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Creating a Discussion on Social Enterprise (QAA 3, 5, 6, 7)

Objective:

  • To understand and be able to define Social Enterprise
  • To explore the business models used within Social Enterprise
  • To understand the cross-sector theories of Social Enterprise
  • Identity popular companies with the health sector and discuss their business models.

Overview:

This session starts with a short introduction and then allows groups of students to discuss and decide where in the cross sector diagram popular health service companies should be placed, based on publically available data. It's a great way to introduce social enterprise and the business models used to create social good through an interactive session and group working.

Activity:

Introduction: Social enterprises use a wide variety of legal forms and these forms normally depend on the business model being employed by the enterprise. As these enterprises change and the mix of their business interests change we can see that a full spectrum of companies exist for most industry sectors. This session uses the UK health sector and popular organizations to understand how these alternate between being more mission focused (social) to more market focused (surplus generating). In this task we shall look at the UK Health Sector and key players within the industry:

  •  AstraZeneca
  • Boots
  • British Red Cross
  • BUPA
  • Cancer Research UK
  • GSK
  • NHS
  • Nuffield Health
  • St. John Ambulance

Sheets are provided with details of these companies (See resources below).

The session is split into six parts:

  1. Provide a definition of Social Enterprise
  2. Present the Cross Sector Model
  3. Set the Criteria for Discussion and Selection
  4. Split the class into groups of 4-6 people
  5. Teams then discuss and place
  6. Class Discussion and Reflection

Criteria for Group Discussion and Selection

For each company we shall use only a limited set of information (to bring out key points during the session), and therefore we shall limit selection using

        1. Company Structure
          1. Strategic Intention
          2. Governance
        2. Financial
          1. Total Turnover
          2. Turnover dedicated to social impact
        3. Social Impact
          1. Interventions
        4. PR & Policy

 The group place the name of the company on the Cross Sector Venn diagram depending on their business models being employed:

  • Public Sector
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Private Sector
  • More Than Profit
  • Third Sector
  • Non Profit
  • Multi-Stakeholder

The majority of the enterprises used in the session have multiple business models and as such overlap on the Venn diagram which generates discussion and debate within the group. This realisation that the social enterprise sector has to develop a highly profitable income stream and also a mission focused social business is at first controversial, especially in the Health sector, yet when applied to other sectors is easier to accept.

Skill Development:

This task requires listening and communication skills and also helps builds trust and connections across the pairings.

Resources:

Prezi Presentation https://prezi.com/s2tpjmnayxh6/social-enterprise-cross-sector-theory/

Handout & Slides https://www.dropbox.com/s/qnclusq03oqvqli/Social%20Enterprise%20Cross%20Sector%20Theory.pptx?dl=0

Social Enterprise Definition: See DTI (2002) A Strategy for Social Enterprise, London: HM Treasury, p7.

Cross Sector Theory: Hybridisation (Nyssens, 2006:318) Leadbeater's Model (1997)

Social Enterprise Websites:

Health Sector Websites (Data used in Handouts)

Author / Attribution

This guide was produced by Dr David Bozward (Senior Lecturer, Worcester Business School, University of Worcester).