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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: Foroughi-Mobarakeh, Behrang
- Creators: Legg, Walter Eric
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
Social enterprises strive to tackle social problems, improve the lives of the people around them and help create a sustainable environment. Three specific enterprises will be analyzed to illustrate the differences between management styles, mission, financials and overall successes. There are numerous social enterprises in the southwest of the United States of America, some show more success than others, but what separates them? What commonalities do some of these enterprises share that allow them to be more successful than the rest? Is there a common denominator for enterprises to follow that will allow them to have success financially as well as accomplish their goals to better the community around them? Free Arts for Abused Children or Arizona, Seed Spot and Goodmans, we are able to better distinguish what factors allow enterprises to succeed. Due to the nature of social enterprises being able to be qualified as different types of organizations, i.e., company with shareholders, nonprofit organizations, etc. it is difficult to pin point a concrete model social enterprises should follow today. However, a finding that made all three of these social enterprises successful were their governance and ownership structures. Each enterprise consisted of a board that helped the enterprise stay on track with their given mission. Boards are also responsible for making major decisions that can impact the organization as well as being responsible for fundraising and making various financial decisions. After analyzing their structures, it was evident that all three enterprises consisted of strong governance structures. Although enterprises may not be able to follow a distinct model in order to be successful, they are able to place a board in control that aligns with the social enterprises mission and has a variety of knowledge that allows the board to make sound decisions. Keywords: social enterprise, management, governance, success, mission, financials
ContributorsButzbach, Jennifer Lauren (Author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / Foroughi-Mobarakeh, Behrang (Committee member) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Sense of Community is related to numerous positive outcomes for university students. The purpose of this study was to explore sense of community amongst low income students who received a last dollar scholarship. This study also sought to understand how students define community and how they interact with communities from their past (before university), present (since they started college), and how they envision their future community involvement after graduation. Through purposive sampling, six low income Arizona State University students were selected based on similar characteristics. The scholarship that they belong to selects them based on financial need, integrity, and prolonged commitment to community service. Using a qualitative narrative inquiry, I interviewed participants about their understanding and experiences with communities. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. Based on the analysis, I identified three major themes: community as construction, community as nonlinear, and community as intersectional. Drawing from participants' definitions and experiences of community, I argue that community is a construction. In other words, individuals create their own constructions of community, and their actions vary based on that construction. Participants also experience their communities intersectionally, that is individual's experience their communities as coexisting and through multiple community perspectives, rather than as a single stand-alone entity. Finally, community does not exist as part of a linear time paradigm. Instead community is experienced in terms of relevance to the individual in creating meaning from that community. In addition to the above themes, I also examined participant perspectives of ASU as a community. Based on this research, I recommend that a platform be provided for students to engage in a dialogue about their understanding of community and interactions with communities. Moreover, I suggest researchers utilize intersectionality, constructionism, and non-linear time to frame future research on sense of community. This research is significant because it helps us understand student engagement, and offers a framework through which universities can provide students an opportunity to better understand their own sense of community.
ContributorsWhite, Misha Alexsandra (Author) / Foroughi-Mobarakeh, Behrang (Thesis director) / Legg, Walter Eric (Committee member) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The goal of this project is to improve the efficiency of operations for Quincea Social Enterprise. I aim to achieve this goal by interviewing market participants to make recommendations for how Quincea Social Enterprise can best utilize resources to deliver vegetables, fruits and herbs to their key institutional customers (schools, churches, hospitals, group homes and corporate cafeterias). This thesis views Quincea through the lens of the Social Enterprise Business Model and compares its organization to serve underemployed groups including veterans and adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD Adults) 1. Throughout my research, I use supply chain theory and network structure to inform supply chain strategy, optimize logistics, and integrate the supply chain organization, processes and technology. My insights are grounded in the supply chain literature, and a comparison with other non-profit operations. This thesis identifies the resources, capabilities, and partnerships needed for a successful social enterprise. The key findings include: a) Quincea’s unique business model exhibits promising potential for cost-effectively creations of jobs for adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities; b) an important strength is the depth of its public and private sector strategic partnerships; c) another important organizational advantage is its emphasis on operational efficiencies and being price competitive, rather than having its social mission drive sales d) its efforts to document its strategies and operating plans, along with securing many partnerships with national corporations, should facilitate program geographic expansion; e) the emphasis on social impact metrics should make it easier to measure program effectiveness and to attract additional strategic partners; and f) the economic self-sustaining business model exhibits promising potential to expand operations, while having reduced dependency on government, foundation and individual donor subsidies to scale operations.
ContributorsStephens, Natalie (Author) / Richards, Timothy (Thesis director) / Hall, Jonathan (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05