Mid Sweden University

The purpose of this paper was to visualize and describe a general social/societal entrepreneurship process and to describe essential parts within the processes with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the features of the phenomenon. By studying the area from a Quality Management view and with a focus on processes this study shows a proposed visualization of the soci(et)al entrepreneurship development processes. The visualization shows processes, activities, output, input, and the value to the customer within soci(et)al entrepreneurship. The process starts with various unidentified needs and ends in the soci(et)al values. The study focused on literature that was found through databases, previous knowledge within the area and from other scientists. The results were confirmed in literature that describes social or societal entrepreneurship cases. This is an attempt to contribute to the understanding of soci(et)al entrepreneurship and help practitioners to understand their work and develop within the field.

Processes, activities and tasks of a community-based area development project are described. The main process has been used three times and a model is presented.  An earlier developed process map has been verified. The description of the project can help other communities to plan development projects. The illustration can be valuable for entrepreneurs who are planning a societal value initiative and for decision-makers and stakeholders who can contribute to, are concerned with, or may be affected by societal entrepreneurship. Observation, participating studies, dokumentations and an interview with the project leader has been carried out. Data have been analyzed and compared with the previously developed process map to achieve a deeper understanding of the processes within societal entrepreneurship. The purpose was to study and describe the processes of a community-based area development project and to compare it with a previously developed process map and to verify the process map.

Both science and those active within the societal entrepreneurship area need further knowledge and understanding about the phenomenon. By identifying and mapping out processes within societal entrepreneurship, opportunities to create knowledge and understanding are created. The purpose of this study has been to empirically study processes within societal entrepreneurship initiatives and compare them with a theoretical process map. The purpose has also been to confirm and develop this map. Three cases of societal entrepreneurship have been studied. Several data sources have been used to find activities and tasks within the initiatives. These have then been analysed using the process map. The empirical studies have confirmed and developed the theoretical process map that shows how societal value is crated within societal entrepreneurship. A process map of the societal entrepreneurship area that seems to cover general principles is presented.

Purpose –The focus of all quality initiatives is value creation and the understanding of customer value. With that said, it is surprising how non-visual, and noticeably blunt, the current tools for capturing and visualizing customer value sometimes appear in practice. The purpose of this paper is hence to explore and elaborate the ability of capturing and visualizing value creation, setting out from a new marketing tool referred to as attribute-value mapping.

Methodology/Approach – In order to fulfill the purpose of this paper, the attribute-value mapping tool has been applied, explored and elaborated as part of case studies within the area of societal entrepreneurship. The data have been collected as part of an annual course in societal entrepreneurship at Mid Sweden University.

Findings – The paper illustrates how the attribute-value mapping tool can be elaborated and used to capture and visualize value creation in practice. It also highlights perceived benefits of the attribute-value mapping tool and possibilities for further applications and development of the tool.

Value – The paper introduces and provides a practical example of a new tool for capturing and understanding customer value creation, and the attributes driving that value creation, in the quality management context. It is hoped to enable a more fruitful and accurate understanding and development of customer value within quality management, reaching from the entire organization to new product and new service development, various continuous improvement projects or the establishment of quality measurement systems.

 Keywords Customer value, value creation, societal entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, attribute-value mapping, quality management.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study successful leaders in societal entrepreneurships from a Quality Management perspective. The underlying purpose is to identify factors and leadership behaviours that contribute to the successful creation of customer value.Methodology: The research started with a literature review focusing on leadership within Quality Management. Two successful societal entrepreneurs were then studied to identify factors and behaviours that contribute to value creation. The identified factors and behaviours were then compared with each other.Findings: The results presented in this paper describe the leadership behaviours and factors of successful societal entrepreneurs that have been showed to create customer value. The results show that leaders need to focus on factors and behaviours connected to their co-workers, their organizations, their surroundings and their customers; but they also have to be aware of how they are and act to be able to successfully create customer value.Value of paper: By learning from societal entrepreneurs and their leadership behaviours, leaders within Quality Management could learn to increase customer value and be more adaptable to future demands.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study management processes within successful Societal Entrepreneurship in order to further understand the role of management in customer value creation.

Design/methodology/approach - management in three successful societal entrepreneurship initiatives that deliver societal value have been studied. Data have been collected through interviews, direct observation, participant observation and documentation. Management tasks, activities and behaviours have been identified and analysed to identify management processes and their input, output, main focus, drivers and relationship. The role of management in societal value creation has been analysed from a system view.

Findings - The result presents essential management processes important for societal customer value creation, their input, output and main focus. Some management processes are inter-related and are sometimes part of another management process.  The management seem driven by ‘need’, ‘opportunity’, ‘interest’, and ‘demand’ when creating societal customer value. From a system perspective, management have an indirect role in societal customer value creation and are important for possibilities to create societal customer value. Both the initiative and the surroundings have been found to be of importance to the management’s scope for contributing to societal customer value creation.

Originality/value – Studying successful societal entrepreneurial management and its role in customer value creation provides the possibility to understand and learn from management, its processes and role in societal customer value creation and how to successfully provide customer value to society and work with societal, environmental and sustainability issues.

Article Classification: Case study

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to reflective practices and models to support the understanding and creation of customer value from a system view.

Approach

Case studies have been performed and data have been mainly collected through interviews and documents but also through archival records, direct observations and participating observations. Collected data was studied from a system view by making rich picture maps inspired by soft systems methodology (Jackson, 2003; Checkland and Scholes, 1990). Maps were made for each societal entrepreneurial initiative studied. The findings were then compared with the concept of Service Logic and a development out of the Service Logic concept resulted in the Value Ripple Logic (VRL).

Findings

The findings shows the Value Ripple Logic and an explanation of the concept. It includes a lexicon, a method to map and analyse customer value creation, an empirical example of customer value creation in a societal entrepreneurial initiative and a metaphor that describes customer value creation from a system view.

Value

VRL captures and illustrates customer value creation beyond a classical provider-customer relation and creates possibilities for understanding and analysing customer value creation from a system view. Which makes it possible to better understand the social, societal and environmental impact of an organization or initiative from a larger perspective.

Article Classification

Case study