Satyajit Majumdar

Modelling Growth Strategy in Small Entrepreneurial Business Organisations

Growth is understood variously by entrepreneurs, and their attitudes influence the goals and ambitions concerning growth. Their actions in this regard depend on the contextual conditions. In this article a model on growth strategy in small entrepre-neurial organisations is presented and three propositions are made: (1) attitudes and vision of the entrepreneurs drive growth of small organisations, (2) entrepreneurs of small organisations conduct early search for strategic fit in the market and the environment, and (3) entrepreneurs of small organisations persist in their search for better fit in the market. The model reflects strategic and entrepreneurial dimensions of growth. The propositions can be tested in specific industry settings. First, the dimensions of growth as understood by the entrepreneurs should be analysed and then the process of finding a fit between the industry and its market opportunities should be mapped out to arrive at a robust strategy framework.

Social Innovation: Towards a Conceptualisation

The idea of social innovation has gained increasing attention over the last several years in political, academic, and practitioner’s discourses. However, the concept lacks a clear definition and has to date different meanings. The purpose of the chapter is to theoretically investigate the concept and to propose a conceptual understanding of social innovations that aim at positive social change. To this end, the chapter reviews literature from different fields and identifies three different meanings of the concept. The understanding of social innovation as aiming at positive social change by addressing pressing social needs is discussed in more detail in the paper. A conceptual understanding is proposed which suggests that social innovations comprise three dimensions: the dimension of (1) formalisation, (2) change processes, and (3) social outcomes. The chapter’s theoretical contribution is that it advances a clearer understanding of social innovation which may be useful in guiding future research on the topic.

CSR in India: Critical Review and Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract The current discourse on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is dominated by this ‘middle path’ approach, establishing collaboration and synergy, and attempting to define the balancing roles of business. In the CSR literature, interactions between business and society have been studied less. CSR research is also skewed towards the western and developed countries. We attempt to address these two issues by studying perception gaps among the community residing in a mining region and tourist destination in western India, Goa. The studied dimensions are company’s commitment to the community, areas for company’s support, company’s involvement with stakeholders, community’s commitment to the company, and media’s role to promote CSR activity and CSR as benefiting the company. In general, the variables such as age, education, place of origin and caste lead to divergence in community attitude towards various CSR dimensions. Later, we review a few unique and successful CSR projects, their design and implementation with a strategic ‘entrepreneurial orientation’. Our article points towards a new paradigm for CSR implementation that is beyond pure philanthropy. Innovative models are being discovered and designed with pro-activeness and reasonable experimentation which provide these corporates unique competitive advantage. Lastly, we propose that entrepreneurship has a viable role to play in balancing community and business interest.

Application of Social Marketing in Social Entrepreneurship Evidence From India

Recognizing the importance of social marketing strategies for the success of social entrepreneurial ventures (SEVs), the present article examines nine SEVs with different profit orientation to understand the role of social marketing in social entrepreneurship (SE). Using grounded theory approach and case study method, the present article cross-examines cases and develops propositions thereof, providing a holistic understanding of current and potential application of social marketing strategies in SE. The outcome of this study may help social entrepreneurs to choose appropriate strategies from a pool of social marketing strategies available. However, there is a need to test these propositions with a larger set of data in future research. Also, it is equally important to study social marketing strategies adopted by failed cases of SEVs so that the existing and potential social entrepreneurs can learn from their mistakes.

Growth strategy in entrepreneur managed small organizations - a study in auto component manufacturing organizations in India

Small business growth strategy is a function of industry structure and performance, entrepreneurial motivation, attitude, and competence of entrepreneurs. Exposure to global competition makes auto component sector a strong case for developing theory. The research based on Grounded Theory presents two patterns of theoretical framework. In ‘focused customer based growth strategy’ entrepreneurs focus on single customer. Customer relations, low cost automation, and agility are the important dimensions. In ‘multiple opportunity based growth strategy’ entrepreneurs choose data based approach to search for new opportunities, value addition and cost efficiency with technology support. They develop investment capability to establish supply chain collaboration among manufacturing bases established at various locations. The paper enhances understanding of RBV in small businesses.

Creating Social Change Through Entrepreneurship Education: An Effectuation Model at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India

This chapter presents a descriptive analysis of the effectuation model of social entrepreneurship programme at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). This innovative post graduate programme was pioneered in 2007. The main objective of the TISS’s Masters of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship Programme is to train a cadre of entrepreneurs who can create employment, assets, and wealth for the poor in innovative ways. It is expected that the graduates of this programme will become instrumental in filling the gap left by the withdrawal of States from supporting social programmes and the failure of markets to meet the needs of marginalized communities in both rural and urban India. This pioneering programme is an instrument for social change in communities where financially sustainable ways of solving problems, creating employment opportunities, and improving lives of locals is most in need.

Technology and Innovation for Social Change: An Introduction

Tension exists between technologists and social thinkers because of the impact technology and innovation has on social values and the norms which are often viewed as damaging the cultural fabric of a nation or society. Global business environment being the context in which implementation of technology and innovation takes place is widely accepted as the major reason for such conflicts. The current debate in India for and against the globalised and liberalised economic policies is the best case to cite. Social values and norms are dynamic constructs of economic development and social entrepreneurs are the actors to drive such changes. Though the outlook of economic development must be modern and contemporary, it should address all-round growth and well-being in the society. Growth is expected to be inclusive in nature, without any bias towards particular socio-economic groups. However, data on the development and growth trajectories of many developing countries reveal undue favours to some specific groups, which have resulted into some kind of divide. The divide between rich and poor, rural and urban, educated and uneducated, upper and lower castes, indigenous and modern societies and technologically forward and backward societies are common in these countries. At times, high cost of technological innovation, access and ease of adoption of technologies are considered to be the chief reasons for such non-inclusion. Information technology being the most adopted and accepted technologies is at the core of this debate which on other hand has also affected the major changes in social and political systems in many countries in the recent past. Also many other product and process technologies have affected favourably or otherwise the skill, livelihood and social norms in specific regions. This almost necessitates a fresh discourse, beyond anti-globalisation debates and bottom-of-pyramid market phenomenon. This volume is one such first attempt to identify the relevant areas of new search, and research into them without labelling social entrepreneurs, the social change agents, as heroic figures. In developing countries, social entrepreneurs have already established innovative and inclusive methods and systems such as micro-finance to impact social change. They are trained within the existing institutional set-up to practice social entrepreneurship processes; innovative educational models are developed for such focused training. These social entrepreneurs design systems and processes for high social impact while adapting in countries, societies or communities and adjusting to the specific local cultural norms or traditions or vocations. In this volume, an attempt has been made to compile many independent research cases by the authors from across the globe. India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and other African countries are selected as contexts to report on multiple aspects of social change.

Technology and Innovation for Creating Social Change: Concepts and Theories

Technology and innovation play significant role in economic growth. However, for inclusive growth, growth in social sector is critical. Entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs have experimented a lot to combine technology and innovation to create the desired social change. Though, scholarly literature has considered entrepreneurs as change agents, and also emphasized the importance of innovation for entrepreneurial process, but little attention has been paid to find out the role that technology and innovation play in social change process or to explain the process of deployment of technology or application of innovation in creating social change. Drawing on a variety of literature, personal observations and experiences of the authors, the chapter presents a conceptual framework on the process of creating social change. By theorizing the phenomena, this chapter is a step towards theory building. Incorporating Bandura’s ‘Social Cognitive Theory’ and Davis’ ‘Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)’, the framework also gives due importance to the role of entrepreneurs in fostering social change. It explains two-way relationship between technology and innovation and presents five different ways of combining technology and innovation for creating social change. Finally, it offers a set of propositions and suggests validation with in-depth case studies for further advancement of the theory.