Social Enterprise: Blending Tools and Disciplines

The idea that social enterprises should be developed using proven best practices from a combination of disciplines has become more and more prevalent.  Take a look at frog design.inc (www.frogdesign.com/sector/social-impact).[1]  The application of design, business and other cross-functional techniques to advance social entrepreneurship is clearly beneficial.  But which elements are really foundational to this blended approach?

As I read Paul Bloom's article, How to Take a Social Venture to Scale, and his concepts of the seven SCALERS for social ventures[2], I was reminded of the nine building blocks of Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas.[3]  The Business Model Canvas was essentially created in line with, entrepreneurial guru, Steve Blank's Customer Development Process, which is centered on finding and evolving repeatable and scalable business models.[4]  The Business Model Canvas takes a design-style approach to abstract, visualize and refine the components of traditional business plans.  It is a living, breathing template to create, adjust and validate a startup's key hypotheses for future growth.  Using Paul Bloom's SCALERS within the Business Model Canvas framework, one can clearly and concisely represent the strategy and scope of an emerging social enterprise.  Bloom's seven SCALERS readily translate into the Business Model Canvas, adding depth and social impact-specific cues to each building block while helping to tie the canvas together. 

 How SCALERS align with the Business Model Canvas:

• Staffing is a critical aspect of Key Resources
• Communicating aligns with both Customer Relationships & Channels
• Alliance-building is essentially the same as Key Partners
• Lobbying supports both Key Partners & Channels
• Earnings Generation is the nexus of Cost Structure & Revenue Streams
• Replicating becomes part of Key Activities
• Stimulating Market Forces is critical across Value Proposition, Key Activities and Channels

 












 Figure 1. Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas.[3]

Bringing together business, design and socially-focused concepts, such as Bloom's seven SCALERS and the Business Model Canvas, social entrepreneurs can more rapidly and effectively identify the most important components, prove sustainability and create scalability for their ventures.  These capabilities provide the foundation for successful social enterprise.



[1] "Frog | Design and innovation that transforms." Social Impact & Innovation Strategy and Design | frog. Accessed September 18, 2017. https://www.frogdesign.com/sector/social-impact.
[2] Bloom, Paul. "How to Take a Social Venture to Scale." Harvard Business Review. July 23, 2014. Accessed September 18, 2017. https://hbr.org/2012/06/how-to-take-a-social-venture-t
[3] Osterwalder, Alexander. "A Better Way to Think About Your Business Model." Harvard Business Review. March 29, 2017. Accessed September 18, 2017. https://hbr.org/2013/05/a-better-way-to-think-about-yo.
[4] Blank, Steve. "The Four Steps to the Epiphany." Chapter 2, The Path to the Epiphany, Customer Development. Accessed September 18, 2017.  https://web.stanford.edu/class/archive/engr/engr140a/engr140a/cgi-bin/MFP/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Session-4-Customer-Development.pdf