Week 11 Journal

Week 11 discusses social business which was defined by Professor Muhammad Yunus as a “business created and designed to address a social problem, a non-loss, non-dividend company”. Such business is financially self-sustainable and profits realized by the business are reinvested in the business itself with the aim of increasing social impact.

The investors or the owners can gradually recoup their money invested, but cannot take any dividend beyond that point. Yunus said “the company must cover all costs and make profit, at the same time achieve the social objective, such as, healthcare for the poor, housing for the poor, financial services for the poor, nutrition for malnourished children, providing safe drinking water”

What did spark my interest is his ability to establish a social business like Grameen bank which allowed the poor to be an actor in the free market and to enjoy some of its fruits to try to come out of poverty. 

Research have repeatedly shown that income is one of the strongest predictors of measuring success and these can be linked with education. Since many are not privy to education many will continue to be in poverty. Lack of education makes up a major part of the poverty trap

Hybrid Organization

In summary, week 10 talks about Hybrid organizations which are, by nature, hard to define. Hybrids organizations often exhibit qualities of both nonprofit and for-profit activities. The core of any hybrid organization lies a commitment of creating positive social or environmental impacts. Hybrids pursue a social mission whiles they engage in commercial activities in order to generate revenue to sustain their operations. The Broken “Buy-One, Give-One” Model which talks about 3 Ways to Save Toms Shoes are better understand the problem, create a solution, not a band-aid and innovate business models, not marketing campaigns.

What did spark interest to me of hybrid organizations is their quest for legal recognition and access to capital, markets, and labor. The challenges they face are Legal Structure, Financing and Customers and Beneficiaries. This entails the establishment of two separate legal entities, one a for-profit and the other a nonprofit for legal structure. With financing the approach is the funding strategy they adopt that accesses profit-seeking investors for commercial activities and nonprofit fundraising and public subsidies for social activities and last but not the least the breaking of traditional customer-beneficiary activities by providing products and services that, when consumed, produce social value.

What makes hybrids successful is their approach in addressing social issues of environment, economic development, governance, and housing. They are also finding homes in sectors like retail, information technology etc.

Week 09 Journal

The summary of lesson 09 talks about robust infrastructure building of organizations, which includes sturdy information technology systems, financial systems, skills training, fundraising processes, and other essential overhead which are more likely to succeed than those that do not.

My response to a specific reading, video, or activity of lesson 09 was Dan Pallota’s Ted talk which reveals the perceptions working against the non-profit sector that make it hard to compete against businesses and mentally disabled people who just want compassion or love, and that can’t be monetized by a business.

As a nonprofit volunteer, donor, board member, or employee is to help build a robust infrastructure of any organizations I am associated with, which includes sturdy information technology systems, financial systems, skills training, fundraising processes, and other essential overhead which will help improve the organizations sustainability.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The summaries of week 08 lessons are all about corporate social responsibility and sustainability which in essence suggest the intended commitment of organization’s triple bottom line actions in its corporate processes. That is to incorporate the creation and maximizing of long-term, social and environmental, economic values into core strategy and operations. It is an indication of the challenges of the present world facing organizations from the public and private sectors.

My response to a specific reading, video, or activity in this week’s content which did spark an interest is the triple bottom line which is a framework with three parts of social, environment and financial which is use to evaluate organizations performance in a broader perspective to create greater business value. It takes care of people, profits and the planet.

People: fair treatment of employees, and enacting favorable practices in the communities where companies conduct business.

Profits: Positive effect on a company's financial bottom line.

Planet: The implementation of sustainable practices and the reduction of environmental impact.

Why CSR has become more and more popular in recent years according to Forbes, “CSR is a way for companies to benefit themselves while also benefiting society”. They use CSR as a way to push innovations, cost savings, brand differentiation, customer engagement etc. into  business processes.

JOURNAL 07

The summary of the main activities of week 07 teaches about the Lean Startups which in essence is to provide a scientific approach in creating and managing startups and get the desired product to customers' hands faster. It is a method that teaches entrepreneurs how to drive a startup-how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere-and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It helps avoid major startup founder mistakes. The business model canvasses describe, design, challenge, and pivot a business model. In essence it is a visual chart which consists of elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances.

My response to a specific reading, video, or activity in this week’s content is Lluis’s presentation on 5 keys to success for social entrepreneurs, an interesting point of view. The import of the whole lecture was that, what every investor is looking for are potentially successful social entrepreneurs. They know the real value of an idea, They hate- They are really pissed off about social problems, They shout their existence to the world, They are paranoid and They look at both the social impact and the money.

Sharpening business skills is a powerful way to accelerate learning and boost leadership skills and this could help or influence others. The potential benefits are many; it may help one focus and gain clarity on issues, they can therefore inspire others and provide encouragement and moral support when needed as well as help others discover their hidden strengths. The most important skill is leadership skill.

Reflection Journal: Week 06

The summary of the main ideas of week 06 topics mainly talk about sustainability and funding sources of social enterprises and their social value creation. How social enterprises raise funds to finance their activities should they be an NGO as traditional philanthropy doesn't provide them with a stable, long term source of finance. The lessons teaches us about a regular startup funding as network investments, banking, equity debt, convertible debt, crowdfunding etc. as well as social entrepreneurs thinking innovatively and identifying partners who can bring economic value to both parties.

What did spark my interest was Michael Porters video on why business can be good at solving problems. He recognized the seemingly problems in the world, poor nutrition, access to clean water, climate change, deforestation, lack of skills, not enough food, health care and pollution. Simply put, why do we have all of these social problems? In response to these rising social problems, the past several years has seen the ballooning of the social sector, NGOs and social organizations to find solutions to these societal problems. He emphasized on us can’t make a large scale impact on the problems because on the current models, we don’t have enough resources. But in all the fundamentals are that businesses must impact and address these problems.

“If poverty makes us miserable, it stands to reason that wealth makes life worth living. But does it? Psychologists aren’t so sure” Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jan/07/can-money-buy-happiness. Mosiah 2:41 “And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it”.
President David O. McKay has also said that Virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and in keeping the commandments of God lead to a happy life, so therefore money cannot buy happiness it is through these attributes that we all can gain happiness.

My augment is that money cannot change the world; we only can change the world when we learn the basic principles established by the Lord and learn basic health issues like nutrition, not polluting our waters, clean environment so we will not get sick, learn skills so we can feed our families. We need to change the mindset.  

Weekly Prompts Lesson 05

The summary of the main ideas and topics of the week mostly talks about the Theory of Change which is the change a social enterprises creates through its actions, It talks about the approach social enterprises engaged in in planning, evaluating their activities, projects and services to deliver quality services to communities. The approach involves the identification of desired outcomes.

What sparks my interest is lesson 05 reading which talks about Getting Results: Outputs, Outcomes and Impact and used to describe the results of nonprofits. Outputs: describe activities done by nonprofits and it consists of goods or services that are produced by these non-profits which become available for use outside that enterprise. Outcomes: becomes the observed effects or end result of the outputs on the beneficiaries of the nonprofit. Impact: This is the strong effect or influences the activities of nonprofit have on those they are serving. This is important for nonprofits to attempt to track their activities in some way.

The conclusions drawn from this “Hurling and Community Service” is making a difference where you can. The connection between the article “Hurling and Community Service” and setting my goals are to effect a positive change on the community. My goals are to support local organizations, and agencies recognize their importance to the community’s quality of life and the development of recreation facilities within communities.