Social Entrepreneurship Forum » Reviews

Creating a Space in the Market: Social Enterprise in Asia

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:21:03 +0000

by Marie Lisa M. Dacanay

Creating A Space in the Market

For the past decade, social enterprise has been a buzzword in the arena of both business and philanthropy. But what does social enterprise actually mean for Asia and what is or was its impact on building a more equitable and sustainable marketplace?

Creating a Space in the Market: Social Enterprise in Asia, edited by Marie Lisa M. Dacanay, is a ‘must read’ for anyone involved in development work or seriously thinking of setting up a social enterprise in the region. There are few documented cases of Asian social enterprises to speak of, and even fewer that marry the two sometimes opposing but powerful concepts of enterprise profitability and social mission in the context of our Asian socioeconomic landscape as aptly as this book.

The book casts a comprehensive light on the beginnings and evolution of social entrepreneurship in Asia – an area rarely studied and documented – through indepth analyses illustrated with graphs, maps and tables. Examples of social enterprises in Asia are also stripped to bare bones as they are analysed down to minute details from their exact expenditure and earnings to external factors such as government help and/or intervention as well as special advantages social enterprises have such as foundation grants and support.

A total of 13 in-depth case studies of varying organisational models from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, India, Thailand, South Korea and the Philippines, were made reference. They emphasize on the three types of social enterprise development strategies – empowerment, intermediation and resource mobilization – which are also highlighted and thoroughly examined in the book. Lisa Dacanay also tackles the pertinent issue of measuring the performance of social enterprises. Lastly, the possibility of sustainability in development through the concept of social enterprise is made accessible in this book.

The research-book project is published by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and the Conference of Asian Foundations and Organisations (CAFO), and is one of the most comprehensive publications on Social Enterprises and Social Entrepreneurs in Asia.

About the author

Marie Lisa M. Dacanay is the president of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia (ISEA), a consortium initiative set up in June 2008 by major social enterprise resource institutions, networks and academic institutions based in Singapore, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. She is also an adjunct professor and leading researcher at the AIM.

Doing Good Well: What does (and does not) make sense in the nonprofit world

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:20:12 +0000

By Willie Cheng

Doing Good Well

As its name suggests, Doing Good Well urges its readers not to simply do good but also to do good well by offering a fresh perspective on how the social sector can capitalise business and management principles without compromising the social mission. Willie Cheng applies more than two decades of management consultancy experience to the social sector where he is actively involved in Singapore.

In chapter 15, Social Entrepreneurship: Innovating Social Change, he talks about new social models of social entrepreneurship, illustrating with many examples of international social entrepreneurs as well as a case study of local social entrepreneur, Jack Sim of World Toilet Organisation. He also raised the interesting question of whether one would have more impact in the social sector as a social entrepreneur or a business entrepreneur who simply chooses to donate with the example of philanthropist Warren Buffet who chose to give his gains in businesses through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation instead of working in the social sector himself.

In another chapter, Social Enterprise, he provides theoretical frameworks and analyses of social enterprises. He compared two case studies, and highlighted the pitfalls and challenges of social enterprises. He also cautions readers against having the highly mistaken idea of a social enterprise as a charity doing business.

Willie Cheng provides much food for thought with his paradoxes powerfully put across as pertinent questions, such as “Why does a deserving charity struggle to make ends meet while another which squanders money, live?”, “Is the continuous growth the hallmark of a successful charity?, and “Would you use volunteers if it actually cost more than hiring paid skilled staff?”. All which he then gave unconventional answers as well as the reasons for them. For example, Cheng argues against the traditional idea of success – that of sustainability and/or growth – and that a successful non-profit should ultimately become extinct.

He also made bold, provocative statements such as his chapter, Planned Giving: Raising Money from the Dead”, after which he provided statistics and good reasons to why Asian donors should follow their Western counterparts in giving in the form of bequests after death.

Doing Good Well fills the gap for much needed literature of the social sector in Asia, especially in Singapore. The book illustrates its theoretical concepts with a good mix of both local and international context and examples as well as Willie’s personal anecdotes. A chapter is devoted to each of 20 related topics, allowing readers to delve right into topics they are especially interested in while having a good overview of the social sector in Singapore. The 20 chapters are further categorised into five sections – Sector & Goverance, Nonprofit management, Giving, Social Innovation and Doing Good Well? – for a more coherent understanding.

Do good as you buy this book – All royalties from the sale of ‘Doing Good Well’ will go to charity.

About the author:

Willie Cheng was a partner of global management consulting firm, Accenture, for more than 20 years. Since his retirement in 2003, he has been actively involved in the social sector. He served as Chairman of Singapore’s National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre where he helped launched its bi-monthly magazine, SALT, and where he is still a regular contributor. He is now the chairman of the Lien Center for Social Innovation and Caritas Singapore.

Contacts/For more information:
Visit www.doinggoodwell.net

The Power of Unreasonable People

admin — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:14:30 +0000

By Pamela Hartigan and John Elkingston

The Power of Unreasonable People

The idea of the unreasonable man came from renowned playwright George Bernard Shaw who said: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Authors Pamela Hartigan and John Elkington argue that social entrepreneurs are such unreasonable people – they disrupt and restructure traditional business models to tackle the critical challenges of the world from poverty to climate change and other issues.

The book addresses a few fundamental questions about social entrepreneurship: What is the general consensus on who social entrepreneurs are? What are the different kinds of social enterprise models? Should and how can social impact be measured? How differently do social entrepreneurs think as compared to their business counterparts?

For social entrepreneurs, examples of entrepreneurs accompany the many points made in the book and success stories provide valuable insights of how these unreasonable people are shifting paradigms of the world by building innovative enterprises to solve pressing economic, environmental and social problems of the world. An analysis of why their enterprise is innovative, how it would impact the community or beneficiaries and what could be learnt from them is illustrated. Some notable names that appear frequently among the many mentioned are Muhammad Yunus of the Grameen Group, Kyle Zimmer from First Book, and Nick Moon and Martin Fisher from KickStart.

The Power of Unreasonable People, filled with numerous examples and success stories from all over the world, clearly puts across how the small but promising movement of social entrepreneurship could help solve the big problem of poverty and other social issues. At the same time, it encourages social entrepreneurs to be boldly “unreasonable”.

About the authors

John Elkingston is the founder of global consultancy firm SustainAbility Ltd and Pamela Hartigan is the managing director for the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Both the authors are founding partners of Volans Ventures, a for-profit organization based in Singapore and London that provides support for social enterprises including consultancy and portfolio building services.