Tensions and Risks of Social Enterprises’ Scaling Strategies: The Case of Microfinance Institutions in China

Zhao, Meng; Han, Jun

doi:10.1080/19420676.2019.1604404

Cited by 35 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Despite their various forms, partnership-based geographic expansion facilitates quicker and greater reach to beneficiaries due to local partners' higher degree of local embeddedness and localized knowledge (Klein et al, 2020;Rangan and Gregg, 2019). However, finding suitable local partners is always a challenging endeavor (Pless and Appel, 2012;Zhao and Han, 2020).…”

Section: Modes Of Geographic Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Impact Scaling Strategies in Social Enterprises: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Islam

2021

SSRN Journal

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Social enterprises have attracted increased attention from both researchers and practitioners around the world. In the social enterprise context, scaling social impact is considered the main currency or key performance metric. Two overarching social impact scaling strategies are organizational growth strategy and ecosystem growth strategy. However, to date, little cumulative knowledge exists on these two social impact scaling strategies. To address this issue, this paper conducts a systematic review of 111 peer-reviewed articles. It identifies and discusses key insights into organizational growth strategy and ecosystem growth strategy as a means to scale social impact in social enterprises. Based on these findings, the current paper also develops a framework to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of social impact scaling strategies in social enterprises. Finally, the review identifies gaps in the existing literature and discusses a comprehensive agenda for future research.

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Section: Modes Of Geographic Expansionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Impact Scaling Strategies in Social Enterprises: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Islam

2021

SSRN Journal

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“…As claimed by several authors [4,13,43], the extant scholarly literature on social enterprise growth and social impact scaling is largely biased toward success stories, and, therefore, "the negative side, particularly the tensions and risks, in the scaling process is largely ignored" [4] (p. 16). Only a few studies have explored the limitations faced by SEs to grow and scale their social impact and the challenges experienced by these organizations when they engage in the process of scaling up their ventures [4,13,15,37,43,44].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following Desa and Koch [3], scaling social impact can be defined as the "process of expanding or adapting an organization's output to better match the magnitude of the social need or problem being tackled" (p. 148). As noted by Zhao and Han [4], the prior literature on scaling has made significant progress in describing the diverse scaling strategies deployed by social enterprises (SEs) and in discerning the drivers or inhibiting factors of scaling processes. Yet, little is known about why and how SEs apply different scaling strategies on an international scale, the challenges faced by SEs to maximize social impact when they engage in cross-border expansion, as well as how SEs can overcome such challenges and deploy international expansion as a catalyst for scaling social impact across borders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They frequently achieve such global dimension by engaging in "bricolage activities" to reconfigure existing resources at hand in constraining institutional environments [3], and by deploying information and communication technologies to identify and exploit global social entrepreneurship opportunities, to access funding and resources, and to create social networks and entrepreneurial alliances to drive international growth [10][11][12]. As revealed by some recent studies, however, organizational growth and expansion processes do not automatically lead to scaled social impact [13,14], and might even generate tensions and risks for the SE to fulfill its social mission and to promote stakeholder involvement in decision making [4,15]. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the challenges faced by SEs to scale their social impact when they engage in processes of international expansion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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International Expansion of Social Enterprises as a Catalyst for Scaling up Social Impact across Borders

2020

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Scaling social impact and solutions beyond the local context is argued to embody a key mechanism for social enterprises (SEs) to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to generate welfare-enhancing systemic change. In light of this, this article explores the potential of SE international expansion as a catalyst for scaling social impact across borders. From our reading of the literature, we discern three major typologies of cross-border scaling: Control-based, altruism-based, and hybrid. Drawing on a multiple-case study of nine international SEs, we examine why and how SEs deploy these scaling strategies on an international scale; the challenges to maximize social impact across borders associated with each of the scaling strategies, and the resources and actions that SEs can mobilize to manage such challenges associated with international expansion. Contrary to conventional wisdom and mainstream theory depicting SEs as small-sized organizations that suffer from different limitations to expand beyond their traditional national boundaries, our findings illustrate how these organizations can successfully operate on an international scale and simultaneously generate financial, social, and environmental value.

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“…Paradox scholars have recently provided ideas on how to manage the competing demands of social and commercial goals (Schad et al, 2016;Smith & Besharov, 2019;Smith, Gonin, & Besharov, 2013). However, this stream of research is usually confined to one national context and thus fails to provide insights on how social and commercial goals are managed in combination with local and global demands (e.g., Battilana & Dorado, 2010;Siegner, Pinkse, & Panwar, 2018;Zhao & Han, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing interrelated tensions in headquarters–subsidiary relationships: The case of a multinational hybrid organization

2020

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While all multinational organizations face the challenge of managing tensions between local integration and global responsiveness, they are increasingly required to pursue additional, often paradoxical, objectives -such as social and commercial goals. However, we know little about how these tensions at the core of the MNC strategy interact. Based on an inductive qualitative study of four headquarters-subsidiary relationships in a Latin American Multinational Hybrid Organization, we develop a model showing the interplay of multiple tensions and management approaches to address them. This allows us to contribute to research on subsidiary roles, which we found to differ depending on how multiple tensions are addressed. Furthermore, we add to the literature on hybridity in multinational organizations by pointing out how regional differences between units of a single organization unfold. Finally, we provide some practical recommendations for the management of multinational hybrid organizations. Journal of International Business Studies (2020) 51, 906-932.

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Tensions and Risks of Social Enterprises’ Scaling Strategies: The Case of Microfinance Institutions in China

Cited by 35 publications

References 42 publications

Social Impact Scaling Strategies in Social Enterprises: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Social Impact Scaling Strategies in Social Enterprises: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

International Expansion of Social Enterprises as a Catalyst for Scaling up Social Impact across Borders

Managing interrelated tensions in headquarters–subsidiary relationships: The case of a multinational hybrid organization

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