By Rolfe Larson on May 27, 2010
Financial reward can be a powerful motivator. The potential for personal profit can provide intense focus and efficiency to almost anyone. Indeed, incentives drive entrepreneurs in their relentless search for success, overcoming obstacles along the way. Money might not be their only motivator, but dollars (the kind they get to keep) are always their favorite […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 19, 2010
We occasionally come across organizations considering franchising as a strategy for developing a social enterprise. A franchisor is a company that has a successful product or service, business model and recognizable trade name (think chain stores), which it offers on a continuing contractual basis to other businesses (its franchisees), for a fee. The advantage of […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 17, 2010
It used to be that there were essentially three choices: private, public, or nonprofit. Privately-held companies offer the most flexibility, without outside investors or the IRS constantly looking over your shoulders. A privately-held social enterprise can choose to invest some of its profits into achieving social impact without anyone second guessing those decisions. But if […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 14, 2010
So you have piles of venture ideas and don’t know where to start. Or perhaps there’s just one idea that you think looks pretty good. Either way, you need to some feasibility testing. To narrow a long list to a manageable number, try the Quick Feasibility Screen (at www.RolfeLarson.com click on Free Resources). It’s a […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 11, 2010
It’s not hard thinking up venture ideas. Often they seem to come out of the woodwork. Get some folks together for an hour and you’ll come out with a couple dozen of them. Include some entrepreneurial people from outside your group and you’ll get some new ideas that you might have missed. But also step […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 5, 2010
Do we still need a “social” enterprise sector? Many businesses have “social impact” at least with their customers. And these customers around the world are demanding greater accountability and environmental sensitivity. Here’s what a reader to this blog wrote last week. “The underlying distinction made between social and business enterprise is thin,” noted Ashim Kumar […]
By Rolfe Larson on May 2, 2010
I just returned from the 11th Social Enterprise Alliance Summit+ World Forum in San Francisco. A record 700+ attendees from around the world attest to the growing strength of this vibrant sector. I met folks from Canada, the UK, Australia, the Philippines, Africa, and South America. In an earlier blog I described social enterprise as […]
Rolfe Larson provides consulting and training in areas such as strategic planning, market research, feasibility analysis, business planning, marketing and implementation strategies.
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