Social Entrepreneurs and Capitalism

This week’s topic is about making sure that your social venture has the capacity to fulfill the mission of the organization and maintain a sustainable model. Venture Philanthropy Partners state that the capacity framework includes seven essential elements. The three foundational elements that make an up the base of an organization is: systems and infrastructure, human resources and organizational structure. Other essential elements are: aspirations, strategy and organizational skills. An analysis of these components will allow you to know where the gaps in your capabilities are as an organization.

A supplemental article I found on Forbes.com for this topic is called “The Rise of Social Entrepreneurship Suggests A Possible Future For Global Capitalism.” The authors state that this recently formalized model under B Corp, ensures that the revenue support social impact. With that being said, it is no longer a strange idea to only invest in programs for social ventures but also the structure of the organizations as well, in order to create a bigger social impact. Also, last week Ian and Jenna from Thread talked about how they were planning on leveraging other established companies who needed to improve on their image to the public, which in hand would enhance their mission and business. This article calls this ethical capitalism, where ethical behavior is now a competitive advantage for companies. My question is though, would game theory come into play here? If only one company sells their social impact then that company will have an advantage but if all companies try to sell their social impact to consumers then their message is lost in the mass wave of advertisement…

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/skollworldforum/2013/05/02/the-rise-of-social-entrepreneurship-suggests-a-possible-future-for-global-capitalism/