A Proposal for a Standard With Innovation Management System

Teresa Costa and Luísa Carvalho
The information about sustainability dimensions is organized according with table 3, in a simplified
method that expresses a global perspective of the three dimensions assessed. The reason for this
approach is related with the difficulty in collecting more objective indicators shared by all
organizations, as well as in the divergence of these organizations, concerning its activity and the
availability of public information. These difficulties, concerning with the definition of finance and social
measures, are also referred by several authors (Austin et al., 2006). According with Young, (2006), an
effort has been made through the development of mechanisms that can support the creation of new
metrics in order to quantify value in the social sector; however this cases study didn’t allowed the
identification of different metrics.
Also about this subject, and according with classification presented in the literature review (Costa and
Carvalho, 2011) the the social organizations studied are include in the first group, i.e., social
entrepreneurship refers to the initiatives of social organizations in the search for alternative financing
strategies or as a way of creating social value through management practices (Dees, 1998a; Austin,
Stevenson and Wei-Skiller, 2006; Boschee, 1998).
The analysis of table 3 indicates that the most relevant value created by these projects, is social,
nevertheless some of them indirectly also create some economic value particularly through the job
creation and services revenues. These findings confirm literature review that refers that social
entrepreneur may produce private gains in the process of creating social value (Emerson and
Twersky, 1996).
6. Concluding remarks
This article consolidated the theoretical approach to the topics of social entrepreneurship. The work
enabled the following considerations:
� The various organizations that constitute the social economy can contribute to the involvement of
various actors and interest groups.
� The valuation of economic activity serving social needs, the more equitable distribution of income,
job creation and wealth solidarity and corrections of imbalances in the labor market are key
factors for intervention in this area.
� This sector begins to have increasing importance because of increasing social needs unmet by
the government.
Through the empirical study it was possible to understand that the attractiveness of the projects and
its funding depends on some factors, namely, the social entrepreneurs proactivity, the stakeholders
involvement, the age of the project, region and type of public target. We expected to find some
patterns between these factors that could justify their attractiveness to possible investors, but that
didn´t happen. However it was possible to identify some common vectors concerning the four projects
100% funding. So it was possible to conclude that a higher involvement of different stakeholders and
sponsors, the linkage with reputable organizations which have a wide contact network and a historical
of well success, historical and organization seniority, entrepreneur proactivity and stakeholders
participation are issues quite important for the projects attractiveness.
It was also possible to understand that the social organizations involved don´t have metrics to quantify
the value created. The existence of this type of metrics could improve the performance of the
organization. A more organized and transparent performance, through the availability of public
information could lead to better results and better recognition of their activity from community,
possible investors and other stakeholders.
We also conclude that the most relevant value created by these projects, is social, however some of
them indirectly also create some economic value particularly through the job creation and services
revenues.
Finally this study presented a diversity of projects that demonstrate a strong creativity of social
entrepreneurs, particularly in the fields of social cohesion and regional development, revealing that
social entrepreneurship and its key players can definitely make a strong contribution to improving the
welfare of populations.
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