Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social
Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and
Indonesia
Lieli Suharti
1
, Roos Kities Andadari
2
and Soomboon Panyakom
1
1
Satya Wacana Christian University
2
Payab University
Keywords: Social Entrepreneurships, Founder Characteristics, ASEAN, Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships.
Abstract: Social entrepreneurship (SE) movement is rapidly growing, including in ASEAN region. Itis recognized to
help alleviating various social problems. However, empirical researches on pioneering and development and
the concrete impact of social entrepreneurs on society are still relatively limited. This study aims to
understand whatfactors driving the emergence of social entrepreneurship are, how the role of the founder in
giving birth to social enterprises is, what forms of innovation developed and what impacts social
entrepreneurship have on society. This was an exploratory research with a multi-case qualitative approach.
The research objects were 6 successful SE cases in the ASEAN region. The data and information were
obtained through in-depth interviews with founders and SE managers. Further, the identified results and
analysed patterns were obtained by comparing all cases using tables and matrices to draw conclusions.This
study found that a SE which managed to focus on solving certain social problems used innovative ideas and
programs, was managed with a business model and independence-oriented and was also supported by the
characteristics of a qualified founder. Successful SEs could provide concrete benefits to the community
which consisted of economic, socio-cultural and environmental benefits.
1 INTRODUCTION
The terms social entrepreneur and social
entrepreneurship are not new but have been widely
discussed in the literature on social change since the
1960s and 1970s. Since then, the term is used and
often referred to the rapidly growing number of
organizations that have created models for
efficiently catering to basic human needs that
existing markets and institutions have failed to
satisfy. Social entrepreneurship is believed to be
able to alleviate various problems of poverty and
social issues in the community because it is run in
the form of social enterprises that combine the
practice of professional business with social motive.
Social entrepreneurship can be used as a
generator of socially oriented economic
development because it can provide socioeconomic
stability in a country (Kostetska & Berezyak, 2014).
Furthermore, Alvord, Brown, & Letts (2004)
emphasized that social entrepreneurship can help
solving various social problems in society,
especially those related to poverty issues that require
fundamental transformation in social, cultural and
economic systems. Thus, social enterprise is
intended to be self-sustaining, able to expand widely
with the aim of prospering the wider community, not
only for the welfare of certain individuals (Zhang &
Swanson, 2014).
In relation to the role of social entrepreneurship
which in general aims to solve various social
problems in the community, social entrepreneurship
activities are expected to have a significant impact
on the target group. The impact of social
entrepreneurship has been experienced by many
countries that have first developed this social
entrepreneurship model. The benefits of social
entrepreneurship in the community can significantly
improve community welfare in the fields of
economics, education and health (Widiastuti &
Margaretha, 2011).
In his research on 121 social enterprises (SE),
London, Dell’Amore, Rothstein, & Stockhammer-
368
Suharti, L., Kities Andadari, R. and Panyakom, S.
Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.
DOI: 10.5220/0008440303680377
In Proceedings of the 4th Sriwijaya Economics, Accounting, and Business Conference (SEABC 2018), pages 368-377
ISBN: 978-989-758-387-2
Copyright
c
2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
DeSimone (2014) found that the characteristics and
experiences of SE founders and the level of
difficulty of the social problems faced positively
influence the emergence of innovative ideas which
would have an impact in producing beneficial
outcomes. A research by London et al., (2014) is a
replication of Edmondson (2002); Lee & Nelson
(2005) study who conducted studies on a smaller
scale and they found similar research results. Other
researchers, Diochon (2013) emphasized the
importance of social entrepreneurship to produce
impacts that are not only oriented to the efforts to
alleviate poverty in the short term, but should be
more directed towards the emergence of the target
group's self-sufficiency in the long term.
Some previous studies emphasized the
importance of the role of a founder or initiator of SE
behind the success of social entrepreneurs.
According to Rusli, Sahuri, Mashur, & Mayarni
(2012), social entrepreneurs are people who have
transformative power with new ideas, the ability to
use and create opportunities in facing big problems,
and a tireless attitude in realizing their vision until
they succeed in spreading ideas. Alvord et al.,
(2004) asserted that in achieving its vision, social
entrepreneurs need creativity and obsession, dare to
take initiatives, be able to gather all resources and
build organizations to protect and market their
ideals, provide energy and centrally focused
attention to overcome obstacles and that continues to
improve, strengthen and develop the ideals that it
strives for.
In recent years, there has been a movement to
develop social entrepreneurship in various regions of
ASEAN countries. According to some literature
(Kostetska & Berezyak, 2014), social
entrepreneurship is a kind of activity that needs to
be revitalized in ASEAN countries, especially for
marginalized communities. Leaders of ASEAN
countries have officially announced that in 2015 the
ASEAN economic community (AEC) has become a
community with its motto: “One Vision, One
identity, One Community”. The Association of
Southeast Asian Nations aims to be stable and
prosperous community and a highly competitive
region with equitable economic development,
reduced poverty and socio-economic
disparities(College of Management, 2012).
However, poverty and welfare are still such a big
issue in some parts of the ASEAN countries (Asian
Development Bank, 2012). Low incomes consumers
constitute a majority of the region’s population and
they make up what is called the base of economic
pyramid (BOP) (Elkington & Hartigan, 2008). Other
words, these people are the foundation of the
economic, social and environmental development in
the region.
To respond to this opportunity and experience in
the social entrepreneurship movement, it would be
advantageous to study social entrepreneurs’
initiatives in the ASEAN communities including
their visions, aspiration, their innovativeness in
developing social entrepreneurship, and the impact
of their social entrepreneurships activities for the
surrounding community. This article was written
based on a study of 6 cases of social enterprises (SE)
that were successful in the ASEAN region namely in
Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. The SE cases
raised from Thailand were Mae Khampong and
Akha Ama Coffee tourism villages. In Vietnam, 2
cases studied were Craft Link - SE which was
engaged in handicrafts, and Mien Koto, a SE
engaged in education for street children and young
people from marginalized groups in Vietnam.
Furthermore, in Indonesia, 2 SE cases studied were
KoperasiKasih Indonesia which is engaged in
microfinance for minority groups that are not
covered by formal financial institutions, and SE
Yayasan Indonesia Medika in the field of health,
which offers health clinics for Papuans by utilizing
garbage insurance. These six cases were chosen for
this study because they were examples of successful
social entrepreneurship and had produced positive
impacts in the form of significant changes in the
social, political and economic context of the poor
and marginalized.
The analytical approach in this article focuses on
the answers to research questions that include: what
are the factors driving the emergence of social
entrepreneurship?; how is the role of the founder in
giving birth to social enterprises?; what forms of
innovation are developed and how are the impacts of
the role of social entrepreneurship for the
community? It is expected that the story of social
changes from 6 SE cases in the ASEAN region can
be categorized as successful stories and can be a
world inspiration. Particularly, understanding this
new practice may be well recognized in AEC so that
future projects have a better change of benefiting the
people and economy in the region.
2 RESEARCH METHOD
This research was an exploratory research with
a qualitative approach and multi cases. As Flyvbjerg
(2004) suggested, an exploratory research could
provide information on a real-life situation.
Similarly, Stake (1995) also indicated that an
exploratory study could probe into the particularity
and complexity of a social phenomenon, and thus
Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
369
enabling the researcher to understand not only the
activities involved, but also the important
surrounding circumstances. In other words, even
with its exploratory nature, practical knowledge and
understanding of particular contexts could be
achieved satisfactorily.
This study conducted a comparative analysis of
6 social entrepreneurship cases in the ASEAN region
which were categorized as successful SEs according
to the 3 criteria used to select the research case,
namely: SE had been operating for at least 4 years
when the research was conducted; considered as
successful SE indicated by the positive impact for
the target community; and was willing to be studied.
As a result, from a number of SEs contacted by
researchers, 2 SEs were chosen in Thailand (Mae
Khampong/MK and Akha AmaCoffe/ AA), 2 SEs in
Vietnam (Craft Links/ CL and Mien KOTO/ MK)
and 2 SEs in Indonesia (KoperasiKasih Indonesia?
KKI, and Yayasan Indonesia Medika/ YMI).
To identify patterns that relate to cases in each
country which were interesting to analyze, data
collection was done through in-depth interviews
with unstructured interview guidelines. The
interviews were conducted directly with the
founders and several employees of each SE for the
purpose of completing information and cross-
checking. Then, the researchers compared the
patterns in 6 cases using tables and matrices. The
results of this process were then analyzed resulting
in some conclusions, although cases from various
regions had their own peculiarities.
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Profile of Cases Studied
Table 1: General Profile of Social Enterprises Studied
N
o.
Indicator/
cases
MK
AA
CL
MK
KKI
1
Type of
business
Eco
Tourism
Café and
coffee
production
Traditional
craftsmen
empowerment in
Vietnam
Holistic
hospitality
training
program
Micro finance
2
Establishm
ent year
1999
2010
1996
1999
2011
3
Location
Chiang Mai,
Thailand
Chiang
Ma;
Thailand
Hanoi, Vietnam
Hanoi,
Vietnam
Jakarta,
Indonesia
5
Founders
/gender/ag
e*)
Miang
Tirame
/Male/40
years
Lee
AyuChuap
aa/
Male/25
years
Tran TuyetLan
/Female/ 32
years
Jimmy
Pham/Male/
28 years
Leonardo
Kamylius/Ma
le/ 28 years
6
Founders’
education
backgrou
nd
Graduated
from long-
distance-
education.
(senior high
school)
Graduated
from
university
in the field
of Social
worker
Master in
business
administration
Graduated
from
university in
the field of
tourism and
hospitality
Graduated
from Faculty
of Economics
of Indonedia
university
*) age when establishing the S
Based on the 6 SE cases examined, it is obvious
that the focus of the SE development sector varied
greatly depending on the social issues that would be
overcome. The focus of the development field
includes eco-tourism (Mae Khampong), agriculture
and post-harvest coffee processing (AkhaAma
Coffee), traditional craftsmen empowerment (Craft
links), education in the form of work-ready training
(Mien KOTO), micro finance (Koperasi Kasih
Indonesia) and the health sector (Yayasan Indonesia
Medika). All focuses of SE development above is
indeed an answer to the social problems commonly
found in developing countries. 3 of the 6 SEs studied
have been established for a long time, reaching
almost 20 years. Especially for Craft link, it is> 20
years old because Craft Link is the development of
the activities that NGOs had done in Vietnam
decades ago. Interestingly, it can be seen that the
other 3 SEs, AkhaAma Coffee, KoperasiKasih
Indonesia (KKI) and the Indonesian Medika
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370
Foundation (YIM) turned out to be relatively young.
This shows that the SE movement developed over
time and more and more were interested in
developing social enterprises.
Further, when it was related to the age of the
founders, it can be seen that 4 SEs were initiated by
founders who were relatively young, who were less
than 30 years. In addition, all young founders had a
formal undergraduate education background. This
finding is certainly encouraging for social
entrepreneurships activists as there are indications
that young intellectuals are beginning to be sensitive
to social problems around them and want to
intervene directly to participate concretely to help
overcoming social problems that may not be
addressed by the government.
On the business performance, it can be seen that
all SEs studied have good performance with
concrete results. From the results of interviews with
key informants, it was acknowledged that in the
performance achievement, it was actually loaded
with a number of fundamental changes to the
community which included social changes (culture
and mindset of the community), economic changes
(production, marketing processes and technology)
and political changes (village regulations and local
agreement). Miang (initiator of Mae Khampong)
stated that he needed 4 years to convince the local
community so that they were willing to support his
idea which was intended to prosper the local
community itself. In line with this, Mr.Kamilyus
(founder of KKI) also said that he was almost
frustrated in the first two years because it was
difficult to raise public awareness to save for their
own good. However, with a tireless effort, the
community mindset can finally be changed.
3.2 Driving Factors and Innovativeness
of SE
The background of an SE initiated is highly
dependent on the emergence of an agent of change
who is actually the founders of the establishment of
social enterprises in the community. It was
interesting to know what the driving factor that
motivated the emergence of the intention to establish
SE was. In this study, the driving factors for SE
initiation have been summarized in Table 2 below.
Table2: Driving Factors of Social Enterprises Studied
No.
Cases
Driving Factors of SE Initiation
1
MK
The condition of poor people in the village where he comes from, and farming activities cannot meet
his daily needs.
Infrastructure conditions are very bad (there is no electricity and the roads are very bad), so the
village is isolated
There are not enough jobs in the village, so that villagers look for work out of the village and
villages are increasingly not developing
The opportunity to get a decent education for the villagers is very low
2
AA
The poverty of the community in the Akha village
Poor education conditions, and in fact, Lee is being the only scholar in the village when he graduated
from university.
Agriculture is subsistence and conventional.
Farmers do not get adequate results from agricultural activities which are the main livelihoods of
local residents.
Infrastructure in the village is very limited, although the Akha village has very beautiful natural
scenery but it is rarely visited.
3
CL
CL was established to continue the international NGOs activities that helped empowering the
traditional handicraft products craftsmen from various remote areas in Vietnam.
CL aims to help the Vietnamese handicraft producers especially those in remote and poor areas, to
improve their lives through handicraft production and marketing, and also strives to revive and
promote traditional arts and crafts products and skills in Vietnam.
Educating people to appreciate and like traditional Vietnamese handicraft products.
Fighting for the implementation of fair trade principles so that artisan can earn enough wages.
4
MK
The lives of young people who are at risk and disadvantaged in Vietnam (street children, young
people in villages who come from financially disadvantaged families).
The number of children who live on the street and do not have the opportunity to get a decent
education to change their fate in the future.
Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
371
Many health and social problems that threaten children who live on the street.
5
KKI
There is a wide gap between the "the rich" and "the poor" groups in Indonesia and is very striking.
The poor group does not get the opportunity to get education, health services and good life quality.
The number of women from marginalized groups who work hard to support the family economy
with productive activities such as trading and micro-scale home industry, but they cannot develop
because of the difficulty in obtaining access to cheap credit.
Feeling called and motivated to do something meaningful in life for others (marginalized groups).
6
YMI
Concerned about the conditions of the poor and underdeveloped who have low incomes, low
education and also poor nutrition and health conditions.
There are poor people who have limited access to health services and facilities, because eating
regularly is difficult.
On the other hand, there is a problem of plastic waste that threatens the preservation of the
environment that needs to be overcome.
Source: interview data, 2017
Table 3:Innovativenessof Social Enterprises Studied
No.
Cases
Innovativeness
1
MK
Initiating and developing touristy villages with the eco-tourism concept that utilizes local resources
such as waterfalls
Relying on 3 types of capital, namely cultural capital; natural capital and way of life capital. Start
from no money and then rely on people power.
Implement community management by involving the active participation of citizens to participate
in managing the business together
Determining and implementing quality standards for continuous service quality assurance
Making local regulations in the utilization of local resources
2
AA
Helping coffee farmers to improve their productivity, so they can improve their life quality.
Introducing a coffee cultivation system that supports sustainable indigenous farming, Lee has a
principle: "it's better to work with nature, than to oppose it".
Introducing quality coffee processing techniques and international quality standards to enter the
international market.
Assisting the development of the Akha village towards the Coffee touristy village.
3
CL
The empowerment of craftsmen in handicraft products is carried out comprehensively and
integrated from upstream to downstream, ranging from knowledge and input selection methods,
standardization of the production process to product marketing.
Providing a range of business training to artisan including new product design, business training in
various fields such as marketing, quality control, basic accounting, and marketing strategies.Craft
Link operates professionally in a business manner, but is committed to utilizing the profits earned
for social activities of developing new handicraft projects in remote areas, not for the benefit of the
owner or the board.
4
MK
Opening a hospitality training center for children who live on the street.
Providing opportunities for young people who are at risk and disadvantaged to learn so that they
have hope for a better life.
Collaborating with local and international institutions to provide quality education and training in
the field of hospitality.
Looking for individual sponsors to provide scholarships for every child who is a student to ensure
the continuity of the organization's activities in the future.
5
KKI
Focusing on women from poor groups who have productive business activities but are not
developing and still living in poverty.
Establishing and developing the KoperasiKasih Indonesia engaged in micro finance which refers to
the Grameen bank business model developed by MohamadYunus.
The uniqueness of the credit system in KKI is that it requires borrowing credit members to save a
sum of money together with loan installment payments. Thus, the members are expected to
become accustomed to saving.
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6
YIM
Developing a Waste Insurance Clinic, a microinsurance which utilizes the value of plastic waste
that can be recycled as a health budget for households. Developing a website ready peduli.co.id
that sells stories from people who have serious illnesses for fundraising (donations).
Expecting to make HomeMedika.com where doctors can be sent to the homes of sick people in
various regions. The principle is that rich patients pay, the poor are free from cross subsidies.
The aim of the Yayasan Indonesia Medika is to serve the health of the poor while solving waste
problems.
Source: interview data, 2017
Overall, from the information obtained from the
key informants, social problems related to poverty,
unemployment, little opportunities to get a decent
education, poor nutrition and health, poor
infrastructure conditions and low business
productivity were recognized by all informants as
the background factors for them to develop SE.
However, there are some fairly specific reasons
underlying the SE movement studied. For example,
in Craft Link, one of the things that motivated them
to establish Craft Link was to improve the welfare of
the artisans of traditional Vietnamese crafts, and
another reason was because of their concern about
the diminishing value of art and traditional
Vietnamese craftsmanship. Likewise, it was also
found that the motivation behind Mien Koto's
establishment as a ready-to-work training center for
street children was a noble goal to reduce the level
of crime in the lives of street children. The
background factors of SE establishment which were
also widely revealed from this research were a desire
to maintain environmental balance and
sustainability. The initiator of the Mae Khampong
tourism village applied the concept of eco-tourism
that paid attention to the balance in nature in
managing tourism villages. Lee Chuapa also
introduced an environmentally friendly coffee
cultivation system to produce quality coffee.
With the background of these emerging social
problems in overcoming the existing problems, this
study found that each SE had creative ideas and
innovations to be implemented. Interestingly, the
results of the study found that each SE had a specific
target group. For example, Maekhampung and
AkhaAma coffee focused on the citizens of one
village, Mien Koto targeted street children and
Papah children with clear criteria, while KKI
focused only on women from marginalized groups
who had small-scale productive businesses. Based
on the forms and types of innovative programs
applied to each SE as stated in Table 2 above, it can
be seen that there is a high variation between SEs.
Innovative programs are very dependent on the
condition and situation of each SE problem which is
quite varied. However, some general things that can
be drawn from the innovativeness of all SEs studied
are as follows: (1) SE had a clear vision and
purpose; (2) there is a socialization program aiming
to equalize the perception and rhythm of work
related to the mindset of the target group; (3)
implementing standardization and SOPs to maintain
the quality of results; (4) managing organizations
professionally with a business approach and profit
oriented, but most of the profits were used for social
purposes; (5) concerning about sustainability issues
by paying great attention to financial independence
in the long term.
3.3 Benefits of SE
Similar to the essence of the activity of social
entrepreneurships that are born to overcome various
social problems in the community, it is only natural
that it is expected that the social entrepreneurship
movement can have a significant positive impact on
society. Based on the results of observations and
interviews with the key informants of this study, a
number of positive impacts from SE were obtained
and summarized in Table 4.
There are a number of positive impacts from
social entrepreneurships movements from the
objects of research recognized by all SEs. These
positive impacts or the benefits of the SE movement
studied can be grouped into 3 benefit groups, namely
economic benefits, socio-cultural benefits, and
environmental benefits. The three benefit groups are
summarized in the following table.
In this study, it is seen that despite of most
positive economic impacts, the positive impact of
SE in the socio-cultural field is also equally
important. The benefits of social culture such as the
occurrence of positive behavioural changes in the
target group are considered as important issues,
because these positive behavioural changes can
support the achievement of sustainable economic
benefits.
Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
373
Table 4: Benefit Categories of Social Enterprises
Benefit Category
Forms of Benefit
Economic Benefits
Increased business productivity, Increased income and welfare of the target
group, Opening new job opportunities, decreasing unemployment, opening the
market, Product standardization and product quality improvement, Increased
marketing capabilities.
Socio-cultural Benefits
The young generation wants to go back to the village, Becoming an initiator
and inspiration for other communities, Increased power position of women in
the family, Positive behaviour changes (saving), Art and cultural sustainability
of health services at a low cost, Motivating young intellectuals to engage in SE
activities.
Environmental Benefits
Infrastructure such as roads and electricity are getting better, Forests /
ecosystems are maintained, Eco-friendly farming system.
Source: interview result-based primary data, 2017
3.4 Discussion
The results of this research from 6 cases of social
entrepreneurships from Thailand, Vietnam and
Indonesia indicated a proliferation of social
entrepreneurships in ASEAN countries. Ideally,
social entrepreneurships arise because of the social
problems in the community, which are expected that
through social enterprise that is managed
professionally and business oriented, the social
problems can be overcome and the impact continues
(Boschee & McClurg, 2003). Based on the scope
and understanding of SE, it can be seen that the SEs
examined were close to the ideal definition of the SE
in question.
From this study, it was found that the
background to the emergence of SE initiation was
generally driven by economic problems revolved
around the problems of poverty, poor health and
education, high unemployment and low productivity
of traditional agricultural or handicraft products.
However, some SEs also highlighted environmental
issues and cultural sustainability. This finding was in
line with several other studies which confirmed that
the purpose of organizing social enterprise was to
overcome social problems in the community as the
background of establishing SE (Konda, Starc, &
Rodica, 2015; Kostetska & Berezyak, 2014; Lan,
Zhu, Ness, Xing, & Schneider, 2014). Even on a
macro level, the role of SE was expected to have an
impact on poverty reduction or in other words SE
could improve people's welfare (Widiastuti &
Margaretha, 2011).
The majority of SE initiators in this study came
from local communities so that the scope of the SE
formed was more focused and regional. Most of the
SEs studied were initiated by founders who were
relatively young who were less than 30 years and
had a minimum of formal education background.
The SE field run by founders had an in-line
relationship with formal founders' educational
background. There was a possibility that the
relatively young age and educational background
that matched the field of SE established was a factor
supporting the success of the SE studied. Some
literatures emphasize that there are a number of key
characteristics of social entrepreneurs that will
determine the success in the development of
SE.Rusli et al., (2012)assessed that SE will succeed
if it involves social entrepreneurs who have
transformative power with innovative ideas, are able
to face major problems, and have a tireless attitude
in realizing their vision until they succeed.
Furthermore, London et al., (2014)andLan, Zhu,
Ness, Xing, & Schneider (2014)stated that to deal
with severe social problems, social entrepreneurs
who have entrepreneurial experience are broad-
minded and able to produce innovative ideas. Strong
aspirations from the actors of social
entrepreneurship are also a determining factor in the
fighting power and success of social
entrepreneurs(Roy, Brumagim, & Goll, 2014).
In achieving their vision, social entrepreneurs
need creativity and innovative ideas, because the
task of a founder is to take the initiative, gather all
resources and build an organization to achieve
sustainable results. The results of the interviews
showed that the SEs who considered to be successful
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had various innovative strategies and programs.
Each SE had a specific target group that was part of
a weak, vulnerable, poor, marginalizes and small
group of people such as poor rural communities,
agricultural laborers, street children, disadvantaged
indigenous people, young job seekers, and minority
women's groups.
According to the scope of the innovative
programs implemented by all SE actors, there was
an application of the community empowerment
principle in it which was an understanding of the
cultural patterns of local communities; and the
community development program implemented
should involve local communities’ active
participation (Rusliet al., 2012). In addition, the
success of a SE was possible because it was assumed
that the SEs studied were concerned about SE
sustainability for the long term by emphasizing the
financial independence principle from the start. The
importance of this independence was in accordance
with the findings of a number of previous studies.
Diochon (2013) and Zhang & Swanson (2014)
emphasized the importance of SE in order to be
sustainable, so it is necessary to achieve the main
goal of self-sufficiency rather than achieving other
short-term oriented economic goals.
In relation to the positive benefits or impacts of
SE, the results of the study indicated that there were
three groups of benefits generated, namely economic
benefits, socio-cultural benefits and environmental
benefits. However, economic benefits still
dominated the other two benefit groups. The
existence of these benefits showed that the SEs
studied were more focused on the impact creation
and not only on profit creation(Ormiston &
Seymour, 2011).
Finally, in the process of performing SE
activities, all SEs studied run SE organizations in a
professional manner with business minded and profit
oriented, but the profit obtained from SE activities
were mostly used for the development of social
projects in line with the SE's vision and mission.
This was in accordance with the characteristics of
SE in a true sense as stated by Prof. J. Gregory Dees
of Stanford University (1998 at Boschee &
McClurg, 2003)that social entrepreneurship
combines the resourcefulness of traditional
entrepreneurship with a mission to change society
with five factors that define social entrepreneurship,
namely: adopting a mission to create and sustain
social value, not only on private value; recognizing
and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve
that mission; engaging in a process of continuous
innovation, adaptation, and learning; acting boldly
without being limited by current resources in hand;
and exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability
to the constituencies served and for the outcomes
created.
4 CONCLUSION AND
SUGGESTION
4.1 Conclusion
Based on this research, several points could be
concluded. Social entrepreneurship appeared as a
result of social problems in the community, which
included economic issues such as poverty, poor
health and education, high unemployment and low
productivity of traditional agricultural or handicraft
products; as well as environmental issues and
cultural sustainability.
The characteristics of founders or social
entrepreneurs such as age, level of formal education,
entrepreneurial mastery and educational background
in accordance with the field of SE established were
assumed to be factors supporting the success of an
SE.
To succeed, SE needed to have innovative
strategies and programs and had a clear target group.
In addition, in the implementation of the program, it
was necessary to understand the cultural patterns of
local communities and community development
programs carried out together with the community.
Besides, SE also needed to pay attention to the long-
term-SE sustainability by emphasizing the financial
independence principle from the start.
SE had a positive impact on society which could
be categorized into three groups of benefits, namely
economic benefits, socio-cultural benefits and
environmental benefits. These benefits proved that
an SE was more focused on the impact creation than
profit creation.
In the real sense of the SE characteristics, there
were two fundamental aspects that were always
present in a social enterprise which was the
existence of a social mission underlying the birth of
the SE and the business model, namely how social
enterprises were run professionally with business
minded and profit oriented yet the profit obtained
from SE activities were mostly used for the
development of social projects in line with the SE's
vision and mission.
4.2 Suggestion
Based on this research, several suggestions could
be appointed. The government of a country must
better facilitate the birth of development agents in
Driving Factors, Innovativeness and Benefits of Social Entrepreneurships: Learning from Cases in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia
375
the community, because they will become actors of
social change that use entrepreneurship as an
approach to their activities. It is expected that social
entrepreneurship can help the process of alleviating
various social problems in a country. There have
been many examples that the rapid progress of SE in
developed countries has received much support from
the government(Kaneko, 2013).
There needs to be a recognition or appreciation
for individuals or institutions for social
entrepreneurs who have a broad impact on the
transformation of people's lives. Moreover, there
needs to be appropriate incentives for the creation
and development of social enterprises(Konda et al.,
2015).
Lastly, there needs to be more support from
various elements such as industry, society and
academia towards the social entrepreneurship
movement in a country, which can generate mutual
benefits for all parties.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported by The General
Directorate of Reinforcement and Development of
The Ministry of Higher Education Research
Technological Researching Indonesia.
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