Background:
Social enterprise is rapidly emerging as a popular method
for facilitating positive change in a sustainable manner through business. There are particular types of funding bodies
and incubation programs that seek out social enterprise initiatives to support
with the explicit purpose of scaling for greater distribution, greater market
share and ultimately greater good. (SSIR
for some number)
An important part of successful scaling efforts for
innovation in the social enterprise sphere is understanding the playing field,
including the organizations involved and the repeat investors. Collaboration
and strong networks help to define success in enterprising ventures. My
hypothesis is that there is substantial overlap in the board and staff makeup
of these organizations, but a detailed analysis of these key players has yet to
be fully developed. Understanding the individuals involved will help to
pinpoint what are the key issues being funded in the social innovation space.
Research question:
What is the level of interaction (strength of ties) for the
boards of the selected social enterprise organizations? Are there opportunities
for further collaboration?
What are the benefits
of SNA for board members?
By connecting the dots between boards and by examing trends,
this analyses might be useful both for social entrepreneurs looking to enter
into the field, and for boards to understand the possible benefits of deeper
collaboration.
Methodology:
I intend to look at the boards of B Corp (and B Lab), the
Skoll Foundation, Omidyar, Rockefellar Foundation and Unreasonable Institute to
understand how the top tiers of the
social enterprise field are collaborating and connected. I anticipate that I
will find strong ties between these organizations either in the form of
duplicate board members, or in the form of connections between board members of
different organizations. This will allow me to identify key issues being
funded, and ultimately shed light on how to maximize coordination between them.
Why boards?
Boards lend credibility and networks to the organizations
that they represent. They create opportunities for the organizations they
represent based on who the members know and their educational and professional
backgrounds.
Any previous SNA?
Although there has been some work
done in networks of innovations, but I have not found any social network
analyses, at least available to the public, on board networks between
organizations.
What data is needed?
I will first pull board names from
the websites of selected organizations. I will then gather biographical data
that will include gender, years in industry, type of degree, graduate
institution, current company of employment, association professional
organizations, and location. I will
likely need to do a survey for board members to fill out, pending availability
of biographical data online. There may
be attributes I would like to explore that will not be easily accessible.
Tool for Data
Analyses:
I will create several tables of two
mode datasets in which to list attribute data I’ve collected. I’ll also create
a table of one mode datasets to list the names of board members, and the
organizations represented. I will also list a one-mode data set of connections
between board members. I will examine betweenness,
reciprocity of ties, and cliques to determine the strength of ties between
board members of different organizations.
Considerations and
Limitations:
If no overlap of board members is
found in the initial five organizations selected, I will widen the search to
more organizations. I have listed five organizations
that function somewhat differently as funders, as incubators, and as leadership
networks. It may be that singling out one of the categories will deliver more
easily analyzed data, rather than considering all of the above. I will also
look to include data on the executive team members of the organizations and
their past professional and educational experience, in order to look beyond the
boards only. I predict that the executive team member data will produce similar
overlaps and implications to board data. A possible question for the board
survey might be “do you know this person and in what capacity”, in order to
reduce the level of assuming that I might otherwise have to do.
Sources:
1 comment:
Excellent, but I expected nothing less. We've already discussed, so no major additional comments except to say that you've really thought this through nicely. Only important point is that you may want to sharpen your question using the method I introduced in class. I can review with you.
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