IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jsocen/v5y2014i2p146-174.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Scaling Social Impact: Building Sustainable Social Ventures at the Base-of-the-Pyramid

Author

Listed:
  • Geoffrey Desa
  • James L. Koch

Abstract

This paper examines the process through which ventures scale their social impact in base-of-the-pyramid communities. A careful review of extant literature reveals two distinct modes of scaling social impact - breadth and depth scale. Drawing on a longitudinal study of Naandi and Drishtee - two exemplary social ventures in rural India - it is suggested that the depth and breadth scale develop through different processes. Each venture dynamically balances a minimum critical specification of social innovation, affordability, and market penetration while scaling social impact. We chart this path to scale in the two social ventures, and find that the relationship between minimum critical specifications and social impact is mediated by contrasting approaches to resource mobilization, operating routines, and entrepreneurial adjustment. The findings suggest that the process of scaling social impact can be characterized by a punctuated equilibrium model of system change.

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey Desa & James L. Koch, 2014. "Scaling Social Impact: Building Sustainable Social Ventures at the Base-of-the-Pyramid," Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 146-174, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:jsocen:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:146-174
    DOI: 10.1080/19420676.2013.871325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/19420676.2013.871325
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/19420676.2013.871325?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jsocen:v:5:y:2014:i:2:p:146-174. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJSE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.