Assignment 2 – Social Entrepreneurship Field Research

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Time frame

Weeks 2-7 (05.04. – 24.06.2016, interim presentation on 10.05.2016)

Task description

After identifying your local challenge you are now invited to research what others are already doing in this field.

• What kinds of business models exist and how do they work?
• Which individuals are behind those initiatives and what motivates them?
• What could you learn from them?

Before getting started please study our guideline for field research. There you will also find useful information on how to find a suitable social business.

• Once you have made your decision please start framing your research according to our case study template. You will receive an own wiki page for this case study in your group area and you can display your final template there.
• You will need to contact the social entrepreneurs directly and ask for an interview.
• The interview should be conducted according to the questionnaire structure.
• Please be aware that you will be confronted with sensitive information related to the internal processes of the SE. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to ask for the entrepreneurs’ consent before publication. A consent formhas been prepared for this purpose.
• We will only publish the case study template on the wiki and deeper reflections will only be processed internally. However, consent for both will be required.
• in your group you will then reflect on similarities and differences between the social businesses and in how far local conditions of the respective European countries might be affecting them.
• a set of cross-cutting questions is proposed in the guideline for field research). But you may also propose other questions. You will present your findings to the plenary on 10th of May 2016.

Submission format and presentation

• Group work:
  • Present your findings on the comparison of the local cases to the plenary on 10th of May
  • presentation materials need to be submitted by 9th of May. Your group will have 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes discussion.
  • Please use this template for preparing your presentation

• Individual work: Specify your case study (name, topic, location) on the wiki by 26th of April. Finalize the case study template for online publication by 24th of June. Make sure that you send the case study template and the publication release form to the interviewee for signature before. Write a brief report (ca. 5 pages) in which you summarize the information of your local case. You may concentrate on specific aspects of the case study. Attach supplementary information (e.g. graphical material) if available.

• Follow-up with the SE: Write a short email or a letter to the interviewed person. Again thank the interviewee for his/her contribution and briefly explain what happened after the interview and what you and your group learnt from the information.

Evaluation criteria

• Timely submission of all required elements
• Oral presentation
  • Quality of oral presentation (i.e. keeping time limits, clarity, expression, quality of presentation slides)
  • Quality and depth of cross-cutting analysis in the group
• Case study template
  • Quality of case study template (i.e. clarity of wording, completeness)
  • Availability of SE’s consent to publish is a risk here, please make this explicit in case so it can be considered
• Written report
  • Clear description of the SE’s situation
  • Depth of analysis (i.e. describing and connecting the different characteristics)
  • Logic of analysis (i.e. deriving plausible conclusions from the case study and making sound recommendations for SEs (what are the key learnings?))

Supporting documents

• all additional documents (case study template, interview questionnaire, consent form, PDF of this guideline) can be found in this ILIAS Folder (open access)