How to Build a Social Enterprise ...

A new year and no time to waste.

This week at SocialEdge, Kirsten Gagnaire of the Social Enterprise Group, LLC is leading a moderated discussion on how to build a Social Enterprise, more correctly stated as - How to Develop a Process and Organizational Culture that Efficiently and Effectively Examines Entrepreneurial Ideas.

Here are some questions she uses to develop relevant parameters for decision making:

What is the organization’s mission? To what extent does the business idea align with the mission?

What are the organization’s core values? To what extent does the business idea align with these core values?

What assets does the organization possess (i.e. relationships, brand recognition, reputation, facilities, financial, knowledge)? To what extent does the business idea leverage those assets?

What are the primary goals for any business endeavors (i.e. to provide client jobs, recognition/branding for the organization, profit). To what extent does the business idea directly address the primary goals?

What level of profit does the organization want to achieve – what’s the least a business needs to make to make it worthwhile for the organization to consider it? Is there evidence the business idea has a market demand and profit margin that can meet the organization’s profit needs?

What is the minimum level of social impact the organization needs to achieve in order to make the business idea worthwhile? Does the business idea realistically have the potential to make this level of social impact?

What type of impact on organizational culture and reputation is the organization willing to sustain for a new business? To what extent will this business idea impact the organizational culture and reputation