Social Entrepreneurship Initiative Assignment Sample

Introduction : Social Entrepreneurship Initiative

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Background

Social enterprises are emerging fast in the market as a source of alternative economy. Primarily this industry is highly effective in the construction industry. These enterprises are an alternate response to the disruptive business models of the traditional business models in a particular country. However, multiple challenges are faced by the social industry, some of them are highly contextual to the specific industry and some of them are mostly generic in nature.

Prevalent social issue: Boundary of focus around the social issues.

The most notable of them is that the entrepreneurs are not able to draw a clear boundary regarding the social issues that they ought to focus on. This situation prevails in most of the emerging sections of work and it adversely affects the functionality and emerging changes that these enterprises can potentially bring forth to the market (Jackson et al. 2018). This situation is quite difficult for compassionate and idealistic people who are sensitive and passionate towards the injustices that occur around them and hence they take on a critical task that becomes unmanageable and they fail later on.

This leads to one of the major challenges these organisations face first-hand which is funding. Funds being allocated to social enterprises are the biggest challenge for social enterprises. Most of the social entrepreneurs that exist are individual entities and hence it is critical for them to accumulate funds in this initial stage (Hertel et al. 2020). Rarely it happens that some of the ventures are able to maintain their stance and flourish in the construction industry. A survey states that across the world global enterprises have grown by 10% per cent in 2019 from 2018 and also reflects that 26% of the organisations are a priority (statista.com, 2022). However, most of the social entrepreneurs emerging in this sector get a hard time making their stance and it is mostly due to a lack of funding.

This issue mostly arises due to a common misconception that prevails due to the approach of the work process laid down by entrepreneurs. It is associated with their model of work despite how lucrative and innovative they are. Most investors believe that these socially driven investors are incapable of drawing in the required profits and pushing the profit margin further for them because their focus mostly focuses on the social issues to be addressed rather than the concerns and propositions of the business model they ought to fix through (Yaari et al. 2020). Mostly they believe that these organisations that these socially driven ventures are risky and they are sceptical that they would not be able to retrieve the lent amount. This situation mostly arises due to the aspect that mostly the social drive organisations are created by people. Hence social entrepreneurs struggle to gather the necessary capital and hence the entrepreneurs are forced to invest in their own savings to combat this social issue. Needless to mention that, this ability hinders their ability to scale forward and sustain at par with the traditional market that exists.

Importance in current times

This issue is certainly very critical to be addressed especially in recent times when sustainable business models are in an all-time high demand to be used due to the present condition that prevails in the current condition. Henceforth it is to be noted that these organisations ought to work and move in a certain direction that would enhance and promote their cause of work and enhance their functionalities in the specific industry of the construction business. The construction industry is one of the most lucrative and sought out the industry for different investors. The population is ever-growing and the demand to establish new residential complexes, institutions and other buildings is also at all-time high demand. In this regard, a sustainable approach is on the rise that addresses the resign concerns of a society that prevails.

In current times many investors are focused on investing in the alternate and innovative approaches that are being bought in by the sustainable model of business growth. Social enterprises in this regard are the most functioning entrepreneurial approaches that are moving towards the growth of the business sector in association with environmental benefit. Henceforth it is to be noted for the sustainable business sectors to adopt necessary and important measures (Sinclair et al. 2018). It is crucial to formulate effective plans that would draw the attention of the investors and curb the issues of investment issues.

Socially driven organisations are required to implement measures that are beneficial for their progress. They ought to focus on a single agenda and then formulate a business plan that would draw investments towards their innovative models of business that also helps in contributing something effective to society.

Construction industry and its impact

The construction industry can make a critical difference towards the benefit of the environment. It is highly important in current times since there are different aspects to be taken into consideration to sustain environmental health at par with the rising rate of population. A business plan in association with the data regarding eh data necessary frot eh site is the easiest way to impact the decisions of the investors. SMEs utilise almost 30% of the global industrial energy output and also retain a high potential for saving energy. It can be done by implementing cogeneration methodologies which ponder upon the proper utilisation of heat and energy.

The cogeneration model of output properly refers to the ways one can utilise heat and energy reflecting on a sustainable approach. This approach was taken by MIT back in 2015 and aimed to remove the utilisation of fuel for power generation entirely by 2020, except for th case of emergencies (news.mit.edu, 2022). A narrowed-down choice of such a situation and alignment of business goals in that regard is necessary. The alignment of that sustainable approach is beneficial to the community as a whole. This narrowed-down policy is to be taken into consideration and would be helpful for the progress and benefit of society as a whole sole focusing on the business goals would enhance the social enterprises (Davies et al. 2019). Also formulating associated strategies would enhance the growth of the business model as a whole and will be lucrative to the investors.

Initiative

A business plan in correspondence to the previous issue is needed to be addressed effectively to conjure th basic idea of sustenance in the market. Necessarily it is to be addressed efficiently to note in the business plan that would address all the notions and important details to be outlined in the business model. The business plan is the most notable factor that is to be considered while aiming towards a sustainable approach and catering for the social responsibility an individual possesses to constitute nature (Xia et al. 2018). It becomes increasingly critical to present the details and the associated financial plan to the investors. It is important to note that the business idea in association with social responsibility is needed to facilitate and be funded well enough for its expansion on a global stage. Hence it calls for thorough market analysis to break down and particular the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in the course of the business model (Bassi and Fabbri, 2019. This is especially important for an organisation involved in the construction industry which is booming exponentially thus it is important to formulate a thorough strategy necessary for the progress and benefits.

SWOT analysis

Strengths ? Low labour cost ? Specialised in different services ? effective communication with the investors ? Investors are open to new ideas	Weakness ? Lack of expertise in renewable energy management ? Lack of proper funding. ? Low R&D outcome. ? Lack of industrial leakage ? Improper interaction with major stakeholders and policymakers
Opportunities ? The government subsidies ? Fast growing sector ? Favourable for a sustainable approach ? Socially accepted ? A well-established framework for the storage, manufacturing and transportation of the commodities	Threats ? A highly competitive market ? Lack of funding ? Waste management issues ? Low in-house capital

Table 1: SWOT analysis

 (Source: Self-created)

Any new project or approach has its share of strengths and weaknesses associated with it. These issues are to be addressed effectively to identify the sectors of attention determined by the factors of strengths and weaknesses (Benzaghta et al. 2021). Opportunities being presented in the course of the work process and the associated threats are to be assessed effectively. In the case of the construction business social model of the work process involved addressal of the issue that is helpful to the community in the long run affecting the progress of th society and nearby communities as a whole. This approach is highly helpful in establishing sustainable businesses targeted for the overall progress of society.

In the case of strengths, the labour costs involved in the construction business with a sustainable approach are relatively lower since it utilises high-quality materials and ponders on the aspect of easy accessibility. Secondly, this model of work process also includes the utilization of highly specialised workers who can utilise and recycle the wastes and thus reduce the prospect of faults and issues in terms of quality and other units (JATMIKO et al. 2021). This is highly important from the employer's point of view since hiring specialized workers highly alleviates the aspect of time and resource management involved in the course of work.

Also, an efficient bond of communication with the investors is a huge plus point when it comes to landing a new project aimed towards a specific direction. Over time, the investors have also been open to new ideas and prospects aimed towards a sustainable approach (Weng, and Liu, 2018). It is mostly due to the prevalent conditions of global warming and other conditions that have been worsening the global scenario of public and environmental health. 

There are also multiple weaknesses associated with the course of certain projects. This is a relatively new section to explore and fusion and thus the overall expertise and experience in this group of workers are comparatively weaker (Rakhmansyah et al. 2022). Similarly, the lack of expertise has been evoking prejudice associated with new projects and workers. Thai factor has been affecting the external stakeholders who are critical components to the progress and success of the employers. The external stakeholders are the main drivers for the progress and benefit of the organisaiton.

Sustainable developmental goals in Australia are beneficial for progress and beneficial to the organisation working towards a sustainable approach. The associated subsidiaries and financial aids are quite helpful too (Sachs et al. 2019). The construction industry has been in demand, however, the business has been booming at par with the adoption of a sustainable model of business. The transport facility and accessibility to natural resources are added advantages.

There are certain threats associated with this course of this work. Most notably this is a relatively modern approach being an upgrade to the traditional course of work however it is not exclusively new. Hence there is a relatively high amount of competition in the market. Funding issues are still prevalent that affect rhe course of the work process and functionality. On top of it, waste management and the issues of the "not in my backyard approach of people are a hindrance towards the course of conductance of business.

Budget planning

Action	Implementation	Budget
Training courses	Hiring a third party to teach about sales, marketing and office automation	$30000
Department	Enhance diversity by including employees of different backgrounds	$5000
Materials zone	Installation of waste management facilities	$6000
Improvement of facilities	Improvement of office perimeters	$9500
Geographic expansion	Establishment of four new branches across East Australia by 2025.	$800000
Merchandising	Official diaries, calendars and T-shirts	$4200
Billboard	Installation of billboards across highways and main city spots.	$3200
Total budget		$821,900

Table 2: Budget planning

 (Source: Self-created)

Through estimation is necessary to evaluate the cost and its effective utilisation for different purposes. It is highly important to invest and get the business recognised to garner public attention. An estimation of $821,000 has been calculated to allocate different functions and services involved in the line of work and enhance the business.

Logistics and operational plan

Logistics and their associated operation are critical in the case of any business plan. Therefore that section ahs have been addressed efficiently to cater to the basic necessity of the facility being provided to the employees. Therefore the production facilities have been equipped with new-age technologies for ease of access and usage. The aspect of transportation has been addressed efficiently to easily conduct business and connect with the stakeholders properly.

Risk/Opportunity management plan

Risk factors	Nature of risk (High/moderate/low)	Mitigating strategy	Timeline (approximately)	Resources
Funding	High	? In house funding ? Communication with investors	1 month	? Savings ? Investors
Market competition	High	? Trade fair ? Advertisings ? Billboard ? Merchandising	3 weeks	? Billboards ? Social media advertising
Waste management	Moderate	? Recycling of waste products ? Safe dump yards ? Eco-friendly measures that do not affect the neighbouring flora and fauna	2 months	? Waste recycling stations ? Safe dumyards

Risks and opportunities are involved in all cases and thus it is needed to be addressed thoroughly. The risk factors are critically evaluated based on certain factors involved in the section of the work process. The most prominent risk factor involved in this line of business is funding. The lack of funding is one of the critical issues that has been identified at an earlier stage and thus different investors have been communicated with to come up with an effective strategy and change the course of business conductance. On top of it, Waste management has been a critical aspect to note regarding this situation and thus the facilities have been addressed and necessary strategies have been undertaken to recycle the waste and implement the approach of sustenance (Ilankoon et al. 2018). Another critical aspect is the attainment of a competitive edge. Thus necessary steps have been taken through the utilisation of different opportunities like trade fairs and business cons to promote the business and reach larger audiences audience has been connected with various sources of merchandising and advertising strategies (Al-Surmi et al. 2020). Efficient marketing strategies utilising social media platforms have been highly beneficial in formulating strategies required for a specific course of business.

All these aspects have been addressed over a certain period of time depending on their level of intensity. These situations have been addressed efficiently through prioritization depending on the course of opportunities that have arisen over time. All the aforementioned risks have been addressed and have been reduced to minimal effect to look into. These situations are quite common to the course of business that is in its initial stage. Social enterprises are the ones that dedicate the interests of these companies and align them with the interests of society at large and thus the companies take an eco-friendly and sustainable approach to mitigating the causes of issues that might affect the environment at large, in such cases, there are multiple issues that arise at par with the prevalent traditional format of work process and overall perception and prejudices associated with it. However, the aspect of innovation has been rising and thus the sources of issues have been going down over time.

References

Journals

Al-Surmi, A., Cao, G. and Duan, Y., 2020. The impact of aligning business, IT, and marketing strategies on firm performance. Industrial marketing management, 84, pp.39-49.

Bassi, A. and Fabbri, A., 2019. Crowdfunding: Threat or opportunity for social economy? Third sector organisations and social enterprises facing the challenge of ICT funding strategies.

Benzaghta, M.A., Elwalda, A., Mousa, M.M., Erkan, I. and Rahman, M., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), pp.55-73.

Davies, I.A., Haugh, H. and Chambers, L., 2019. Barriers to social enterprise growth. Journal of Small Business Management, 57(4), pp.1616-1636.

Hertel, C., Bacq, S. and Lumpkin, G.T., 2020. Social performance and social impact in the context of social enterprises—A holistic perspective. Vaccaro A. and Ramus T.(Eds.), Social Innovation and Social Enterprises: Toward a Holistic Perspective. Berlin: Springer.

Ilankoon, I.M.S.K., Ghorbani, Y., Chong, M.N., Herath, G., Moyo, T. and Petersen, J., 2018. E-waste in the international context–A review of trade flows, regulations, hazards, waste management strategies and technologies for value recovery. Waste Management, 82, pp.258-275.

Jackson, B., Nicoll, M. and Roy, M.J., 2018. The distinctive challenges and opportunities for creating leadership within social enterprises. Social Enterprise Journal.

JATMIKO, B., Udin, U.D.I.N., RAHARTI, R., LARAS, T. and ARDHI, K.F., 2021. Strategies for MSMEs to achieve sustainable competitive advantage: The SWOT analysis method. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 8(3), pp.505-515.

Rakhmansyah, M., Wahyuningsih, T., Srenggini, A.D. and Gunawan, I.K., 2022. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with SWOT analysis method. International Journal for Applied Information Management, 2(3), pp.50-57.

Sachs, J.D., Schmidt-Traub, G., Mazzucato, M., Messner, D., Nakicenovic, N. and Rockström, J., 2019. Six transformations to achieve the sustainable development goals. Nature sustainability, 2(9), pp.805-814.

Sinclair, S., Mazzei, M., Baglioni, S. and Roy, M.J., 2018. Social innovation, social enterprise, and local public services: Undertaking transformation?. Social Policy & Administration, 52(7), pp.1317-1331.

Weng, J. and Liu, T., 2018. Enterprise Strategy Analysis Based on SWOT Analysis. In 2018 International Conference on Sports, Arts, Education and Management Engineering (SAEME 2018) (pp. 274-277). Atlantis Press.

Xia, B., Olanipekun, A., Chen, Q., Xie, L. and Liu, Y., 2018. Conceptualising the state of the art of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the construction industry and its nexus to sustainable development. Journal of cleaner production, 195, pp.340-353.

Yaari, M., Blit-Cohen, E. and Savaya, R., 2020. Management in social enterprises—Management style, challenges, and strategies. Journal of General Management, 46(1), pp.36-46.

Websites

news.mit.edu, 2022. Cogeneration bridge future, Available at: https://news.mit.edu/2015/cogeneration-bridge-future-1216 [Accessed on: 28th October, 2022]

statista.com, 2022. Increasing social enterprise maturity, Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1053061/increase-in-growth-of-organizations-worldwide-by-social-enterprise-maturity/ [Accessed on: 28th October, 2022]