Requirements of Scaling International Social Enterprises

Abstract

Objective: The paper aims to identify the requirements for social enterprise to scale internationally. The explicit research objective is to explain which requirements enable to scale social ventures internationally with success.

Research Design & Methods: The study employs multiple case study analysis based on systematic literature review used to identify papers examining international social enterprises. At total six cases were analysed using criteria of organisational capabilities included in the SCALERS model.

Findings: The analysis showed that the most significant for scaling social enterprises internationally are: earnings-generation and alliance building; next staffing, communicating, and replicating. The less significant are lobbing and stimulating market forces.

Implications & Recommendations: Existence of strong business model, neutral from market sources, well-resourced, recognised in public sphere associated with scaling up.

Contribution & Value Added: The paper contributes by revealing that capabilities for ISEs scaling are differentiated in terms of their significance. Presented results go along with the observation that prior to scaling social impact basic operational model must show its viability.

Keywords

social entrepreneurship, internationalization, scaling, SCALERS

Author Biography

Marek Ćwiklicki

Associate Professor at the Cracow University of Economics, Head of Chair for Management of Public Organisations, Faculty of Public Economy and Administration.

Habilitated doctor of Economics within the discipline of management science (2012), PhD in Economics science within the field of Management Science (2003), MSc in Economics within the specialisation of Public Administration and Economy (CUE, 1998), MSc in Economics within the specialisation of Enterprise Management (CUE, 1998), Master of Business Science Administration (Baltic Sea Management Academy, 1997).

Scientific interests: business administration, organisation studies, organisational theory, infonomics, business history.

Memberships: Society of Scientific Organization and Management (Towarzystwo Naukowej Organizacji i Kierownictwa) (1998-), Association for Information and Image Management – Basic Member (2000-), European Academy of Management (EURAM) (2010-), European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) (2012-).

Member of the Editorial Boards: ‘Zarządzanie Publiczne/Public Governance’, published by the The Malopolska School of Public Administration CUE; ‘Argumenta Oeconomica Cracoviensia’, published by the CUE; ‘Studia Negotia’, published by Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; IEBE (International Academy of Business and Economics) Editorial Board 2006-2013; ‘Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review’ (EBER) - Thematic Editor: Management and Business Studies.

References

1. Abbou, I., Gidron, B., Buber-Ben David, N., Greenberg, Y., Monnickendam-Givon, Y., & Navon,
2. A. (2017). Social enterprise in Israel: the swinging pendulum between collectivism and indi-vidualism. Social Enterprise Journal, 13(4, SI), 329-344. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-09-2017-0043
3. Agrawal, S., & Gugnani, R. (2014). Creating successful business model: lessons for social entrepre-neurship. International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management, 18(5/6), 438-445. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJEIM.2014.064720
4. Bennett, E.A. (2016). Governance, legitimacy, and stakeholder balance: lessons from Fairtrade International. Social Enterprise Journal, 12(3), 322-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-08-2016-0038
5. Bloom, P.N., & Chatterji, A.K. (2009). Scaling Social Entrepreneurial Impact. California Management Review, 51(3), 114-133. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166496
6. Bloom, P.N., & Skloot, E. (Eds.). (2010). Scaling Social Impact. New Thinking. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230113565
7. Bloom, P.N., & Smith, B.R. (2010a). Identifying the Drivers of Social Entrepreneurial Impact: Theo-retical Development and an Exploratory Empirical Test of SCALERS. Journal of Social Entrepre-neurship, 1(1), 126-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420670903458042
8. Bloom, P.N., & Smith, B.R. (2010b). Indentifying the Drivers of Social Entrepreneurial Impact: An Exploratory Empirical Study. In Scaling Social Impact. New Thinking (pp. 11-27).
9. Bradach, J. (2010). Scaling Impact. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Summer.
10. Brouard, F., & Elson, P.R. (2014). International Comparison of Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM). Canadian Journal of Nonprofit & Social Economy Research / Revue Canadienne de Recherche Sur Les OSBL et l’économie Sociale, 5(1), 3-5.
11. Cannatelli, B. (2017). Exploring the Contingencies of Scaling Social Impact: A Replication and Extension of the SCALERS Model. Voluntas, 28(6), 2707-2733. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-016-9789-x
12. Davis, S. (2016). Relocating Development Communication: Social Entrepreneurship, International Networking, and South-South Cooperation in the Viva Rio NGO. International Journal of Com-munication, 10, 42-59.
13. Dees, G.J., Anderson, B.B., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2004). Scaling social impact. Strategies for spreading social innovations. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring, 24-32.
14. Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2017). Mapping social enterprise models: some evidence from the “ICSEM” project. Social Enterprise Journal, 13(4, SI), 318-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/SEJ-09-2017-0049
15. Desa, G. (2012). Resource Mobilization in International Social Entrepreneurship: Bricolage as
16. a Mechanism of Institutional Transformation. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 36(4), 727-751. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2010.00430.x
17. Doherty, B., Haugh, H., & Lyon, F. (2014). Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations: A Review and Research Agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16(4), 417-436. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12028
18. Frances, W., & Antadze, N. (2010). Making a Difference: Strategies for Scaling Social Innovation for Greater Impact. Innovation Journal, 15(2), 1-19.
19. Friedrich, D.S. (2014). Global microlending in education reform: Enseñá por Argentina and the Neoliberalization of the grassroots. Comparative Education Review, 58(2), 296-321. https://doi.org/10.1086/675412
20. Galera, G., & Borzaga, C. (2009). Social enterprise. Social Enterprise Journal, 5(3), 210-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/17508610911004313
21. Galvin, M., & Iannotti, L. (2015). Social Enterprise and Development: The KickStart Model. Volun-tas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations, 26(2), 421-441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-013-9424-z
22. Jack, S.L., & Anderson, A.R. (2002). The effects of embeddedness on the entrepreneurial process. Journal of Business Venturing, 17(5), 467-487. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(01)00076-3
23. Jones, M.V., Coviello, N., & Tang, Y.K. (2011). International Entrepreneurship research (1989-2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis. Journal of Business Venturing, 26(6), 632-659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2011.04.001
24. Keupp, M.M., & Gassmann, O. (2009). The Past and the Future of International Entrepreneurship:
25. A Review and Suggestions for Developing the Field. Journal of Management, 35(3), 600-633. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206308330558
26. Kowalik, I., Danik, L., Král, P., & Řezanková, H. (2017). Antecedents of Accelerated Internationalisa-tion of Polish and Czech Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, 5(3), 31-48. https://doi.org/10.15678/EBER.2017.050302
27. Oviatt, B.M., & McDougall, P.P. (2005). Defining International Entrepreneurship and Modeling the Speed of Internationalization. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 537-554. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00097.x
28. Petrů, N., & Havlíček, K. (2017). Family entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic on the verge of first generation handover. Journal of International Studies, 10(4), 119-130. doi:10.14254/2071-8330.2017/10-4/9
29. Ratajczak-Mrozek, M. (2017). Interorganizational Network Embeddedness and Performance of Companies Active on Foreign Markets. Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, 25(4), 144-157.
30. Sarasvathy, S., Kumar, K., York, J.G., & Bhagavatula, S. (2014). An Effectual Approach to Interna-tional Entrepreneurship: Overlaps, Challenges, and Provocative Possibilities. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 38(1), 71-93. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12088
31. Tukamushaba, E., Orobia, L., & George, B. (2011). Development of a conceptual model to under-stand international social entrepreneurship and its application in the Ugandan context. Jour-nal of International Entrepreneurship, 9(4), 282-298.
32. Walske, J.M., & Tyson, L.D. (2015). Built to Scale. A Comparative Case Analysis, Assessing How Social Enterprises Scale. The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 16(4), 269-281. https://doi.org/10.5367/ijei.2015.0197
33. Weber, C., Kröger, A., & Lambrich, K. (2012). Scaling social enterprises – a theoretically grounded framework. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 32(19), 1-15.
34. Westley, F., Antadze, N., Riddell, D.J., Robinson, K., & Geobey, S. (2014). Five Configurations for Scaling Up Social Innovation. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 50(3), 234-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021886314532945
35. Yang, Y., & Wu, S. (2015). An Exploratory Study to Understand the Internationalization Strategies of Social Enterprises. Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 6(1), 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2014.954255
36. Zahra, S.A., Newey, L.R., & Li, Y. (2014). On the Frontiers: The Implications of Social Entrepreneur-ship for International Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship: Theory & Practice, 38(1), 137-158. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12061
37. Zemaitaitiene, G., Tiskute, A., & Tvaronaviciene, A. (2016). Enterprise Social Networking: Innova-tion Difficult to Adopt?. Economics & Sociology, 9(2), 303-312.