social entrepreneurs are central figures in addressing societal problems in Brazil. Nevertheless, despite the spotlights being pointed on these individuals, little is known about their particularities. Their learning process, for instance, is a subject lacking academic research. Therefore, one way to analyze their learning process is through the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) present by Kolb (1984), which says that learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. One of the ELT's sub-products is the learning styles concept, which suggests that personal traits work as indicators of how someone perceives, interacts and responds to learning environments. Alonso et al. (1997) proposed four different learning styles: pragmatist, theorist, activist and reflector. As a result, the authors created the survey Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) to verify someone's learning style and to carry out analysis about their learning process. Thus, the present research aims to analyze Brazilian social entrepreneurs' learning process in the light of the Experiential Learning Theory, using, to that end, the CHAEA survey. Primarily, the 90 Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied in this research had their learning styles verified and their results analyzed through univariate and bivariate techniques. Thus, it was determined that the pragmatist style, the theorist style, the activist style and the reflector style represented, respectively, 36.7%, 31.1%, 24.4%, and 7.8% of the participant’s general preference. Secondly, particularities and tendencies regarding the Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied were discussed, and hypotheses were produced. This hypotheses offer a clear research path to anyone interested in developing new studies about the subject. It is indicated for future researches to work with larger samples and with other types of statistical analysis. Besides the discoveries regarding the participant's learning process and the hypotheses developed, this research also presented other outcome related to social entrepreneurship studies in Brazil: the establishment of the Brazilian social entrepreneur profile. It was found that these individuals are characterized, mostly, by recognizing themselves as males, by being young, by declaring themselves as white individuals, by possessing a high schooling level and by getting involved recently with social enterprises. The profile formed supports profiles described by other authors in their researches and brings a meaningful consolidation regarding the subject discussion. In general, this research contributed to the advance of researches related to social entrepreneurship and to experiential learning in Brazil. In a practical viewpoint, it was made possible for the Brazilian social entrepreneurs which were part of this research to verify their learning styles and, thus, understand better their own particularities regarding their learning processes. Lastly, the contribution to educational institutions needs to be addressed. Through the results of this research it will be possible for these establishments to improve their courses designed for social entrepreneurs.

The interest in social entrepreneurship is increasing in Europe in general and Sweden in particular. Because social entrepreneurs (SEs) and incubators share a common aim of enhancing development and improving the living conditions of the people, one would think that they tend to work together more closely than in case when incubators work with the conventional entrepreneurs (CEs). Incubator activities can influence the process of the SE. The purpose of this paper was to identify which activities, that they provide, can influence the SE’s growth. We were also interested in examining how those activities differ when working with the CEs. To fulfill this purpose, we developed the research question: What are the roles of incubators and accelerators in the entrepreneurial process of SE and how they differ from the roles played in the entrepreneurial process of CE?  In order to answer the research question and fulfil the objectives of study in hand, we embraced interpretivist approach and qualitative method for data collection and analysis. 6 semi structured interviews are conducted with SEs that have experience in participating in incubator and accelerator programs, as well as two experts from the side of incubator and accelerator programs.  It has been found that education, making contacts and facilitating meetings as well as the office space are the main roles of incubator and accelerator programs, which have as their goal to assist SEs. Moreover, it is found that not all of the roles are equally significant, nor that they are played out through all the phases of the entrepreneurial process. Stages of the entrepreneurial process are revised, and their content is found to be different in comparison with social entrepreneurship. We answer the second part of our research question by carrying out a comparative discussion based on the empirical findings on SEs and existing literature on CEs. We summaries these difference by the means of a table. Finally, we put together and connect roles of incubator and accelerator programs interested in scaling of SEs and the entrepreneurial process, where the model linking the roles through the entrepreneurial phases of SE is proposed. Hence, we conclude that our research question has been answered and research purpose fulfilled.

Background: Social entrepreneurship is a phenomenon gaining increased attention from academia and business society. Social enterprises have a duality of social change and business logic, which aims to reach a social mission while offering a commodity. For the commodity to benefit the social mission, multiple targets groups are needed. This deserves a well-planned marketing strategy, however social entrepreneurs have scarce resources to conduct marketing in the best possible way. For these reasons, there is a need for further investigating on social entrepreneurship and marketing.  Purpose: This thesis aims to investigate how the duality in social enterprises coexists in marketing strategies. Additionally, we will address how and why social enterprises prioritize the duality in marketing strategies, and what consequences it carries.  Method: A qualitative research approach has been chosen, consisting of a multiple case study of four Swedish social enterprises. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and an observation, and analyzed through a cross-case comparison.  Conclusion: It can be concluded that duality coexist and is obvious in a social enterprise setting. A social enterprise’s marketing strategy has to balance the duality, since business logic is essential to achieve social change. Values reflect how the duality is prioritized in marketing strategies. Marketing the duality is done with different purposes; awareness creation and promotion. If marketing is done with transparency and clearness, a social enterprise can be financially stable and enhance their social good, which can positively affect all stakeholders.

Os empreendedores sociais são protagonistas na abordagem de problemas sociais no Brasil. Contudo, mesmo com esse destaque, pouco ainda se sabe sobre as particularidades desses profissionais. A aprendizagem desses indivíduos é um dos assuntos que carecem da atenção dos acadêmicos. Desse modo, uma das teorias que oportuniza análises a respeito da aprendizagem desses indivíduos é a Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) de Kolb (1984), que relata que a aprendizagem é o processo de criação de conhecimentos a partir da transformação das experiências do indivíduo. Um dos subprodutos da ELT é o conceito dos estilos de aprendizagem: traços pessoais que servem como indicadores de como os indivíduos percebem, interagem e respondem aos ambientes de aprendizagem. Para Alonso et al. (1997), existem quatro diferentes tipos de estilos de aprendizagem: o pragmático, o teórico, o ativo e o reflexivo. Assim, os autores elaboraram o instrumento Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) para verificarem os estilos de aprendizagem dos indivíduos e realizarem análises relativas ao assunto. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa se propôs a analisar a aprendizagem dos empreendedores sociais brasileiros à luz da Experiential Learning Theory, utilizando, para isso, o instrumento CHAEA. Primeiramente, os 90 empreendedores sociais brasileiros pesquisados tiveram seus estilos de aprendizagem verificados e os resultados foram analisados por meio de análises estatísticas univariadas e bivariadas. Assim, foi constatado que o estilo pragmático, o estilo teórico, o estilo ativo e o estilo reflexivo somam, respectivamente, 36,7%, 31,1%, 24,4%, e 7,8% da preferência geral dos pesquisados. Num segundo momento, particularidades e tendências relativas à aprendizagem desses indivíduos foram discutidas, e hipóteses foram produzidas. Essas hipóteses oferecem margem para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos relacionados ao tema. É indicado que as futuras pesquisas procurem trabalhar com amostras mais numerosas e com outros tipos de análises estatísticas. À parte das descobertas em relação à aprendizagem dos pesquisados e das hipóteses desenvolvidas, esta pesquisa também teve outro desdobramento relacionado ao estudo do empreendedorismo social no Brasil: o delineamento do perfil do empreendedor social brasileiro. Foi encontrado que esse indivíduo se caracteriza, majoritariamente, por ser identificado com o gênero masculino, ser jovem, declarar-se da raça ou cor branca, possuir alto grau de escolaridade e estar envolvido há pouco tempo com iniciativas sociais. O perfil constatado corrobora o perfil encontrado por outros autores e traz maior solidez para a discussão do tema. De forma geral, esta pesquisa colaborou para o avanço das pesquisas relativas ao empreendedorismo social e à aprendizagem experiencial no Brasil. Também foi viabilizada para os empreendedores sociais brasileiros participantes a oportunidade de verificarem seus estilos de aprendizagem e, assim, entenderem melhor suas próprias particularidades quanto à aprendizagem. Por último, destaca-se a contribuição para com instituições voltadas à educação, que por meio dos resultados desta pesquisa poderão aprimorar seus cursos direcionados aos empreendedores sociais. / Social entrepreneurs are central figures in addressing societal problems in Brazil. Nevertheless, despite the spotlights being pointed on these individuals, little is known about their particularities. Their learning process, for instance, is a subject lacking academic research. Therefore, one way to analyze their learning process is through the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) present by Kolb (1984), which says that learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. One of the ELT's sub-products is the learning styles concept, which suggests that personal traits work as indicators of how someone perceives, interacts and responds to learning environments. Alonso et al. (1997) proposed four different learning styles: pragmatist, theorist, activist and reflector. As a result, the authors created the survey Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) to verify someone's learning style and to carry out analysis about their learning process. Thus, the present research aims to analyze Brazilian social entrepreneurs' learning process in the light of the Experiential Learning Theory, using, to that end, the CHAEA survey. Primarily, the 90 Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied in this research had their learning styles verified and their results analyzed through univariate and bivariate techniques. Thus, it was determined that the pragmatist style, the theorist style, the activist style and the reflector style represented, respectively, 36.7%, 31.1%, 24.4%, and 7.8% of the participant’s general preference. Secondly, particularities and tendencies regarding the Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied were discussed, and hypotheses were produced. This hypotheses offer a clear research path to anyone interested in developing new studies about the subject. It is indicated for future researches to work with larger samples and with other types of statistical analysis. Besides the discoveries regarding the participant's learning process and the hypotheses developed, this research also presented other outcome related to social entrepreneurship studies in Brazil: the establishment of the Brazilian social entrepreneur profile. It was found that these individuals are characterized, mostly, by recognizing themselves as males, by being young, by declaring themselves as white individuals, by possessing a high schooling level and by getting involved recently with social enterprises. The profile formed supports profiles described by other authors in their researches and brings a meaningful consolidation regarding the subject discussion. In general, this research contributed to the advance of researches related to social entrepreneurship and to experiential learning in Brazil. In a practical viewpoint, it was made possible for the Brazilian social entrepreneurs which were part of this research to verify their learning styles and, thus, understand better their own particularities regarding their learning processes. Lastly, the contribution to educational institutions needs to be addressed. Through the results of this research it will be possible for these establishments to improve their courses designed for social entrepreneurs.