Social entrepreneurship: The case for definition
By Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg
The term “social entrepreneurship” is not clearly defined today. In order to understand it, we should start by looking at the characteristics of entrepreneurship.
What is entrepreneurship?
In the 19th century, the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say was the first to give a definition of entrepreneurship and describes entrepreneurs as the “ones who undertake”. Besides common personal characteristics such as opportunity sensing, out-of-the-box thinking and determination, entrepreneurs share the ability to identify a gap in or failure of current systems and see embedded in it an opportunity to provide a new solution, product, service or process. They are inspired to alter this unpleasant equilibrium and take direct action to develop a new solution, despite the risk of failure. Finally, entrepreneurs possess the fortitude to drive their creative solutions through to fruition and market adoption.
What is the difference between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship?
The main distinction between entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs is the value proposition itself. For the entrepreneur, the value proposition anticipates and is organized to serve markets that can afford the new product or service, and is thus designed to generate financial profit. Instead, the social entrepreneur’s purpose is to create social value by primarily addressing an underprivileged target group ultimately aiming for transformational change of the society.
What is social entrepreneurship?
We define social entrepreneurship as having the following three components: (1) identifying a gap in or failure of a current system that causes the exclusion, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity that lacks the financial means or political influence to drive change on its own; (2) identifying an opportunity in this unjust situation, developing a social value proposition, and implementing a social innovation by applying inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage and fortitude; and (3) creating a change of the system that releases trapped potential or alleviates the suffering of the targeted group and finally (through imitation and the establishment of a strong ecosystem around the new solution) creates a series of reactions and ensures a better future for the targeted group and even society at large.
