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Purpose
– Social entrepreneurial organizations have gained in awareness and interest among researchers, yet we know relatively little about how these organizations are able to create social and economic value. This paper seeks to understand how such organizations have managed to achieve scale and sustainability in developing economies – often lacking the institutions, networks and resources required to support their growth – whilst also maintaining their focus on a social mission.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper presents a comparative case analysis of three social entrepreneurial organizations based in Bangladesh, Egypt and Spain that have been widely recognized as successful. It utilizes an explorative research approach with data gathered from many sources including published and unpublished articles, existing case studies, personal interviews and internet sources.
Findings
– Analysis of these three business models reveals common patterns in the use of strategic resources, in their value networks, and in customer interface. The findings suggest that successful social entrepreneurial organizations: proactively create their own value networks of companies that share their social vision; develop resource strategies as an integral part of the business model; and integrate their target groups into the social value network.
Research limitations/implications
– There are limitations in the sampling and data analysis approach, however, this study provides a first step towards a more inclusive empirical research agenda in the future.
Practical implications
– The paper offers interesting insights for existing for‐profit multi‐business companies to rethink their business models, particularly for developing country contexts.
Originality/value
– This paper encourages managers to think beyond the creation of economic value and demonstrates how social entrepreneurs achieve sustainable growth based on building complementary networks of stakeholders and resources integrated into the value chain. It provides propositions regarding the business models of successful social entrepreneurial organizations and hopes to stimulate managerial interest in alternative business models and future empirical research which builds on these qualitative findings.
This case introduces the Institute of OneWorld Health (IOWH), a company dedicated to producing drugs for neglected diseases and the first non-profit pharmaceutical company in the world. Founded in 2000 by Dr Victoria Hale, IOWH took expired and donated patent compounds and developed them through all the stages of clinical testing and approval into drugs to fight the world's most destructive diseases, usually occurring in Third World countries where perceived profitable markets did not yet exist. By 2004 IOWH was at the stage of presenting its first Phase 3 Clinical Trial results for Paromomycin, a drug developed for Visceral Leishmaniasis, which kills as many as 200,000 people each year in India, Bangladesh, Sudan, Brazil, and Nepal. Its next task was to form partnerships with other organisations to manufacture and distribute the drug; the case focuses on Dr Hale's strategy for IOWH going forward, with particular reference to its core competencies and mission. The case encourages students to consider other models with similar aims and to observe how social entrepreneurs such as Dr Hale endeavour to overcome the market failures that exist for basic health care in the world's least developed countries.