Whether or not your politics leads you to blame the private sector partly, wholly or not-at-all, the fact is that the fall-out has left a huge hole in the finances of the public sector, charities and the foundations that fund charities just at the time they are needed most. In this context the idea of social businesses stepping in with their new way of doing business is appealing. Social businesses are different from traditional charities and the public sector in two ways: firstly they generate income, making them, theoretically, much more sustainable; and secondly their role is often viewed not so much to clean up the mess left behind by big business as to educate these organisations on a ‘new way to do business’. Having concluded that social businesses represent (part of) the answer, the debate moves to focussing on what the best way is to do this? Is it by engaging with big businesses or by competing with them?
To my mind, first and foremost it has to be by sticking around long enough to make any difference. Here, social entrepreneurs – and their numerous vocal advisors and support providers – don’t exactly make life easy for themselves. These are tough times for social entrepreneurs – in fact, all entrepreneurs – to grow a sustainable business. If growing a business is tough, then solving a social problem at the same time is tougher still. For most social entrepreneurs this isn’t enough, however. They attempt to solve two or three social problems at a time, whilst being environmentally responsible, supporting long-tem unemployed, giving 50% of profits back to the community and/or building in an asset-lock and dividend cap that send potential investors running to the hills… Yes, social entrepreneurs are brilliant people…but that isn’t half asking a lot. Is it any wonder we’re left with Divine Chocolate, Fifteen and … um… as examples of thriving social enterprises challenging the system from within?
Shared Value Supply Chains 