Business Model Innovation - Social Enterprise Strategy
Project Example | Nonprofit Business Model Innovation
Social enterprise strategy
Context
My client had determined that its traditional donor-funded project model was insufficient to achieve its impact goals in the long term, given expected declines in its traditional grant-based funding. The client established a strategic priority to leverage new business models in support of its mission.
Key Question
What is the best opportunity to pursue our mission through an income-generating social enterprise?
Solution
I designed and facilitated a process to generate options and select the most promising social enterprise model. Activities included:
- Identified client’s distinctive capabilities.
- Profiled potential “customer” segments.
- Mapped capabilities to customer value desired.
- Generated social enterprise business model concepts.
- Evaluated desirability, feasibility and viability to recommend top social enterprise model.
The process reflected several key principles from the strategy literature, including:
- To determine the growth areas in which you're most likely to have a "right to win," consider where your organization's unique capabilities allow you to deliver a truly distinctive mix of value to customers.
- To understand the value your customers want, don't think in terms of product or service features—determine the "job" they are trying to get done when they purchase, and make sure your product or service gets that job done fully.
Results
Based on the strength of our analysis and concept design, my client secured internal buy-in and strategic funding to design and prototype the recommended social enterprise.
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