Preventing Chronic Disease: November 2010: 10_0082

http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/nov/images/cover_nov10.jpg
November 2010
Volume 7: Issue 6
ISSN: 1545-1151

SPECIAL TOPIC
Networks as a Type of Social Entrepreneurship to Advance Population Health
Jane Wei-Skillern, PhD


Suggested citation for this article: Wei-Skillern J. Networks as a type of social entrepreneurship to advance population health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(6). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/nov/10_0082.htm. Accessed [date].

PEER REVIEWED
Abstract

A detailed case study from the field of social entrepreneurship is used to illustrate the network approach, which does not require more resources but rather makes better use of existing resources. Leaders in public health can use networks to overcome some of the barriers that inhibit the widespread adoption of a population health approach to community health. Public health leaders who embrace social entrepreneurship may be better able to accomplish their missions by building their networks rather than just their organizations.


Social Entrepreneurship and Networks

Social entrepreneurship has become prominent as an approach to address societal problems. The term is generally conceptualized as innovative activity within or across the nonprofit, government, or business sectors to generate social impact (eg, improvements in public health, environmental conservation, economic development) (1). As traditional approaches to addressing society’s ills have failed, social entrepreneurship is seen as a way to leverage resources, enhance effectiveness through innovative partnerships, raise levels of performance and accountability, and ultimately achieve sustainable social impact.

Social entrepreneurship builds on the definition of entrepreneurship as “the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources that you currently control” (2). Conceptualizations of social entrepreneurship (3) are based on the drive to create social impact rather than personal or shareholder wealth. Social entrepreneurship is often characterized by some of the virtues of commercial entrepreneurship, such as efficiency, dynamism, innovativeness, high performance, and economic sustainability. Examples of such social entrepreneurship include nonprofits operating revenue-generating enterprises (4-6) or pursuing organizational growth (7) to increase the quantity or quality of programs or services. Undoubtedly, many social-sector organizations, following in the footsteps of their commercial counterparts, have achieved substantial impact by attracting more resources, developing their organizational infrastructure, and increasing the scale of their operations. Yet, the process of organizational growth also poses tremendous challenges, particularly in the social sector (those organizations whose primary goal is serving the public interest) where human and financial capital is often scarce. Even organizations that overcome obstacles to growth and achieve appreciable scale seldom achieve substantial social impact on their own.

Some researchers and practitioners have argued that the opportunities and challenges in the social sector require not only the creative use of commercial approaches but also the development of new conceptual frameworks and strategies tailored specifically to generating social impact. A prime example of this conceptualization of social entrepreneurship is a network approach. In a network approach, leaders not only focus on management challenges and opportunities at an organizational or institutional level but also try to mobilize resources more broadly within and outside traditional boundaries to generate maximum social impact.

Although social impact can be generated through traditional means by bringing resources into an organization and delivering programs or services directly, organizations can often achieve greater social impact by leveraging the resources and expertise of complementary, or even competing, organizations. By forming networks, leaders can mobilize resources and activities across unit, organizational, and sector boundaries to achieve maximum social impact. I conclude by describing how networks can be used by leaders in public health to overcome some of the barriers to adoption of a population health approach to community health.

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Preventing Chronic Disease: November 2010: 10_0082