Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2005
Abstract
This paper presents findings from an investigation of pattern-changing social entrepreneurs. We examined the efforts of fifteen entrepreneurs and sought to understand the factors that enable successful ones to scale their social impact. All the entrepreneurs were operating in capital constrained environments and scaling required overcoming funding constraints. The findings indicate that pattern-changing social entrepreneurs are more concerned with scaling their impact than with growing their enterprises. Hence, many were pursuing both direct scaling where they grew their own enterprises and indirect scaling where they pursued impact through influencing other organizations. Social entrepreneurship is not a linear process; rather it is one of discovery, evolution, growth, learning and reinforcement. Most of the entrepreneurs began with a unique and innovative idea and then “discovered” through trial and error how to build a successful enterprise. The findings indicate many similarities between social entrepreneurship and profit seeking entrepreneurship as characterized in the empirical literature. Key differences include implications of the social mission and resource acquisition for non-profit entrepreneurs. Successful entrepreneurs were able to build and access social and business networks in order to garner financial, human, and other resources. They then developed viable self-reinforcing resourcing and capability building approaches built on principles of value exchange with partners, funders, and customers. They delivered exceptional value to partners and key stakeholders providing satisfaction and building credibility and strong reputations. The most successful social entrepreneurs discovered innovative ways to improve the profitability and mission-focus of key activities and once they had refined their model, they focused their energies to exploit the opportunity and scale their impact. A critical success factor for scale was moving from individual-level skills to the building of core organizational-level competencies.
Keywords
entrepreneurship
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Sherman, David A., "Social Entrepreneurship: Pattern-Changing Entrepreneurs and the Scaling of Social Impact" (2005). Student Scholarship. 389.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/389