Scaling deep: a transformative approach to scaling green social enterprises

In recent years, academics have displayed a growing interests on social enterprises as sustainable organisations, with a crucial role for the transition towards a more environmentally sustainable economy and society (Vickers... [ view full abstract ]

In recent years, academics have displayed a growing interests on social enterprises as sustainable organisations, with a crucial role for the transition towards a more environmentally sustainable economy and society (Vickers 2010, Anastasiadis 2013). Green social enterprises (Osti 2012) and other social innovations are seen as catalysts and change agents in many environmentally-orientated sectors such as waste management and reduction, house building, energy supply, reducing carbon emissions, providing local food and so on (Smith 2006, Van der Horst 2008, Parrish and Foxon 2009, Scott-Cato et al 2008).  Despite cases of degeneration, social and co-operative enterprises are often considered by green economists as strongly sustainable organisations, with an intrinsic commitment to more sustainable and accountable business practices (Scott-Cato 2009, Scott-Cato et al 2007), as ‘their ethos and structure already reflect principles implicit within sustainable development’ (Barry and Smith 2005, 256).

A major challenge for environmentally motivated social enterprises is to balance their strongly sustainable core with the need to move beyond their green niches (Vickers and Lyon 2012), fulfilling their transformative potential for systemic change through social innovation (Murray et al 2010).  The crucial question relates to how social enterprises can scale the impacts of their activities to match the level of need (Gabriel 2014) without compromising their social and environmental missions?  In essence, how can they achieve scale and sustainability at the same time? 

To address these critical questions, this paper first explores the social enterprise literature on scale and sustainability, outlining different scaling strategies and approaches.  Beside considering scale in terms of organisational growth, this paper includes strategies to scaling through changing the ‘rules of the game’, impacting institutions, policy and laws (Riddell and Moore 2015).  Moreover, it focuses on those strategies of scaling ‘deep’, achieving a ‘durable change’ through transforming ‘people hearts and minds, their values and cultural practices, and the quality of relationships they have’ (Ibidem, 3).

In the second part, the paper analyses the case of Cortocircuito, an Italian social agricultural co-operative (SAC).  SACs are chosen as they are innovative and fast-growing types of social enterprises with a strong environmental core (Carini and De Pedri 2012). Balancing sustainability and scale is a significant challenge for SACs.  Cortocircuito is chosen as an exemplar of the SAC format that prioritises scaling deep strategies.  Data are collected mainly through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with the SAC members.  Secondary sources of data, such as company archives and documents are used as commensurate data to ensure construct validity.

Moving beyond the managerialist approach to scale, the case study allows us to explore the opportunities and challenges of scaling deep strategies.  In so doing the paper examines the potential of social enterprises to develop a sustainable steady-state economy, leading to prosperity without growth (Jackson 2009).

References

Anastasiadis, M. (ed.), (2013), ECO-WISE Social Enterprises as Sustainable Actors: Concepts, Performances, Impacts, Vol. XXVI, Europaeischer Hochschulverlag.

Barry, J. & Smith, G., (2005) Green political economy and the promise of the social economy, in Dauvergne, P., (ed), International Handbook of Environmental Politics, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.

Carini, C., & Depedri, S. (2012). La cooperazione sociale agricola in Italia. Una panoramica dei dati camerali. Euricse Research Report, N.006 | 12.

Gabriel, M., (2014), Making it BIG. Strategies for scaling social innovations, Nesta: London.

Jackson, T., (2009), Prosperity Without Growth. Economics for a Finite Planet, Earthscan: London

Murray, R., Caulier-Grice, J. & Mulgan, G., (2010), The open book of social innovation, Nesta: London.

Osti, G. (2012). Green social cooperatives in Italy: A practical way to cover the three pillars of sustainability? Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy, 8(1), 82-93.

Parrish, B.D. & Foxon, T.J. (2009), Sustainability Entrepreneurship and Equitable Transitions to a Low-Carbon Economy, Greener Management International, 55: 47-62.

Riddell, D., & Moore, M. L. (2015). Scaling Out, Scaling Up, Scaling Deep: Advancing Systemic Social Innovation and the Learning Processes to Support it, JW McConnell Family Foundation and Tamarack Institute.

Scott-Cato, M., (2009), Green Economics: An Introduction to Theory, Policy and Practice, Earthscan: London.

Scott-Cato, M., Arthur, L., Keenoy, T. & Smith, R., (2008), Entrepreneurial energy: associative entrepreneurship in the renewable energy sector in Wales, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 14(5): 319-329.

Scott-Cato, M., Arthur, L., Smith, R. & Keenoy, T., (2007), CSR in your own backyard, Corporate Responsibility Journal, 3(2): 32–8.

Smith, A., (2006), Green niches in sustainable development: the case of organic food in the United Kingdom, EPC: Government and Policy, 24(3): 439-458.

Van der Horst, D. (2008), Social enterprise and renewable energy: emerging initiatives and communities of practice, Social Enterprise Journal, 4(3):171-185.

Vickers I. & Lyon, F., (2012), Beyond green niches? Growth strategies of environmentally-motivated social enterprises, International Small Business Journal, 31: 1-22.

Vickers, I., (2010), Social enterprise and the environment: A review of the literature, TSRC Working Paper 22, Third Sector Research Centre: Birmingham.