Research Article
Rethinking Competencies of Social Enterprises as a Way to Create Shared Value: Policy Analyses from a Perspective of Competitive Advantage
1 Ewha Womans University
Published: January 2014 · Vol. 18, No. 4 · pp. 241-265
Full Text
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze policies for social enterprises in Korea with the goal of providing policy recommendations for enhancing the long-term sustainability of social enterprises. To achieve the purpose, our analysis was conducted from the perspective of competitive advantage, and a policy analysis model was designed based on Porter (1990)’s competitive advantage model, the diamond model, and Cho, Kim, & Kang (2011)’s social enterprise policy analysis model. The new model, Multidimensional Competency Framework (MCF), includes four determinants of competitive advantage from the diamond model (factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry), and each attribute is divided into two prongs of social enterprise policy analysis from Cho et al. (2011), the supporting system and the supporting methods. Findings show that the policy support for social enterprises centers on the short-term support for the everyday operation of social enterprises--the support is concentrated on the factor condition attribute, while the support for the firm strategy, structure, and rivalry attribute is by far most limited. Such a lop-sided support results in a limited role the policy plays in creating an environment for enhancing the competitiveness of social enterprises and, thus, the long-term sustainability. Policy recommendations based on the findings include providing support for assessing the social needs for their product/service development to truly create shared value, providing education and support for product management and product development, allowing financial support to promote social enterprises, assisting with their strategic plans and organization development with a diversified and differentiated support, establishing a monitoring system and a follow-up plan, strengthening inter-governmental agencies’ collaboration/cooperation and establishing an integrated support system for social enterprises, and securing a long-term educational system with diverse curricular.
