1.1 Background and Research Motivation
Our generation is facing challenges that cannot simply be amended through government assistance or charity efforts. Such extreme problems as climate change and poverty require multiple solutions and should be addressed in multiple fashions. The burgeoning field of social enterprise may be one solution. In 2006, the Nobel Committee awarded Grameen bank, a social enterprise, and its founder Muhammad Yunus for forward-thinking social engagement. The business model Yunus organized provides loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral, allowing many Bangladeshis to come out of poverty. Their success is one example of the potential that social enterprises have in helping to solve similar social problems.
Social enterprise has gradually received the attention of business leaders, media, and government officials from across the world. In the World Economic Forum at Davos, various world leaders were eager to learn more about social entrepreneurs (Elkington & Hartigan, 2008). World famous organization, Ashoka supports the efforts of over two thousand social entrepreneurs coming from over 70 countries who were selected as Ashoka follows. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has highlighted the leading models of sustainable social innovation, i.e. social enterprise. Skoll Foundation also awarded more than $358 million including to investments in 97 remarkable social entrepreneurs and 80 social enterprises in the past thirteen years.
In 2012, I initiated a start-up social enterprise, which won the first prize at a social enterprise competition in Beijing. In the beginning, the social enterprise seemed to be promising; however, the business was suspended after a few months. When the board later evaluated the experience, we discovered that the company, like many other start-ups, failed to consider certain crucial factors when designing the business plan. It was then when I began to consider designing a social enterprise framework to assist the social entrepreneurs in building appropriate business plans.
1.2 Purposes of This Study
During the first few months of 2013, I began to work at a social enterprise incubator and investor company in Shanghai named Transist. Many early stage social enterprise startups lacked a good understanding of the business model. When they are asked to present their company to investors, each side found it difficult to understand what the other wanted or was wishing to express. Acknowledging their difficulties, a common framework of a business model specifically designed for social enterprises is needed. Although there are some general business model frameworks in existence, a business model framework that is specifically designed for early stage social enterprise is necessary.
Different from traditional business model frameworks, the business model framework that should be redesigned is for social enterprise to satisfy the need of social entrepreneurs. Second, the business model should be well known and applied often to allow those investors in need to be able to acquire such model easily. The central purpose of my thesis is to design a business model framework for social enterprise that can be catered the social entrepreneurs.
Our generation is facing challenges that cannot simply be amended through government assistance or charity efforts. Such extreme problems as climate change and poverty require multiple solutions and should be addressed in multiple fashions. The burgeoning field of social enterprise may be one solution. In 2006, the Nobel Committee awarded Grameen bank, a social enterprise, and its founder Muhammad Yunus for forward-thinking social engagement. The business model Yunus organized provides loans to the impoverished without requiring collateral, allowing many Bangladeshis to come out of poverty. Their success is one example of the potential that social enterprises have in helping to solve similar social problems.
Social enterprise has gradually received the attention of business leaders, media, and government officials from across the world. In the World Economic Forum at Davos, various world leaders were eager to learn more about social entrepreneurs (Elkington & Hartigan, 2008). World famous organization, Ashoka supports the efforts of over two thousand social entrepreneurs coming from over 70 countries who were selected as Ashoka follows. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has highlighted the leading models of sustainable social innovation, i.e. social enterprise. Skoll Foundation also awarded more than $358 million including to investments in 97 remarkable social entrepreneurs and 80 social enterprises in the past thirteen years.
In 2012, I initiated a start-up social enterprise, which won the first prize at a social enterprise competition in Beijing. In the beginning, the social enterprise seemed to be promising; however, the business was suspended after a few months. When the board later evaluated the experience, we discovered that the company, like many other start-ups, failed to consider certain crucial factors when designing the business plan. It was then when I began to consider designing a social enterprise framework to assist the social entrepreneurs in building appropriate business plans.
1.2 Purposes of This Study
During the first few months of 2013, I began to work at a social enterprise incubator and investor company in Shanghai named Transist. Many early stage social enterprise startups lacked a good understanding of the business model. When they are asked to present their company to investors, each side found it difficult to understand what the other wanted or was wishing to express. Acknowledging their difficulties, a common framework of a business model specifically designed for social enterprises is needed. Although there are some general business model frameworks in existence, a business model framework that is specifically designed for early stage social enterprise is necessary.
Different from traditional business model frameworks, the business model framework that should be redesigned is for social enterprise to satisfy the need of social entrepreneurs. Second, the business model should be well known and applied often to allow those investors in need to be able to acquire such model easily. The central purpose of my thesis is to design a business model framework for social enterprise that can be catered the social entrepreneurs.