A conceptual model of critical success factors for Indian social enterprises

Published date09 May 2016
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/WJEMSD-09-2015-0042
Date09 May 2016
AuthorMir Shahid Satar,Shibu John
Subject MatterStrategy,Business ethics,Sustainability
A conceptual model of critical success factors for Indian
social enterprises
Background
Critical success factors (CSF’s)
1
have been defined as the ‘‘limited number of areas (strategic) in
which results, if they are satisfying, will ensure the competitive performance of the
organisation’’ (Bullen & Rockhart, 1981; Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2005). Further,
CSF’s can be the characteristics, conditions & variables that are significantly responsible for the
organisation’s success (Leidecker & Bruno, 1984) or success in marketplace (Lynch, 2003).
Identifying & analyzing the CSF’s have been found vital for achieving the competitive
advantage (Grunert & Ellegard, 1993; Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2005; Meibodi &
Monavvarian, 2010) & the organisational goals (Rockhart, 1979; Grunert & Ellegard, 1993).
CSF’s have been regarded as possessing potential uses (e-g; in strategic analysis) for any
organisation (either for-profit, not-for-profit, large or small, domestic or foreign: Wronka M,
2013; Gierszewska & Romanowska, 2007).
There has been substantial growth in the number of studies concerning CSF’s in private sector
(Faulkner & Bowman, 1886; Dacin et al., 2011). However, studies analyzing the CSF’s of social
enterprise (SE)
2
sector are meager.
The present research is undertaken with the aim to identify the CSF’s of social enterprises
(SE’s)
3
operating in different social settings in India. The central questions that underline the
research are: What are the skills & resources required for the success of SE’s in India? What are
those areas (strategic) where the enterprise can invest in? What are the areas of SE functioning
where the SE must go right? What shall be the input factors that will structure the thoughts of SE
decision makers in their planning process or strategy formulation? In a way, the outcome of the
study would enable the practitioners in directing their useful energies towards these selected
factors or the areas which merit their attention. This would save a considerable amount of their
precious time as well as ensure that the venture is efficiently pursuin g its social entrepreneurship
(S-ENT)
4
goals.
Further, since SE’s are characterized by distinctive features (discussed later), any analysis of
CSF’s in such ventures have to take care of such unique aspects. The factors of commercial
profit or traditional not-for-profit business success have to be applied & analyzed with caution in
SE settings. Therefore, while identifying & anal yzing the CSF’s in SE context, the present study
strives to find out the degree by which solutions in the private sector can be utilized in the SE
settings.
The paper is organized as follows: first section reviews the existing literature to examine how S-
ENT & SE’s are portrayed in the literature. The goal is to arrive at a working definition of SE’s
which will supposedly guide the future analysis of samples for this research. Section 2 covers the
pertinent literature about success factors. Section 3 covers the proposed success factors
framework where we develop & discuss testable prepositions for CSF’s influencing the SE
outcome. The last section covers conceptual model & contains scope for future work.
1
CSF’s,
2
SE,
3
SE’s &
4
S-ENT
are used as abbreviations of critical success factors, social enterprise, social enterprises & social
entrepreneurship respectively throughout this document for reasons of space.
Introduction
S-ENT as social problem solving endeavour, is emerging as a socially innovative business model
for the required social transformation & change in the whole world (Robinson et al., 2009; Mair
& Marti, 2006; Peredo & McLean, 2006; Dees et. el., 2002; Chell, 2007). However, the S-ENT
philosophy is still considered to be in its budding phase (Short et. al, 2009). The field is having
fragmented literature & there is lack of consensus regarding the framework & theory of S-ENT
(Hill et al., 2010, Short et al., 2009, Certo & Miller, 2008, Mair & Marti, 2006). Till date, S-ENT
has majorly been consented as entrepreneurial activity with an embedded social purpose. Thus,
S-ENT mainly stands for endeavors which primarily focus over social value creation & hence
social mission remains central to every S-ENT activity.
While dealing with complex social issues, the S-ENT fosters social innovation & consequently
stimulates ideas for some socially acceptable & sustained business strategies & enterprise forms.
In actual practice, the social entrepreneurs indulge in creating institutions for the purpose of
actualizing their social transformation mission & to carry the innovative solutions forward.
Consequently, the field of organisation building & development gains social entrepreneur’s
utmost interest & priority. The rationale for such a hyped importance for organisation success
lies in the fact that the social entrepreneurs use such ventures for sustaining their social change as
well as for scaling up their ensuing social impact to the maximum potential. Therefore, exploring
these issues of social enterprise management appears to be of greatest importance as they can
enable practitioners to evaluate the effectiveness of their ventures.
India has witnessed an up rise in the budding number of social entrepreneurs in the past decade
(Ashoka’s growing list of Indian social entrepreneurs, 2015). While S-ENT movement is
catching impetus within Indian, we have however a poorly defined & unstructured SE sector in
India. Even very little is known about SE management & organization & we do not have a
comprehensive picture of their processes till date. The theories concerning the creation,
management & performance of SE’s in India are yet to be crafted.
Indian SE’s is relatively an unexplored field. There is absolute dearth of research in the Indian
context & Indian social enterprise market has a long way to go both in theory & practice as
compared to the western countries. A few nascent studies conducted over SE’s in India have
primarily explored the success stories of social entrepreneurs through qualitative & case studies
which are often anecdotal & have limited value for comparative studies. Thus, there is need as
well as scope of leading some rigorous, quantitative research in order to enhance the
applicability of S-ENT research in India.
Social enterprise- definitional controversies
The term ‘social enterprise’ existed even prior to its present hyped usage. Thus, the practice of
SE’s may well be ahead of the theory as in other areas of social action (Alvord et al., 2004). The
debate of SE vis-à-vis S-ENT was being translated into the academics recently (Johnson, 2000).
The concept of SE enclaves a broad spectrum of organizations, ranging from pure non-profit
organizations engaged in a social mission supporting commercial activity to for-profit ones
operating some sociall y beneficial activities (Kerlin, 2006). Some authors like Hartigan (2006)
have viewed the social entrepreneurial organizations in the for-profit context where emphasis is
given to limited or no profit distributions at all (Bacq & Janssen, 2011). For instance, certain
SE’s like ‘Grameen Bank’ & the ‘Big Issue’ have been established as for-profit ventures but in
the meantime there are ventures established as non-profit ones with a strong charitable status.
However, the literature also proves that the SE’s have been dominantly placed in non-profit

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT