This document provides an overview of doing social entrepreneurship at the University of Northampton. It discusses thinking about social entrepreneurship by considering resources, marketplace needs, and motivations. It also covers planning social enterprises by examining legal forms, how social the enterprise is, products, customers, and skills. The document notes that social enterprises address complex social problems and outlines various theories of change and approaches to conceptualizing wicked issues. It provides examples of essential ingredients and considerations around competition and legal structures. People to consult for further information are also listed, along with recommended reading materials.
2. Thinking about SE Think about your resources the marketplace peoples’ needs, and how they are linked Consider your motivations for doing this the complexity of social problems the model of social change 2
3. Planning SE Legal forms and composite forms How social is the planned social enterprise? 3
5. Complex Social Problems Social Enterprise is not just about the enterprise bit- we need to understand the social problem first "Every problem interacts with other problems and is therefore part of a set of interrelated problems, a system of problems…. I choose to call such a system a mess”. Ackhoff (1974) “Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.” Laurence J. Peter
6. Theory of Change 6 Problems: linear, causal, ignores the complexity of the problem
8. Wicked Issues The problem is not understood until after the formulation of a solution. Wicked problems have no stopping rule. Solutions to wicked problems are not right or wrong. Every wicked problem is essentially novel and unique. Every solution to a wicked problem is a 'one shot operation' Wicked problems have no given alternative solutions. Horst & Webber (1984) Conklin (2005) 8
9. Rich pictures to express complexity 9 http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/
17. People Prof Simon Denny, NBS Director of Social Enterprise Tim Curtis, SoH, Ambassador for Social Entrepreneurship Wray Irwin, Director of Social Enterprise Development Chris Durkin, Social Sciences, Northampton Institute for Urban Affairs 17
18. Reading material Ridley-Duff, R & Bull, M (2011) Understanding Social Enterprise: Theory and Practice. Sage. London Gunn, R & Durkin, C (2010) Social Entrepreneurship: a Skills Approach. Policy Press. Bristol http://unltdworld.com/hefce 18
19. References Rittel, Horst, and Melvin Webber; "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning," pp. 155–169, Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Inc., Amsterdam, 1973. [Reprinted in N. Cross (ed.), Developments in Design Methodology, J. Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 1984, pp. 135–144.], Conklin, Jeff; "Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems," Wiley; 1st edition, 18 November 2005 Ackoff, Russell, "Systems, Messes, and Interactive Planning" Portions of Chapters I and 2 of Redesigning the Future. New York/London: Wiley, 1974 Checkland, Peter B. and Scholes, J. Soft Systems Methodology in Action, John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1990 19
Notas do Editor
Exercise: get the delegates to think about the resources that they have or can get access to, to think about the needs, niches, opportunities they have seen in their work, placement or everyday life. The link between resources and needs then to be productised- linking activities to outcomes in the clients/customers. They then need to link those two together with a marketplace highlighting the difference between customers (in this situation those who have money to spend on the products and consume the product) and clients (in this case those who pay for a product but do not consume the product- like commissioners of services).
This section starts with a consideration of how complex social problems really are and seeks to ensure that problems are not conceptualised in a linear, causal fashion, but the investigation into the social problem is authentically about solving the unique problem in it’s unique context. Without doing this, the social enterprise idea can become ‘a solution seeking a problem to solve’.
This is a good statement of the problem and how it can be solved, but it is linear- my solution solves this problem, and causal- assumes that there is a stable causal link between the problem statement and the solution. This is rarely actually the case.
This is a more sophisticated model of the problem but still, we can do better if we understand the nature of ‘wicked’ or messy issues in the first place.
Exercsie: Our recommended approach is to use rich pictures as a way of conceptualising the social issue. There resources on the OU website are excellent guide. This process allows the delegate to explore the social situation in a sophisticated and nuanced way. The irchpciture drawer should be encouraged to use this as a discovery tool as well- potential service users also draw their view of the social situation- and then use it as a discussion tool- why are the pictures different? What features are missing from whose? How can they be combined? Etc. Nobodies picture is the correct one.
Once we have conceptualised the problem, it is important to have in mind what the motivation is that underlies the social enterprise idea- beyond just solving the problem. How does the world change when we do our social enterprise? These aspects show some of the underlying assumptions that are made about how social change happens, or should happen. EXERCISE: discuss and identify where your idea fits in. What are the implications for the social enterprise for taking this approach?
Now that we have conceptualised and discussed, and pictured, the problem, and we think we know how the world will change from our socially entrepreneurial activities, we will now begin to plan how to deliver the enterprise. This is the ‘business’ bit of social enterprise. Here are 7 ‘P’s as a starting point. EXERCISE: work your way round each of the 7 P’s and note down how you think you will address these points.
Here are the main legal formats available. There are no specific formats that make you a social enterprise- unlike in Italy or Poland where you have a specific ‘social enterprise law’. EXERCISE: The plan here is to think about the features of these formats that will help you achieve your aims. Bear in mind that successful social enterprises often combine two or more formats into a portfolio of organisations- like a Charitable Trust that owns all the shares in a company limited by shares.
Finally, we have to capture and communicate how social the social enterprise is- and think about how that ‘sociality’ will develop and change over time. This EXERCISE, (resources available separately) help to measure the importance of different aspects of social enterprise’ness, helps you to compare that against other similar enterprises, help you to plan changes in the future to improve or focus on different aspects. It will also help to be clear how your competitors are not such good social enterprises as you are.