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NEW RISE REPORT:
Activist, Change Agent, Market Pioneer, Market
Influencer:
What Type of Social
Entrepreneur are You?
The answer can be found in a
new report by Columbia
Business School’s Research
Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship (RISE) in partnership with Investors’ Circle
and the Social Venture Network.
Co-authored by RISE director Cathy Clark and Research Associate Selen
Ucak, “RISE For-Profit Social
Entrepreneur Report: Balancing Markets and Values”
offers a snapshot of social ventures in seven industry segments as well
as insights into the experiences, attitudes, and practices of the
people who create and manage them.
The study is based on a survey
of executives of 211 emerging social ventures located across the Unites States, and all less than 30
years old.
Click here to download PDF of RISE
Entrepreneur Report
It identifies four types of
social venture entrepreneurs:
Activists are explicit with their customers in their
dedication to social value creation and regularly engage others in
promoting their missions – like Seventh Generation, ShoreBank and
Equal Exchange.
Change Agents, despite their strong interest in influencing
society, are not necessarily explicit in their missions to all
customers. For example, many
pest control customers and diners may be unaware of the breadth of the
missions of Pest at Rest or of the
White Dog Café.
Market Pioneers, such as Big Clean Trucks, Wireless Generation and
Sun & Earth, are always explicit with customers about their social
objectives. While they are financially driven, most of these CEOs
evaluate their companies’ social impact in order to influence peers
and systems.
Market Influencers are the most quiet about their social missions. They are first and foremost
financially driven, and are not always explicit with customers about
social objectives, as they often work in industries where they believe
their customers would be distracted by their mission focus. Examples
are City Fresh Foods and ConsumerPowerline.
Social
Venture CEO Types
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N=190
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SOCIALLY-ORIENTED
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FINANCIALLY-ORIENTED
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EXPLICIT TO CUSTOMERS
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"Activists"
84 CEOs
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"Market
Pioneers"
47 CEOs
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NOT EXPLICIT TO CUSTOMERS
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"Change Agents"
31 CEOs
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"Market
Influencers"
28 CEOs
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The report also describes trends by industry
about companies’ attitudes and practices in terms of the vehicles
used to create social and environmental value, explicitness to
stakeholders, evaluation, financing, growth and exits.
Please also visit the free,
searchable online RISE
Social Entrepreneur CEO Directory.
To
be added to the report’s email distribution list, please send
your email address to Cathy Clark.
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