Essay Sample on Social Entrepreneurship: The Business of Solving Social Issues

Introduction

Social media entrepreneurship started in 2003 through a team of non-government organizational heads that were included in the pioneering social entrepreneurship session at the World Economic Forum that took place in Davos. It mainly refers to an approach of aligning various business techniques and mechanisms on the market to solving social issues such as environmental harm, crime with violence, and poverty. Since its launch, the social entrepreneurship concept has dominated the business arena leading to the emergent of unprecedented socially-conscious models. There has also arisen a high demand for competent organizational leaders that are capable of spearheading innovations along socially respective lines. Notably, socially-conscious models of businesses guarantee an unbeatable competitive advantage on the premise of customer satisfaction, experiential consumption, and a goodwill reputation.

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The social entrepreneurship method presents a multi-purpose model to businesses since it can be differently applied depending on the type and functionality of the organization. Such that, no-profit organizations find the social entrepreneurship approach to dealings as a sure way of diverting from charity-based practices to sustainably facilitated and funded initiatives that can work independently for an extended period (Schaper, 2016). This approach echoes the needs and requirements of sustainable development for organizations across the global markets and industries (Schaper, 2016).

Similarly, for-profit organizations make progress through healthy relations with the public whereby a belief that the capacity of businesses to intervene social issues provides opportunities to explore and penetrate new markets while expansively helping in developing socio-cultural communities. For example, Coca-Cola prioritizes sponsorship to the Brazilian women in business training programs (The Economist, 2019). These approaches to business awareness and social entrepreneurship via helpful responsibilities make way for social empowerment through operating kiosks that sell the company's beverage products. It is also key to luring skilled and qualified talents that befit the opportunities to work for more than just remunerations (Schaper, 2016).

Businesses that adopt social responsibilities have opportunities to drive successful innovations by reaching to potential talents and contributors via a wide range of informed corporate social responsibility initiatives. The INSEAD Social Entrepreneurship Program (ISEP) has yielded similar milestones in social innovation that put INSEAD in a competitive position (The Economist, 2019). Social entrepreneurship and social Innovation programs are also similarly manifested at the Hertie School. The Harvard Business School has also mutually benefited with host communities from socially-driven educational programs such as the leaders of for-profits and non-profits (The Economist, 2019). Notably, the advocacy for leadership techniques such as inclusive transformational styles, which prolifically contribute to revamping organizational approach to success-dependent ideas, calls for effective social entrepreneurship to enable exemplary learning (Simsek, Jansen, Minichilli, & EscribaEsteve, 2015).

Social entrepreneurship paves the way for the use of effective mentorship programs that aim to nurture newer generations of social entrepreneurs. This claim is built on the premise that the use of inclusive transformational leadership techniques focuses on addressing the needs and requirements of the followers (Simsek et al., 2015). Inclusive educational programs make it easy for the transference of knowledge and nurturing of skills to meet the various job requirements that can enable sterling performance for the business (Simsek et al., 2015). For instance, the Stanford's EPSE cohorts access opportunities to take part in design thinking camps whereby lessons and techniques of defining issues, empathizing with clients and creating prototypical programs that aim to build new social initiatives (The Economist, 2019). ISEP learners also deal with problem-solving challenges on themes such as the negotiation of tradeoffs between being answerable to the shareholders or responsibly addressing the needs and requirements of the local stakeholders.

Further, businesses that undertake social entrepreneurship initiatives are accessed to a wide range of networks and connections that could help in defining growth and establishment. For the organizational fraternities, the adoption of these social entrepreneurship initiatives provides an experiential learning opportunity to sharpen their approaches to trade and socio-economic challenges (Carraher, Welsh, & Svilokos, 2016). For instance, Stanford strives to advocate for a social media connection among the EPSE alumni, and the sustained rapport leads to their invitation back to the campus to interact with the participants of the program (The Economist, 2019). ISEP is also reported to align an entire society around social entrepreneurial know-how. Therefore, it remains that a significant strength cannot be found lying in the diversity of the participants' backgrounds but in the network that is connecting that extrapolates beyond the completion of the course.

For these reasons, contemporary world leaders are often evaluated on the grounds of the widening social agendas. Applicably, non-profit organizations, must thus function like businesses to discern a vision and recognize the role of innovation and novel models to the needs and requirements of the business and the society at large (Simsek et al., 2015). Projections show that the adoption of a contagious social entrepreneurship mindset will, soon, dominate the area of organizational leadership and management (The Economist, 2019).

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the social entrepreneurship technique grants businesses, non-profits, and learning institutions such as universities the capacity to lead in the various industries of function due to the prioritization of the needs and requirements of the people (Carraher et al., 2016). Simsek and colleagues (2015) postulate that leadership opportunities are placed on the frontline of the rapidly growing trends of adopting the social entrepreneurship technique in organizations of all kinds to keep up with the trends and alterations that call for informed strategic inclusion of social issues in businesses to enable sustainable development at large.

References

Carraher, S. M., Welsh, D. H., & Svilokos, A. (2016). Validation of a measure of social entrepreneurship. European Journal of International Management, 10(4), 386-402. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dianne_Welsh/publication/304710054_Validation_of_a_measure_of_social_entrepreneurship/links/5aa522820f7e9badd9aa5f38/Validation-of-a-measure-of-social-entrepreneurship.pdf

Schaper, M. (Ed.). (2016). Making ecopreneurs: Developing sustainable entrepreneurship. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. Retrieved from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8AMfDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=social+entrepreneurship+book&ots=H1OCIMmkIK&sig=EpvFChwg5TVS0Wx0Bzmew4UU6U8

Simsek, Z., Jansen, J. J., Minichilli, A., & EscribaEsteve, A. (2015). Strategic leadership and leaders in entrepreneurial contexts: A nexus for innovation and impact missed?. Journal of Management Studies, 52(4), 463-478. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Justin_Jansen2/publication/274967945_Strategic_Leadership_and_Leaders_in_Entrepreneurial_Contexts_A_Nexus_for_Innovation_and_Impact_Missed/links/57da9a3c08ae72d72ea356a5/Strategic-Leadership-and-Leaders-in-Entrepreneurial-Contexts-A-Nexus-for-Innovation-and-Impact-Missed.pdf

The Economist. (2019). Why Social Entrepreneurs are Taking the Lead. [online]. Retrieved from: https://execed.economist.com/career-advice/industry-trends/why-social-entrepreneurs-are-taking-lead (Accessed: Aug. 12, 2019).