RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

234 RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP
4. The social entrepreneurs act within financially independent organizations that plan and
execute earned-income strategies. The objective is to deliver the intended social value while
remaining financially self-sufficient.
Mair and Marti (2004) put forward a view of social entrepreneurship as a process that
catalyzes social change and/or addresses important social needs in a way that is not dominated
by direct financial benefits for the entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurship is seen as differing
from other forms of entrepreneurship in the relatively higher priority given to promoting
social value and development versus capturing economic value. i One of the major advantages
of social entrepreneurship is that it contributes to overcoming the ineffectiveness of governments
in performing their social function, especially in healthcare and education.
However, along with the popularity this new form of entrepreneurship gains, there are certain
concerns with regard to its definition and differentiation from other traditional social forms.
Martin and Osberg (2007) claim that any definition of social entrepreneurship must start with
the word “entrepreneurship” ii and the central Schumpeterian concept of value creation through
innovation and creative destruction iii . As theoretically entrepreneurs are associated with opportunity,
they are believed to have an exceptional ability to seize upon new opportunities as
well as willingness to bear all inherent risks.
There is a unique set of five personal characteristics which an entrepreneur brings to such
opportunities, which are fundamental to the process of innovation (Martin &Osberg, 2007)
– inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude:
1. Entrepreneurs are inspired to alter the unpleasant equilibrium and they might be motivated
to do this because they are frustrated users or because they empathize with frustrated
users and they possess a desire to demolish the status quo.
2. Entrepreneurs think creatively and develop a new solution which dramatically breaks
with the existing one; they do not optimize the current system with minor adjustments but
find wholly new ways of approaching the problem.
3. Entrepreneurs take direct action after being inspired by the opportunity and the attainment
of creative solution, which is done through the creation of a new product or service and
the venture to advance it.
4. Entrepreneurs demonstrate courage throughout the process of innovation by bearing
the risk and failure; they are required to take big risks and do things others think are unwise
and undoable.
5. Entrepreneurs possess the fortitude to drive their creative solutions to fruition and market
adoption. They must find creative ways around the barriers and challenges that arise.
Hence, considering these five basic characteristics of entrepreneurship, it is important to
discern social entrepreneurship from the pure, for-profit form. For the entrepreneur, the value
proposition anticipates and is organized to serve markets that can comfortably afford the new
product or service, and is thus designed to create financial profit. On the other hand, the social
entrepreneur neither anticipates nor organizes to create substantial financial profit for his/her
investors (typically government organizations). The social entrepreneur aims for value in the
form of large-scale, transformational benefit that accrues either to a significant segment of
society or society at large. The entrepreneurial value proposition assumes a market that can
pay for innovation, while the social entrepreneur’s value proposition targets an underserved,