Social Enterprise 3.0

[thecrowdfundingcenter-blog]

The BBC’s Peter Day just published a fascinating piece “Imagine a world without shops or factories" in which he, independently, explores a new world dawning that’s astonishingly similar to that of Capitalism Rebooted - the programme for the upcoming Crowdfunding Deep Impact Conference on 1st...

[validatingthesocial-blog]

There is a damaging disconnect between young people and organisations. A disconnect between the training of today and the workplaces of tomorrow, and between the changing values of young people and the organisational cultures that they encounter. At the heart of this disconnect is a lack of understanding on both sides of the other’s needs.

      This disconnect has emerged because of a series of rapid shifts in both the supply of jobs available from employers and the demand for jobs, or expectations of employment, on the part of graduates. On the supply-side, the jobs available in the economy are changing, as is the nature of many organisations themselves. On the demand-side, the expectations and values of young people are shifting, alongside the changing nature of the graduate career itself.

      Working Progress argues that these changes mean new challenges for employees, which increase the importance of ‘intangible’ personal qualities, such as the ability to work in a team or to be creative. And changing values and social norms provide new questions for employers, as they struggle to find ways to attract, motivate and support a generation of young people with higher debt, different values, and more demanding jobs than ever before.

[validatingthesocial-blog]

The Irony Is Enough To Drive You Insane

I’m a recent graduate searching for a job. Here’s my CV, or a cover letter explaining a little more about myself. Let’s re-strategise now; here’s my website, it displays various projects I’ve founded and developed. In so many words, all I'm really trying to say is: look at me! I’m capable! I can do your admin role! I can analyse some data! I can send emails and use excel! I’ve grown up with the Internet! I know the concept! I can type twice as fast and probably be able to train your entire team on my lunch break! Let me have a lunch break!

  How many times can you repetitively regurgitate the same words to hundreds of employers hoping they’ll consider you worthy of filling out their most basic administrative positions or bottom-end organisation roles?

  How can your multiple abilities ranging from quantitative research and analysis of large-scale data sets, or range of creative abilities and high computer literacy not satisfy demands of these excellent job opportunities? How has it been made possible that no one sought out this issue of employment and wasted young talent pools failing to acquire under skilled job services?

  Our economy, with its unprecedented levels of youth unemployment and escalating rates of qualified graduates are facing abhorring parallels. At a time of celebration where you complete your life’s worth of education, going through and believing your doing better than your parents generation by sufficing the academic rigor of higher education, only to be propounded with the lack of real life opportunities at the end of a long dark tunnel. Where so many want to push the blame onto graduates but stigmitising the young people that genuinely work the extra hours, challenge themselves through courses they’ve never heard of before, balanced with the fine act of independent living and managing various roles in societies and paid employment. When will the time come where this lost generation will reap the rewards they so rightfully deserve? Will it be in their continual struggle to secure the most basic room let in London to adequately support their lowly skilled job position? Or will in be the impossible endeavor of securing a mortgage in what so happens to be another housing bubble. Will it be in the pride of seeking out old family contacts that offered you job opportunities prior to your academic journey or possibly the satisfaction in unpaid internships or voluntary work to validate the desperate attitude of so many of us wishing to build a successful career.

  At what point did employers fail to apply their own critical feedback and use their initiative to see the disarray of their employment strategies. Let’s turn the tables for a second and not all hail blame upon the graduates who work irregular and over burdened hours to strive for a chance of success when in fact their fate awaits in the hands of those people sifting through cv papers as though the people they readily throw in the bin don’t have what it takes. The fact that it’s a trigger of luck that in the 2 seconds someone over sees your life long achievements and believes for a second a human being may be capable of achieving the basic tasks roles required to uphold a small functions in one division of their thousands of pounds revenue. Where has this distant trusts arose from, has it always been prevalent? When has this social virtue escaped all realms of business ethos and is it not time we begin addressing these problems and take a different approach to human resources.

  We constantly hear of a job shortage and we can place the blame of governmental institutions, think tanks and researchers for failing to identify these issues sooner and implementing contingency plans to ensure societal needs are maintained at sustainable levels to avoid such catastrophes. Let’s blame the students for falling victim to governmental campaigns and higher education appraisals for prosperous longevity in earnings and career opportunities. Lets blame private markets for collapsing due to decades of debt culture that have lead the current generation with the least social mobility we’ve seen since prior WWII. Or, let us all blame us as a society for immersing ourselves in an individualist horizon that doesn’t look beyond the inherent values of personal gains and capital accumulation.

  Nobody said it will be easy, and naively we dismiss these claims because we feel pride in our accomplishments, until the point where we submit hundreds of applications day after and day and continuously see rejections. The immortal sensation of being refused an 18k salary when you’ve investment twice that in suffering the university cycle, where those that live far away are unable to secure consistent unemployment, where those that don’t have inherent affluence struggle to maintain a social life, or where those that concentrate entirely on improving their prospects miss the unique selling point of ‘student-living’ and all of which amounts to desperate pleas of frustration to gain entry into any organisation for an opportunity to earn some money in belief that career break will far away.

  As time ticks pass and you see people acquiring the expertise, skills, wage and benefits that you envious crave you sit amidst the sidelines continually planning your next move, gazing blindly upon your next horizon and in all fail to see that your unemployment history grows longer with each passing day. Everyday where someone makes a wage, you’re tiny savings allowance is slowly depleting after paying your travel expenses of numerous interviews until the day your allowance is so minimal you may as well give up hope of acquiring any decent job position.

  How do you imagine it feels to be the first generation to not do as well your parents? How do can you comprehend that feeling of failure? Would you believe in the markets and assume that you’re not in demand? How can you possible build yourself to that position of being wanted as opposed to being on the verge of receiving a harassment order? How can you possible feel satisfied when you’ve educated yourself to understand that the current situation you face is due to the thousands of selfish individuals in institutions alike failing to acquire fore sight and see what it means to live sustainably, or within or means. Shall we thank our grand parents, or employers, thank your parents for what they saved and inherited onto you and in wake of your denial take some responsibility in developing this societal issue and collectively re-strategise sustainable business models to facilitate not only this generation that you’ve already deemed insignificant but the generation of your grand children. What world do you want them to live in, or are you so self absorbed you care not for children, family or humanistic virtues but continue to perpetuate the capital accumulation in your favour and your favour alone.

  Are you female? Do you sympathize then? Are you aware of the enormous struggles precedent to an individual who happens to be female? In a ‘mans’ world are you aware of the discrimination you may subliminal propagate, can you please correct your bias periphery and believe a women is just as capable if not more capable that male counterparts and reflect this in the salary and bonuses your generously donate.

  How long do we have to admire the elites until they deem us worthy of the smallest stake in their acquired wealth? How long should we deny the external forces that have conditioned elite individuals with predispositions of success? When can we wake up and realize that those that have no had the best start in life bare all the same commonalities of employees in any organisation? We all suffer, we all work, we all feel the pain of overcoming obstacles and some of us are blessed to be in positions where there are limited obstacles in attaining the level of succession one aspires for. Where have our social virtues disappeared? Why are we so slow to implement social targets in our organisations? Can we not marketise targets and performance quota’s on something that might make some real change, rather than some spare in change in your pocket?

  It’s no wonder interns are dying, students are turning suicidal and talent is trodden. Why should we continue? The irony in this shit is enough to drive you insane!

  Yet, let us remain humble, let’s think of it as a lucky escape. We won’t be better off than what we’ve grown up with, we will have to learn to work twice as much for half the pay and live in bedsit. It could have been worse, we could have acquired triple the amount of debt going to university for almost none of the benefits graduates off 1994 or younger had access to. And, at least I live in London, where everything is ten times more expensive and I’m ten times more likely to be offered a position, or in a more realistic light, more likely to receive a polite you’re not good enough email.

  Let us cheer in the wave of party politics, corporate institutions, capitalist and a globalised society. Let us thank the squeezed middle, our parents, our teachers and our selves. Let us all hail the various prime ministers, presidents, hedge fund elites, bankers, hell of it, let us even thank the church, the post man, our driving instructors, our piano tutors and all of society. We are all to thank for this mess and it should be all of us who can be congratulated upon once we work to detangle this web of debt and empty pockets.

[validatingthesocial-blog]

More than fair trade & charity: Socially Enterprising.

Where is the invisible hand really pressing ?

More than fair trade and, more than charity work, it's socially enterprising.

"There are, first, the environmental factors. It has been stated and will have to be established that the capitalist process produces a distribution of political power and a socio-psychological attitude—expressing itself in corresponding policies—that are hostile to it and may be expected to gather force so that they will eventually prevent the capitalist engine from functioning."

Shumpter, p. 112 (1950)

Innovation then lies in the need to formulate an alternative means to address current global market failures in the capitalist system by which intra-generational equity can be sustained. Such modes of capitalism that enshrine a social value are far from established, what is concurrent in recent decades is the political power lobbying for social change through the economy which is safeguarded by the increasing investment that runs parallel to technological innovation. Coyle (2012) argues that the market globalised has been recently propelled by ICT which has caused greater retrenchment patterns within recession, causing greater inequalities on larger scales, in so far, abandoning previous economic models that bare no resemblance to current economical contexts, as economics is on observatory study concentrating upon the flux of dynamic interactions (Schumpter, 1950), one can assume that the technological systematic changes creatively destructing our previous capitalist model also propel our inquisition to develop resolve and solutions through the use of ICT. Where technology has arguable increased inequalities due it's increased speed of transactions and interactions as not only widened previous stratification's but developed anew, as see in the digital divide and next user generations (Dutton & Blank, 2011). Mirroring technological cultural shifts with interconnectivity, transparency, fast access to information, big data and the donation of data, all of which encompass greater social integration and integrity. Technology has had the power to empower citizens who are able to utilise the machines for a fairer market by gaining greater access to asyymetric information alike. Many phenomenons have also occurred through the use of the internet since it's establishment, as we see social media campaigns (Kony, 2011), crowd funding (crowdbait, 2012), mobile donations, big data and so. Within this new mode of commerce, greater social interactions occur, although non-humanistic via the use of technological protocols, networks and machinery, the market has since developed a stronger communication arm as the platforms for corporations to engage with consumers has expanded dramatically through the use of multimedias and other tech innovations. Within this, lies the essence of socially enterprising change, it may not be inherent within technologies, but it's within a paradigm shift that is beginning to shape our future commerce.

In so far, what we can gather from these wider contextual factors shaping our economical landscape, is that socially enterprising solutions to addressing new environmental needs, is in fact more than a triple bottom line de facto, entrenching environmental and social ends within previous capitalist structures, and indeed, much more than fair traded goods and charity. Current transformations of the market arena are ensuing social services devolved from government, which rewards, the marketisation of altruistic virtue, tokenistic opportunities and creation of private socially enterprising organisations that are providing alternative means to addressing current societal needs.

Coyle, D. (2012). How to Build the Future Economy. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Available at [http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/how-build-economy-future]

Dutton, W.H. and Blank, G. (2011) Next Generation Users: The Internet in Britain 2011. Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

Shumpter, J. 1950. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. 3rd ed. New York: Harper and Brothers.

[validatingthesocial-blog]

Creative Destruction - Schumpter, 1950.

The Process of Creative Destruction

"If I may use that biological term—that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one. This process of Creative Destruction is the essential fact about capitalism." (p.83)

ex visu - analysing the system over the years as opposed to a snapshot in time to guage the credibility of the emerging markets value and sustainability compared to previous models. Through the creative destruction comes a resolution to previous modes of capitalism. It is therefore fair to assume that socially enterprising models are no incessently different from previous structures of capitalism, as the transpire from within the market mechanisms that encompass all of what we understand capitalism to be. Those that address the cultural ontology of capitalism can decipher social enterprises' as culturally shifting towards socially responsibly models, niche creations that aim to establish a moral fibre within production lines and empower ethical consumption as a sustainable foreseeable model for future consumption - or - ranging from more leftis positions, we see skepticism and doubt to any paradigm shift in the pre-establish entrenchment of capitalist gains based on a self-interest. However, such opinion bare little ample resolution to the impact or embeddedness to the emergent social enterprises'.

The successes of social entrepreneurial activity can only been signified in future years, these doens't invalidate any current or previous studies into the activity, however within the literature there is an underlying ignorance to the wider contextual influences that have constructed the landscape for current social entrepreneurs to create and grasp opportunities. Let us redirect the attention away from descriptive case studies that focus on the creative destruction of particular industries as they bare to light the mere operational and structural differences; in the case of policy frameworks, national legislations, communitarian activism.

For in depth strategic analysis let us "visualize the behavior of new concerns or industries that introduce new commodities or processes - or else reorganize a part or the whole of an industry" (Shumpter, 1950, p89), by first addressing the contextual conditions that facilitate the creative destruction of different sectors to predict and influence future socially enterprising opportunity creation in order to address adequate support mechanisms to sustain emerging social sectors addressing current and future needs.

Schumpeter, Joseph A. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. 3d ed. 1942. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950.

[validatingthesocial-blog]

Social Ownership & Protest

Division: Ownership & Protest

Sense of Ownership

Socially enterprising organisations provide a niche, provide an example of ethical capitalism with embedded social aims concentrating upon their social engagement and developing a platform often advocating democratic structures in the form of stakeholder, partnership involvement more so than traditional private organisations. Social enterprises, lean towards qualitative forms of description and away from binaries and simple double bottom line distinctions (Nicholls, p.77) for a sense of ownership in their own virtues manifested into their organisation, and wider still, the improvements they bestow upon the community they aspire towards. Further exploration should be considered in this concept of social entrepreneur's stronger sense of ownership due an increased 'othering' of themselves into their organisation (Brewis, J, 2005). This sense of ownership is deeply driven, hence the rationale of assuming a stronger sense of 'othering' as social entrepreneurs are often driven by personal interests or life events that have inspired them to proclaim a sense of justice in the market place. With this manifestation of social entrepreneurs into the market place we see similar themes emerging which in so far has constructed the (qualitative) definitions of social enterprises.

Broadly speaking, emergent themes include:

- Social objectives embedded into the core that are driven from the personal feelings and expressions of social entrepreneurs that aim to reach people who share similar states of being

- Resonating virtues, morals and values within the organisational ethos

- Socially driven ethos intended to influence the surrounding community

- Compassionate, aiming to alleviate 'clients'

- Humanistic approach

- Passion driven business that aims to gravitate and safeguard those who share similar social values

- Empathetic approach to business

- Honest, transparent, uninhibited and sharing nature

- Descriptive and narrative driven organisational construct (narrative marketing is also common)

  Protest

This then leads me to enquire further into this sociological movement within enterprise that remains fairly un-revoked, astonishingly fairly little literature has emerged that displays an actual theoretical application of theories, in this case the sociological ontology, into this socially capitalising movement. In so far, I proclaim greater investigation as here, although I'm bound by time, resources and skills I would suggest using the framework of in-groups and out-groups to uncover the underpinning relationship between social enterprises within a profit-maximising majority. 

I would assume the socially enterprising movement can, in some cases, be seen as a protest against previous models of capitalism where the main prerogative is to redistribute wealth towards the rich, however socially enterprising organisations commonly infer to a market failure they try to correct by working in an egalitarian nature that redistributes capital towards those needs where the market has failed to meet the demand and/or supply*. It would be interesting to see the dynamics interplaying between two different operational models to begin scaling the impact of the socially enterprising movement.

*Social enterprise were originally coined as organisations that ensue alternative methods to addressing social needs.

Brewis, J. (2005), Othering Organization Theory: Marta Calás and Linda Smircich. The Sociological Review, 53: 80–94

Nicholls, A. (2006), Social entrepreneurship: New Models Of Sustainable Social Change. Oxford University Press.

[validatingthesocial-blog]

Infopreneurs

From technologists so social enterprise developers. Recent enquiries into the technology dynamics of start-ups and the communitarian establishment of online networks has calibrated a socially enterprising e-commerce. Some studies have vaguely approached the issue but have failed to identify core relationships within this field of 'infopreneurs' (Rensburg et al, 2004). Uncited relational developments between Silicon Valley's global network hub of technology start up's and the increasing presence of non-profit/social enterprise's emerging as a by-product of the venture capitalists gravitated towards one of the largest and fastest expanding entrepreneur hubs of the globe. There is an evident gap in the relationship between technological innovations and socially enterprising organisations and the similarities that exist within these new modes of commerce; and why they are expanding at significant rates almost symbiotically. Similarities: - Both foster communitarianism - Involve multiple stakeholders - Consider users/clients as key beneficiaries - Commonly construct bottom-up structures - Increased transparency and communication - Embed social objectives within their core value system - Function's are driven by networks of people with similar/niche interests - Contain greater 'intangible' assets - Both attract suave socially conscious consumers Technology can also be deployed as an enhancing protocol to establish social aims or help organisations obtain a wider user base to advocate and aid their social objective. Technology has permeated a large proportion of the developed world and is often an inextricably effective tool to drive an organisation's success. The modern day entrepreneur who's creativity and innovation acknowledges the resources available to her/him and as technology is free available to most of us directly, it can serve as a critical functionality in future start up's due to it's fairly low start up costs. This combined with the influx of socially enterprising organisations that often seek cost effective measures and the willingness/good will of individuals or volunteers who often work through the passion of the social aim rather than profit-seeking aspirations compliment the usability of technology. Hence, it so naturally occurs that the infopreneur may in fact be part of the social enterprise movement without being entirely away of their efforts in progressing this market paradigm shift.

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The Inspiration of Social Enterprise

The Inspiration of Social Enterprise

  Lies in the heart of the beholder, bounded, shaped and relinquished by the entrepreneur who sacrifices a livelihood to improve that of others while simultaneously constructing an institution, an organization a form of trade in compliance within current market configurations to ensure an output that’s redesigning the face of capitalism. Market outputs that rely heavily on upon social dimensions, a periphery incorporating the human element with compassion and empathy as opposed to traditional Taylorist conceptions of cogs in machines (Crowley, 2010). The inspiration behind the movement acknowledges and accepts the sacrifice of immediate and/or large revenues to ensure an ethos of community, to embed a cultural not founded upon self-driven financial interests and naturally those who attract like for like can be inspired, awakened and propelled to ensue their efforts, time and resources for fulfilling similar values, morals and virtues inline with their own. This manifestation of social accountability diminishes traditional trade structures of Fordist ideologies where we no longer prioritize efficiency as the predicator of success, thereby marking not only an occupational change in the field of entrepreneurship and management but causing wider influences in the market place to the extent of market shifts and trajectories that are expanding and supporting triple bottom line enterprise aspirations.

  Crowley, M. 2010. Neo-Taylorism At Work. http://www.sociology.fsu.edu/people/tope/Crowley_etal2010.pdf