Social entrepreneurship is on the rise and social enterprises are solving some of the most critical and enduring social problems by using innovative, pragmatic and sustainable business models. Access to knowledge thanks to the Internet and rapid expansion of the knowledge economy are opening new opportunities for social ventures. With knowledge-based social entrepreneurship where knowledge is the primary resource, more pressing social problems can be addressed by using advanced technologies. This book investigates this emerging concept, possibilities that it holds, its place in today’s economy, and links bridges between knowledge, innovation, and social entrepreneurship. Academics, entrepreneurs, students, and NGOs will find the theoretical and practical information presented in this book extremely valuable.

'Social innovation’ can be simply defined as the new ideas and initiatives that make it possible to meet our society’s challenges in areas such as the environment, education, employment, culture, health and economic development. It is currently becoming increasingly important as a central concept for social theories and politics. This edited volume brings together interdisciplinary contributions which examine the complex interrelation between innovation and social problems, a link which has been surprisingly underexplored in academia and practice thus far. Social Innovation: New Forms of Organisation in Knowledge–Based Societies examines the mutual interdependence of innovation processes and social affairs. This interdependent relationship is characterised by a high degree of complexity which stems on the one hand from the true uncertain character of innovation and on the other hand from the different time scales in both domains. The alliance between innovation and social policy is highly relevant to the challenges which we are facing in the 21st century, such as resource scarcity, ageing societies and climate change. All of these issues demand substantial, continuous and sustainable structural change to maintain international competitiveness. Social change can only be understood by improving our knowledge about the impact of innovation processes in their co-evolutionary alliance with social evolution. The purpose of this book is to increase awareness of social participation among civil society organisations, SMEs, governments and research institutions, in order to promote economic, political and social changes that enhance collective welfare. This volume offers a key starting point for those looking to further explore this important realm of social research.

Available for the First Time: The Complete Social Entrepreneur's Playbook Covers all three phases of the start-up to scale-up process, developed with reader feedback from "one of the more unusual ebook...experiments of the year" (ThinReads) Wharton professor Ian C. MacMillan and Dr. James Thompson, director of the Wharton Social Entrepreneurship Program, provide a tough-love approach that significantly increases the likelihood of a successful social enterprise launch in the face of the high-uncertainty conditions typically encountered by social entrepreneurs. MacMillan and Thompson used their own systematic framework to publish The Social Entrepreneur's Playbook. To test the market, they offered the first phase in their start-up method (step 1) as a free ebook. Readers were invited to join The Social Entrepreneur's Advisory Group, and nearly 300 aspiring and active social entrepreneurs shared feedback that helped shape the complete edition of the book, which covers all three steps in the start-up to scale-up process. Based on this crowd-sourced feedback from readers of the free ebook and drawing on the authors' more than 26 years' combined experience developing and studying social enterprises in the field across Africa and in the United States, this new edition provides guidance for each phase: Phase One: Pressure Test Your Start-Up Idea. Based on the free ebook, this expanded section now includes advice on setting revenue and social impact goals, how to navigate the sociopolitical landscape, and how to develop a strong concept statement. In addition, MacMillan and Thompson provide advice on how to identify and test a proposed revenue-generating solution and define and segment your target population. Phase Two: Plan Your Social Enterprise. All new to this edition, this critical phase shows you how to frame and scope the venture, determine what it will take to actually deliver a sustainable enterprise, identify the key assumptions that have been made, and design checkpoints to test those assumptions before making major investments. Phase Three: Launch and Scale Your Social Enterprise. Available for the first time in this edition, you will learn how to effectively launch your enterprise, manage upside potential and downside risk, and strategically scale up. Filled with accessible frameworks and tools, as well as inspiring stories of social entrepreneurs, The Social Entrepreneur's Playbook is a must-read for any aspiring or active social entrepreneur, as well as philanthropists, foundations, and nonprofits interested in doing more good with fewer resources. Includes access to downloadable planning documents, including user-friendly spreadsheets

In a book presented in a Q-and-A format, the authors explain what social entrepreneurs are, how their organizations function, what challenges they face and how readers can get involved in the efforts that social entrepreneurs are spearheading. Cowritten by the author of How to Change the World. Original.

This accessible textbook provides a comprehensive guide to the building blocks of sustainable social enterprise, exploring how core elements contribute to either the success or failure of the social venture. It analyzes the key skills needed to synthesize effective business practices with effective social innovation and points out both what works and what does not. Taking a practical approach, it demonstrates how big ideas can be transformed into entities that produce lasting change.

This book argues that embeddedness and community participation bring unique propositions for social entrepreneurship to foster social inclusion. It uncovers the role of local knowledge and grassroots level innovations to create necessary environment for the positive social change to roll. Social enterprises have proven to reduce drudgery of poor and excluded by offering creative and innovative solutions for long standing social problems. The grassroots level creative problem solving mechanisms they initiate travel through a variety of local dynamics and cultural contexts. However, social innovations quite often do not achieve their intended results, especially when they fail to understand the local contexts and embed themselves in such dynamism. In this background, the book attempts to understand and analyse the 'connect' between the social innovations and local dynamism. It argues that the community-driven innovation management which is based on local knowledge inspires the social entrepreneurial process and builds capacities and infrastructure to foster social inclusion. Each chapter in this book offers development scholars rich narration about how social problems have been approached, addressed, and altered through rich insights from communities and the social entrepreneurial teams.

This volume explores the links between the rapidly growing phenomenon of social entrepreneurship (SE) and the international tourism and hospitality industry. This unique industry is particularly ripe for transformation by SE and the book’s authors delve deeply into the reasons for this. The book has three parts. The first creates a conceptual and theoretical framework for understanding the uniqueness of SE in the tourism context. The second examines different communities of practice where SE is being applied in tourism. The third is a rich collection of case studies from eight countries where tourism SE is already having an impact. The book’s authors address the topic from many different angles, disciplinary backgrounds and geographic areas. Many case study authors are practicing social entrepreneurs who share their successes, challenges and experience with tourism-related projects. The book also proposes a research agenda and educational programmatic changes needed to support tourism SE. As these are developed, tourism SE will bring innovation to destinations, transformation of their economic and social structures, and contribution to a better world. The book has many insights and resources for scholars and practitioners alike to usher in this transformation.