Background: In the informal economy, neither the state nor the regulated market is able to create wealth and social justice, which, instead, is determined by affiliation to social groups (Mair, 2010). Bangladesh is an examples... [ view full abstract ]
Background: In the informal economy, neither the state nor the regulated market is able to create wealth and social justice, which, instead, is determined by affiliation to social groups (Mair, 2010). Bangladesh is an examples of a country in which such an informal economy exists. In Bangladesh, from an economic and cultural perspective neither the government nor the market creates social entrepreneurship; rather, civic organizations, most of which are NGOs, implemented their own innovative strategies and approaches toward social entrepreneurship. BRAC a large NGO and SE in Bangladesh, is one example of an organization following integrated social entrepreneurship approach for their SEs. The sustainable initiatives supporting the BRAC SEs have not been the subject of many studies, although some beneficial studies have been done to obtain an understanding of the organizational factors. As such, using the organization BRAC as a case study, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) how did BRAC succeed in transforming itself from an NGO into a sustainable social enterprise? 2) Which organizational factors contributed to their success?
Method: This work constitutes exploratory research and is based on a case study. The method is divided into two parts: in the first part the available data resources were examined and the relevant literature was reviewed, and in the second part purposive sampling was used in the form of an in-depth interview that was conducted with the BRAC SE program head. The duration of the interview was about 40 to 50 minutes and consisted of open-ended questions with the questionnaire probing the nine main organizational factors relating to the purpose of the study. The factors that were included are (a) Ventures and beneficiaries, (b) Organizational strategy for Social Enterprise, (c) Organization’s operational capacity, (d) Organizational culture, (e) Organizational value (g) Resource support and funding, (f) Leadership/ management role, (i) Social development impact, and (j) Monitoring and evaluation system.
Result: There are some key organizational factors that the study demonstrated as follows: first, almost all of BRAC’s enterprises started by either addressing a social need or by addressing the needs of their clients, which remains the strength of the BRAC enterprise. Second, BRAC has extensive field-level learning experiences in development sectors, which helped the organization to establish appropriate SEs. Third, BRAC’s understanding of the demand and supply side of the market during the establishment of their SEs formed a key contribution to the success of their enterprises as well as creating social development impact. Fourth, the nature of the Bangladesh SE system, including BRAC itself, is that it is a ‘self-innovative system’ with innovative leadership forming the key to this characteristic. Fifth, the ‘BRAC model’ is a unique strategy that has a durable component maintaining a synergetic approach, which has led BRAC to become a large, and self-sustained SE as an NGO. Sixth, the success of the BRAC SEs also relies on its strong and systematized organizational foundation, such as its monitoring & evaluation system. Finally, BRAC’s success factors are also embedded in its organizational culture and a shared set of core values that is incorporated with the values of its SEs.
Discussion and conclusion: Development NGOs are well known for their creative and innovative approaches that are designed to reach the grass roots level of society. SE is one of the innovative approaches available for development NGOs. For those development NGOs seeking their financial sustainability and aiming to increase their organizational legitimacy, BRAC would be a good example to follow and to learn from.
Key words: Social enterprise, Organizational factors, NGO, BRAC
References
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Mair, J. (2010). Social Entrepreneurship: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead. http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0888-E.pdf
