The Power of The People

My submission speaks to the power that consumers have had throughout American History in altering society and redefining social equilibriums. This relates to this week’s theme because it provides historical evidence of economic actors transforming a system to bring about sustainability.

This week’s readings on venture development and growth touch on effective strategies that social entrepreneurs use to achieve financial sustainability. As outlined in Two Keys to Sustainable Social Enterprise, the key insight that struck a chord with me was the idea that changing the economic actors involved in an existing system can create sustainable financial models that permanently shift the social and economic equilibrium for their targeted beneficiaries. The article also notes that social and economic problems often reflect an imbalance of power among the economic actors involved. Additionally, the article mentions that adding new actors can transform a system. Taken a step further, the removal of actors can have this same effect.

While reading this article, I immediately thought of the critical role that economic boycotts have had throughout America’s history. From the Boston Tea Party, to the Montgomery Bus boycotts during the Civil Rights Movement. The former played a key role in the American Revolution. While the latter contributed to the end of segregated busing in the United States. Each of these events highlight consumers shifting the power balance of the systems in which they exist. Ultimately, they each led to a redistribution of the social equilibrium within their respective systems.

As detailed in It’s Not All About Growth for Social Enterprises, understanding how a venture is growing requires an understanding of how that venture is working. The evidence of how the social movements that I described above worked is now apparent. The United States exists as a sovereign nation and legalized segregation is abolished in our country. Thus, as the article states, social impact is more important than the growth of any particular organization.

Consumers are the key to growth within any social enterprise. However, the success of each of these boycotts only became apparent years after each event occurred. The results of changing actors within an economic system are slow to reveal themselves. In an ever-changing society, where momentum is arguably as important as revenue, can a social venture that wants to maximize its impact afford to wait for this potential payoff?