Investing in Social Innovation: Harnessing the Potential of Partnership between Corporations and Social Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The growth in corporate responsibility and social entrepreneurship represents two of the most exciting social trends of the past decade. Around the world there is increased awareness of the potential to harness the core competencies, assets and resources of corporations in helping to find new solutions to complex social and environmental problems. At the same time, there has been a dramatic growth in awareness of, and support for the crucial leadership role played by social entrepreneurs - individuals who apply innovative, entrepreneurial, performance-driven, and scalable approaches to solving societal problems, and who often act as bridge-builders between different sectors, communities, institutions and/or cultures. Yet, with a few notable exceptions, relatively little analysis has been done on the linkages between these two trends and between the corporate leaders and social entrepreneurs that drive them. This is especially the case in developing countries where there are both enormous development needs and great opportunities for increasing engagement between corporations and social entrepreneurs.