He recently put forward a very different approach –
shared value, according to which the goal of business is to
create value for the society by meeting its needs and
challenges. For him this is not social responsibility,
philanthropy or sustainable development, but a new way
for achieving economic success.
In contrast to this approach, the principle of running a
company in order “to come full circle” and control every
aspect of it is widespread in Bulgaria. This is not done to
achieve optimal efficiency – it is driven by the desire to
keep everything under control, to remain reluctant in
relying on other people and companies because they
could cheat you in a critical moment. There is also a
hidden component in applying this principle – the
unwillingness to connect with the social environment and
the possibilities it can offer. If things get worse, you secretly
hope you won`t suffer that much because you keep
everything under control and all problems magically
disappear when they reach the freshly painted fence of
your company headquarters.
It`s quite clear this is an illusion. Companies need to realize
the market value of the outside world and treat it as a
great source of new businesses opportunities, increased
revenue and potential employees.
Companies move forward by investing
in their own social environment.
Our future position as leaders in social innovation would
require three realistic strategies for the different types of
organizations, taking into account their individual role and
scope:
•Business comes first, but we pay serious attention to the
social environment – for large and medium-sized
companies;
•We are developing our business and the social environment
simultaneously – for social entrepreneurs, startups and
small companies;
•Social environment comes first, but we meet its needs with a
clear business model – for NGOs.
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Large and medium-sized companies
The challenge for these companies is to move from a
model of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to
corporate social innovation (CSI). The difference is in the
way they treat the social context – CSR implies that
companies have to “give back” something they have taken
from society and is mostly used to score points and polish
their image in the eyes of the public. CSI treats the
environment as a business opportunity and uses it as a
source of a completely different kind of added value.
Telerik is a Bulgarian tech company with a global outreach
using the new model for its academy by offering free
courses for software professionals in various fields. Given
the large number of graduates, the company does not just
ensure potential employees for its own business, but also
“floods” the market with qualified people. This is done on
purpose – Telerik has realized that in order to grow and
raise the bar, it has to raise the bar of its social
environment as well.
There will always be instances in which the goals of the
companies don`t match the goals of the society or even
seriously diverge - for example, when several hundreds of
people have to be laid off because of business
restructuring. Therefore, we cannot require those
companies to make the move to an entirely social model
– their size, structure and slow pace of change would not
allow it. However, if we want to become number one in
social innovation, they have to contribute and do their
best to make this happen.
Startups and small companies
The most interesting development in the Bulgarian
business environment is the emerging ecosystem of
startups and venture capital funds. The time is right to
encourage the development of social entrepreneurs.
Traditional entrepreneurs have one task – to standardize a
business model. This can bring a solution to a social
problem, but is completely acceptable if the company
turns profitable without providing it. Social entrepreneurs
are driven by a different set of values. They are much more
interested in understanding the social, economic, political
and cultural context of the problems they are trying to
solve, meaning they have a strong sense of personal social
responsibility and attitude towards the environment.
People who already run small-sized companies can also
become more involved in their social context.
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Here we must show once again that Bulgaria is different
and able to develop its own unique potential. Social
entrepreneurship is a step away from the idea that having
a startup is the new quick way to make money and
appear creative, isolating yourself from the surrounding
environment in a community of cool and different people.
Another potential problem is caused by the model of
overly ambitious startup companies, who from the very
start aim at creating a product or service to compete on a
global market. We could use more companies that
develop their business on a smaller scale in our own social
environment and subsequently expand their model. If you
have succeeded in Bulgaria it will be much easier to go
global.
The Bread Houses created by Nadejda Savova are a good
example for a local initiative that brings communities
together for such an important ritual as bread making. The
houses grew into a global network with presence on
almost all continents, creating new connections between
local people. Another example of making bread, this time
from the United States, is Dave`s Killer Bread. The name of
the company is important because Dave is a former felon
who spent 15 years in a prison cell (not on murder
charges) and afterwards started a $50 million dollar
organic bread business. The feature about him in the New
York Times said that Dave’s past served well as advertising
aimed at increasing sales – if you don`t count the fact that
this was the best bread the reporter had ever tasted.
Regardless of their business niche, social entrepreneurs will
inevitably compete with all other companies. They will not
succeed in this by simply stating as many times as possible
that they are developing communities, protecting nature
and moving society forward. They will succeed if they meet
the needs of their clients better than anyone else –
including traditional businesses, by making not simply
organic or local bread, but the most delicious bread that
ever existed.
Non-governmental
organizations
NGOs play a key role in our transformation into leaders
in social innovation. This is understandable – they are the
organizations with the most coherent moral stance. Their
work is directly linked with solving social issues - or at least
it should be. In Bulgaria, non-governmental organizations
still have a very low reputation (in many cases for a good
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