@article{SeelosMair, author = {Seelos, Christian and Mair, Johanna}, title = {Innovation Is Not the Holy Grail}, series = {Stanford Social Innovation Review}, volume = {Fall 2012}, journal = {Stanford Social Innovation Review}, pages = {45 -- 49}, language = {en} } @misc{MairSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Seelos, Christian}, title = {La Iniciativa Sekem}, series = {Mejorar la gestion de empresas}, journal = {Mejorar la gestion de empresas}, publisher = {McGrawHill}, address = {Madrid}, isbn = {9788448146382}, pages = {280-309}, language = {es} } @article{SeelosMair, author = {Seelos, Christian and Mair, Johanna}, title = {Mastering System Change}, series = {Stanford Social Innovation Review}, journal = {Stanford Social Innovation Review}, number = {Fall 2018}, language = {en} } @incollection{SeelosMair, author = {Seelos, Christian and Mair, Johanna}, title = {Organizational closure competencies and scaling: A realist approach to theorizing social enterprise}, series = {Social entrepreneurship and research methods}, booktitle = {Social entrepreneurship and research methods}, publisher = {Emerald Group Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, isbn = {978-1-78441-142-8}, pages = {147 -- 188}, abstract = {Purpose Social entrepreneurs create novel approaches to social problems such as poverty. But scaling these approaches to the dimension of the problem can be a difficult task. In the social enterprise sector, the subject of scaling has become a key dimension of organizational performance. This chapter advances the scholarly literature on the scaling of social enterprises, a literature which is currently in an embryonic stage and characterized by conceptual ambiguity and fragmented perspectives. Methodology/Approach We engage realist philosophy of science to develop mechanism-based causal explanations of the scaling performance of social enterprises. We also develop a coding scheme to guide systematic empirical analysis and highlight the explanatory power of counterfactuals. Counterfactuals have been largely neglected in empirical research as they represent mechanisms that are enabled but remain unobservable - in a state of suppression or neutralization of their effects. Findings We question the ability of organizations to "socially engineer" desired outcomes and introduce a new construct - organizational closure competence. Anchored in realism, this construct provides a basis for productive approaches to social engineering. We elaborate on the importance of organizational closure competencies for scaling, derive a series of propositions, and develop ideas for future research and for practice. Research, Practical and Social Implications Applying a realist lens allows us to add empirical rigor to research on social enterprises and scaling. Our approach constitutes a move from rich narratives to causal models and informs the way we design and evaluate efforts to address important societal challenges. Originality/Value of Chapter This chapter demonstrates how to operationalize realist philosophy of science for causal explanations of complex social phenomena and better utilize its theoretical and practical value.}, language = {en} } @article{MairSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Organizations, Social Problems, and System Change: Invigorating the Third Mandate of Organizational Research}, series = {Organization Theory}, volume = {2}, journal = {Organization Theory}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1177/26317877211054858}, pages = {1 -- 22}, abstract = {Organizations across sectors appear to be shifting their ambitions from solving social problems to changing entire social systems. This phenomenon offers a timely opportunity to revisit what came to be known as the third mandate of organizational theory. In this paper we interrogate how organizational scholarship can productively explore and theorize the relationship between organizations and social systems in organized system change - an effort by organizations to alter the conditions that generate the characteristics of social problems and their dynamics of change. As a basis for theorizing organized system change, we develop an analytical scaffold that helps researchers to attend to fundamental aspects of the phenomenon and to achieve parsimony without blanking out complexity. Grounded in realist metatheory and principles, the scaffold reduces ambiguity, provides a backbone for empirical analysis, and favours mechanism-based explanation. We suggest that generating theoretically interesting and practically adequate knowledge on organized system change requires attention to three system realms: First, the subjectively constructed problem realm of systems concerned with processes of evaluating and problematizing situations. Second, the objectively constituted situational realm that attends to factual characteristics of situations and their dynamics of change. And third, the realm of causality understood as the mechanisms that generate both the objective characteristics of situations and the subjective criteria by which situations are evaluated as problems. In concluding, we reflect on the topics of boundaries and power as two promising areas for theorizing organized system change.}, language = {en} } @incollection{BattilanaButlerKimseyetal., author = {Battilana, Julie and Butler, Brittany and Kimsey, Marissa and Mair, Johanna and Marquis, Christopher and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Problem, person, and pathway: A framework for social innovators}, series = {Handbook of Inclusive Innovation}, booktitle = {Handbook of Inclusive Innovation}, editor = {George, Gerard and Baker, Ted and Tracey, Paul and Joshi, Havovi}, publisher = {Edward Elgar Publishing}, address = {Cheltenham}, isbn = {9781786436009}, doi = {10.4337/9781786436016}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {61 -- 74}, language = {en} } @article{MairSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Profitable business models and market creation in the context of deep poverty: A strategic view}, series = {Academy of Management Perspectives}, volume = {21}, journal = {Academy of Management Perspectives}, number = {4}, issn = {1558-9080}, doi = {10.5465/AMP.2007.27895339}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-21813}, pages = {49 -- 63}, abstract = {The bottom of the pyramid (BOP) in the global distribution of income has been promoted as a significant opportunity for companies to grow profitably. Under the BOP approach, poor people are identified as potential customers who can be served if companies learn to fundamentally rethink their existing strategies and business models. This involves acquiring and building new resources and capabilities and forging a multitude of local partnerships. However, current BOP literature remains relatively silent about how to actually implement such a step into the unknown. We use two BOP cases to illustrate a strategic framework that reduces managerial complexity. In our view, existing capabilities and existing local BOP models can be leveraged to build new markets that include the poor and generate sufficient financial returns for companies to justify investments.}, language = {en} } @article{MairSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Quand le business devient un outil contre la pauvret{\´e}}, series = {Business Digest, French edition}, journal = {Business Digest, French edition}, edition = {193}, abstract = {{\`A} l'heure o{\`u} tout nouveau d{\´e}bouch{\´e} est un enjeu strat{\´e}gique de taille, peut-on ignorer {\`a} la masse de consommateurs des pays du Sud ? Focus r{\´e}alis{\´e} d'apr{\`e}s « Profitable Business Models and Market Creation in the Context of Deep Poverty: A Strategic View », de Christian Seelos et Johanna Mair, Academy of Management Perspectives, novembre 2007, et l'interview d'Iqbal Quadir, fondateur et directeur du Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship (US), f{\´e}vrier 2009.}, language = {fr} } @article{MairWolfSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Wolf, Miriam and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Scaffolding: A Process of Transforming Patterns of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies}, series = {Academy of Management Journal}, volume = {59}, journal = {Academy of Management Journal}, number = {6}, issn = {0001-4273}, doi = {10.5465/amj.2015.0725}, pages = {2021 -- 2044}, abstract = {This study advances research on organizational efforts to tackle multidimensional, complex, and interlinked societal challenges. We examine how social inequality manifests in small-scale societies, and illustrate how it inheres in entrenched patterns of behavior and interaction. Asking how development programs can be organizing tools to transform these patterns of inequality, we use a program sponsored by an Indian non-governmental organization as our empirical window and leverage data that we collected over a decade. We identify "scaffolding" as a process that enables and organizes the transformation of behavior and interaction patterns. Three interrelated mechanisms make the transformation processes adaptive and emerging alternative social orders robust: (1) mobilizing institutional, social organizational, and economic resources; (2) stabilizing new patterns of interaction that reflect an alternative social order; and (3) concealing goals that are neither anticipated nor desired by some groups. Through this analysis, we move beyond conventional thinking on unintended consequences proposed in classic studies on organizations, complement contemporary research about how organizations effect positive social change by pursuing multiple goals, and develop portable insights for organizational efforts in tackling inequality. This study provides a first link between the study of organizational efforts to alleviate social problems and the transformation of social systems.}, language = {en} } @misc{MairSeelos, author = {Mair, Johanna and Seelos, Christian}, title = {Sekem: Liberating a Vision, an Artistic Approach to Entrepreneurship}, publisher = {IESE Business School}, pages = {21}, abstract = {This case portrays a complex set of circumstances that frames Sekem's decisions to further grow and develop the initiative along its historical path of holistic development in the social, economic and cultural spheres. The case documents the history of the initiative and lays out the major constituents and their internal and external relations. Sekem was founded by Ibrahim Abouleish, an Egyptian who had been living, studying and working in Austria prior to his return to Egypt in 1977, the year he established Sekem. Literally starting from nothing, ie, a piece of desert land north of Cairo, Abouleish showed tremendous resourcefulness, creativity, and perseverance. Driven by a strong belief in his personal mission, Abouleish built up the Sekem initiative that in 2003 consisted of three main parts: the Sekem group of companies, the Egyptian Society for Cultural Development and the Co-operative of Sekem Employees, together employing more than 2,000 people. Sekem was also a hub managing a large network of associated farmers and companies within Egypt and abroad. It also ran a medical centre for the local community, a kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, an adult training centre, special needs education programmes, and an academy for applied arts and sciences. In 2003, Abouleish won the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize', in recognition of Sekem being the blueprint of the organisation of the 21st century. Abouleish has also received an award as an 'outstanding social entrepreneur' from the Schwab Foundation of the World Economic Forum. Abouleish's objective was to heal Egyptian society from the wounds of the past and to initiate holistic development able to create economic, social and cultural value in a sustainable manner.}, language = {en} }