I. Introduction
Building Social Business is a book about social enterprise written by Muhammad Yunus. Muhammad Yunus is a social entrepreneur, economist, banker, and civil servant leader from Bangladesh. He is known for founding the Grameen Bank which is a microfinance organization and community development bank. Yunus is a well-known proponent of microfinance and microcredit. Due to his efforts in making a change through microfinance and microcredit and other noble causes, Yunus has been given several awards including the Independence Day Award in 1987, World Food Price in 1994, Pfeffer Peace Price also in 1994, Gandhi Peace Price in 2000, Volvo Environment Prize in 2003, Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, Congressional
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Through this book, Yunus shows how social business is applied in the current business setting. Yunus also explains how the social business model could redeem the failed promise of the free enterprise model.
III. Reflection
After reading the first two chapters of Building Social Business, I was moved. I was inspired. Yunus opened my eyes to another side of business which in his words was selfless. And indeed it was selfless. Social business is truly selfless because it focuses on helping others and earning profit comes second. By reading this book and reflecting, I realized it is better to be part of the solution than be part of the problem. By looking at my community, at my environment, and at my experiences in life, there are problems that will need solutions and I firmly believe that having a social business is the solution. By my observation, slow public utilities, expensive medicine, and empowering marginalized sectors are problems that can be solved by putting up social businesses. By combining entrepreneurial mindset and experience, social awareness, and creativity, the ideal social business can be done. But what makes a social business truly a social business is the
In spite of all advantages mention earlier about ethically and socially responsible business practice, it also has disadvantages, limitation and challenges. The most common and obvious limitation would be the cost that comes together with every investment a business does in order to meet all publicity’s requirements, for instance setting up Ronald McDonald House Charities. Every business has a goal which is at the top of their goal list and it is to be profitable. What is more, it is challenging to maintain the publicity’s and stakeholders’ satisfaction when investing into the society, employees and the environment.
It allows for social change advocacy without the potential external consequences of "conventional activism." But increasingly, we are led to believe that ‘entrepreneurs’ and ‘social enterprises’ are the avant garde of ‘change making’. Like every concept has both pros and cons, similarly even social entrepreneurship has its own demerits. On one hand it is one major factor in bringing change while on the other end it is being overused by companies who start off with the motive of being socially responsible and use this for the advantage in future ,by diverting their focus on profits. The point is, all of a sudden, social entrepreneurship was everywhere and everyone wanted to be one. The key to sustainable capitalism is reasonable profits as opposed to maximizing profits. In the current system, a segment of society is trying to maximize profits without concern for the impact on the well being of the society as a whole, while another segment of social organizations have to deal with the fall out. The system is not working. If it does good in some areas it also does bad in others. The example of Toms one for one shoe program though does charity and is a social enterprise but at its worst, it promotes a view of the world's poor as helpless, ineffective people passively waiting for trinkets from shoe-buying Americans. While the shoes themselves probably won't lead to any kind of disaster, that worldview can lead to bad policies and real, serious harm also has a small negative impact on local markets. And so I have come to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the term “social entrepreneurship” and its main actor, the “social entrepreneur”. It creates a false separation between “this is where we make money, and this is where we do good”. And that is exactly what is wrong with capitalism today. Myths of social entrepreneurship are different from what and how it really works in the
"Better World Books" is a good example of a successful social entrepreneurship venture. Founded by X.Helgessen, C.Fuchs, and J.Kurtzman, its mission is to maximize the value of every book out there and to help promote literacy around the world. It attributes its success to using "triple bottom line" model, caring about profits, and the social and environmental impact of everything they do.
Listening to Michael Porter speak about the reason why business can be good at solving social problems, the one thing that stuck out for me in his monologue was that business profits from causing social problems. In his view, it is conventional wisdom that business is the problem and the solution is to change how business sees itself. Training, clean drinking water, protection of forests and other good things that bring good to us as a human race, they are the solution to the social problems and can be reached by understanding that when these needs are met, business creates wealth. Business creates wealth and we seek to meet the needs again. It sounds like a circle that keeps rounding and feeding one and the other.
Company Q is a small local grocery store chain who has made poor decisions when it comes to social responsibility. Company Q’s business is suffering because the owners’ do not know the heart of running a business, Social responsibility. When opening a business it is not all about the money. Sure it is nice to think about growth and reaping the benefits of a bigger bank account, but the first thing that is important in business is the consumers. Who is buying what you are selling? What will make consumers buy more, comeback, or tell friends? Businesses flourish around consumers. So if it is money you are after, then consumers are who you need and want. So in business in order for Company Q to get what they want and need, they will need to give the consumer what they want and need, social responsibility. Give back, it has always been said “It is better to give than to receive.” After careful review of Company Q's business actions, this company lacks social responsibility in many areas.
Dees was professor of the practice of social entrepreneurship, Rubenstein Senior Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship with Duke's Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. (I&E) and the founding faculty director of the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. In 2007, the Aspen Institute and the international organization Ashoka presented him with their first lifetime achievement award in social entrepreneurship education.
“Those of us alive today can choose to lead the most meaningful lives humans have ever led” is a famous quote from Lynne Twist. Today, our world and economy is thriving like never before. We live in a society that has incredible opportunities to change the world for the better. With the advancement in technology, knowledge, and resources, our economy in a place it has never seen before. According to Doug Levy’s presentation on Conscious Capitalism, Capitalism has been the major factor in ending poverty in our world. If current trends continue at the rate they do today, extreme poverty will be nearly eliminated over the next few decades. In the texts Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Raj Sisodia, The Art of Servant Leadership by Tony Baron, and the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility presented by Ed Ahnert, there is a co-existing relationship leading to successful business ethics however, these individual practices are particularly vital for the foundation of a company’s business model and the business operating philosophy.
In the article, It’s Time to Reinvent Work by Richard Branson explains that governments, non-profits organizations, and individuals will not be able to create social change, instead the world needs businesses to help instigate social change. Therefore, we can show the world that business can be a force for good by working together to reinvent work. Businesses should have a greater purpose than just doing business to make profits.
To begin with, I want to clarify what is the role of business in society and social responsibility of the corporation. Destination of business has always been the same, to innovate and delivered products and services, to build and maintain the condition of well-being, to use resources effectively. What is different today is the social context in which companies are managing.
I think Social responsibility has a key role in establishing a company’s business model. When operating a business, a company must contemplate the social responsibility behind their business when making their business model. Where do their responsibilities lie, what fits with their business plan, and how much investment can they really declare to their shareholders, that
Being in an entrepreneurship major student, we are not only shaped to be a successful entrepreneur, but also a world changer. Through the Aaravind case, I learn about social business. As an entrepreneur, profit is important and it is what we must seek. However, it is more important to gain profit and making a change for the world. In the aaravind case study, Dr. V. defines the meaning of a true innovative leader with a clear passionate vision, with an unwavering dedication and devotion to serve humanity. His goal is to expand Aravind Eye hospital to all parts of India, Asia, Africa and rest of the world so that quality and free eye services can be provided to the poor and needy people who have curable blindness but can’t afford to pay for their treatment. He is a man who stands behind his ideals and practices what he preaches, and expects the best from around him. Through reading this case I was stoked to know that someone would be willing to do the things that he did. This really motivates me to be a social entrepreneur, that not only seeking for profit, but
Social economy organizations are set to meet social objectives that are drafted into organizations ' charters. These objectives surpass conventional decisions to adopt corporate
Social entrepreneurship is gaining such strong interest in nonprofit world because of the economic challenges that have plagued this sector with cuts in philanthropic and government funding. According to Nash (2010) not only are there cuts, there are many organizations vying for the limited funding. Studies support, the attitudes in capitalistic America, and the ease of nonprofits to embrace this concept; evidenced by their ability to sell their once free services, to meet the demands of the consumer. According to the IRS (2010) nonprofits have increased their selling power on unrelated business income, to the tune of 184% increase, in a sixteen-year time frame. This writer, believes these numbers are evidence which support this trend is
At the beginning when Muhammad Yunus first introduced the idea of lending money to the poor people, there was a lot of apprehensiveness and skepticism among conventional banks because poor people
For more than five years I had been participating in many social works, focusing on helping people start their own business and become entrepreneurs by giving them tools in how to start and manage their business. Through that time, I didn’t see this type of approach was effective, as many NGO’s and Government were doing similar activities in helping them. Many NGO’s mostly depend on donors and foundation for charity-like of approach which is hard to be sustained.