Social Entrepreneurship:
A Golden Opportunity for
China to Show Leadership
2010 China Corporate
Citizenship Forum
21st Century News Group
December 3, 2101
Professor J. Gregory Dees, Ph. D.
Center for the Advancement of
Social Entrepreneurship
Duke University’s
Fuqua School of Business
FIRST: THE OPPORTUNITY
China is well positioned to lead the
world in creating an environment
in which social entrepreneurship
thrives and creates maximum
benefits for society.
Will you take this opportunity and
create such an environment?
NOW THE SPEECH
1.
The Dynamics of Societies
2.
The Nature of Social Entrepreneurship
3.
How Social Entrepreneurship Helps
Societies
4.
The Need for a Supportive Environment
5.
Returning to the Opportunity
THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIETIES
ALL SOCIETIES FACE . . .
Constant Change
Complexity
Uncertainties
Shocks and Disruptions
Unintended Consequences
Competing Demands
Resource Constraints
Resulting in an evolving set of social problems
and tensions that need to be addressed
RESPONSIVE SOCIETIES WILL . . .
Adapt to Changes
Be Alert and Flexible
Empower Innovators
Experiment and Learn
Value Resourcefulness
Encourage Collaboration
Resulting in a capacity to react in a timely and
effective way to the evolving social problems
Social entrepreneurship
contributes significantly to this
adaptive capacity
THE NATURE OF SOCIAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Origins of the Term "Entrepreneur"
Late 18th century, French economist, Say:
Entrepreneurs shift economic resources out
of areas of lower and into areas of higher
productivity and yield (Value creators)
20th century, Austrian economist, Schumpeter:
The function of entrepreneurs is to reform
or revolutionize the pattern of production
(Innovators)
More Recent Theories
Professor Peter Drucker, management guru:
The entrepreneur always searches for
change, responds to it, and exploits it as an
opportunity (Opportunity-oriented)
Professor Howard Stevenson, Harvard:
Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of
opportunity without regard to resources
currently controlled (Resourceful)
“SOCIAL” ENTREPRENEURS
When existing conditions in a society fall short
of our goals for a prosperous, harmonious,
just, healthy society, this creates a social
problem as well as an opportunity for
progress
Social entrepreneurs create social progress by
 Applying the entrepreneurial orientation
 In order too move us closer to our social
goals in a sustainable way
Thus, Social Entrepreneurs . . .
Identify and relentlessly purse opportunities to
create sustainable solutions to social problems
Continuously innovate, adapt, and learn
Act boldly, not constrained by resources
currently in hand, and
Hold themselves accountable for
•achieving their intended social impact and
•using resources wisely
A Few Brief Examples
The problems tackled are wide ranging:
•Waste Concern in Bangladesh
•VisonSpring in India and El Salvador
•Canyou Software in China
•Latino Community Credit Union in the U.S.
Some involve major corporations
•M-PESA from Vodafone and Safaricom
•BASF and Danone partnering with Grameen
HOW
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
HELPS SOCIETIES
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP . . .
Harnesses private initiative, ingenuity (including
business acumen), and investment to solve
social problems
Enhances the adaptive capacity of a society by
decentralizing social problem solving and
innovation
Serves as a valuable learning laboratory consisting
of relatively low risk experiments to find what
works and what does not
Provides services that create value for both
government and businesses, as well as the poor
or society as a whole
PROBLEM SOLVING VS. CHARITY
When we want to help the poor, we usually offer
them charity. Most often we use charity to avoid
recognizing the problem and finding a solution for
it. Charity becomes a way to shrug off our
responsibility. Charity is no solution to poverty.
Charity only perpetuates poverty by taking the
initiative away from the poor.
Muhammad Yunus, social entrepreneur
Winner of Nobel Peace Prize in 2006
from his book Banker to the Poor, 1999
THE NEED FOR A
SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT
BASIC ECOSYSTEM NEEDED FOR SUCCESS
Talent Flows
Culture/Media
Support
Financial
Support
Capacity
Building
Policy Support
Social Entrepreneurs
RETURNING TO THE
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
FOR CHINA
WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY?
Social entrepreneurship has been rising in
popularity, but no society has fully developed a
strong supportive ecosystem yet
As a result, many social entrepreneurs have
difficulty scaling their innovations and impact
China has the opportunity to learn from efforts in
other nations, begin fresh, and draw on the
skills built in the last two decades
Social entrepreneurship can help China build the
bridge from prosperity to harmony
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
Corporate Leaders:
Look for opportunities to use your business skills,
technological know-how, operating capacities,
and financial resources to improve the
effectiveness of social entrepreneurs
Government Leaders:
Remove barriers and create appropriate legal
structures and regulations to empower social
innovation and capture lessons learned
Philanthropists and Investors:
Focus your resources in a disciplined way on
supporting social entrepreneurs and capturing
knowledge learned
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
University Professors and Leaders:
Educate students to be effective social entrepreneurs,
conduct research to draw out the lessons learned,
advise public and private leaders on policies and
strategies, and incubate new social ventures that
emerge out of the universities
Media Leaders:
Cover social entrepreneurship seriously (not just as
“feel good” stories), as you would business
entrepreneurship, help to identify the successes
and draw lessons from the failures, highlight
companies, individuals, and civil servants who are
finding creative and disciplined ways to engage with
and support social entrepreneurs
THANK YOU
AND
GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR
OPPORTUNITY!