Vienna University of Economics and Business
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Scaling impact abroad: An analysis and framework of competences for social enterprise internationalisation
Get PDFThe last years have seen a rapid increase in the number of social enterprises across the world, introducing a broad range of innovations to different industries. Recent estimates suggest that globally, already between 12.6% and 29.6% of enterprises are started with a social, community or environmental goal as a primary organisational purpose (Bosma et al., 2016). These social enterprises combine dual social and economic objectives at their very core (Mair & Martí, 2006). They address diverse social and ecological problems and seek to provide innovative solutions to today’s most pressing challenges – such as social exclusion, poverty, or food insecurity (Dacin et al., 2010). Despite their potential to tackle social problems on a global level, many social enterprises do not scale beyond their reach beyond local markets, often due to a lack of skills and competences for successful internationalisation (Desa & Koch, 2014). While prior research has provided helpful insights into the motives, processes and support mechanisms of social entrepreneurial internationalisation, the concrete individual and organisational competences required to undertake these processes have received little attention (Maritz & Brown, 2013).
Against this background, this report aims to address this gap and to contribute to a better understanding of social enterprise internationalisation by shedding light on the challenges, competences, and potential competence gaps that impede social entrepreneurs from scaling their impact across the borders of their home markets. The authors thereby seek to contribute to the budding academic debate about social entrepreneurship internationalisation as well as provide a framework for social entrepreneurs, vocational education and training providers (VET) and the social entrepreneurship ecosystem to better support such internationalisation endeavours.
This report is structured into four main parts. In the first section of this report, we provide an extensive review of the existing literature on social entrepreneurial internationalisation. Drawing on academic research, practitioner literature and European research project results, the first section of this report features a literature-based competence framework for internationalising social entrepreneurs.
In the second part of this study, we outline the results from a quantitative analysis of a unique dataset of 579 social entrepreneurs from Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The quantitative study was conducted with the objective of identifying specific support needs among internationalising social entrepreneurs. Moreover, the study compared internationalising social entrepreneurs and 1) non-internationalising social entrepreneurs as well as 2) internationalising commercial entrepreneurs. Further, we illustrate the nuances in support needs arising from different scaling strategies, as well as differences between groups (i.e. field of activity, prior knowledge and demographics, networks, and geography). The results provide first insights into unique skill gaps among internationalising social entrepreneurs, with particular needs for support in areas such as “building visibility and credibility” in the target country as well as its ecosystem, “feeling part of a larger community and network”, “finding and keeping good talent and staff” and “accessing new clients and beneficiaries”.
The third section of the report features eight selected case vignettes on internationalising social enterprises – namely those of Wiener Tafel, ColaLife, Bean Voyage, Plasticpreneur, discovering hands, atempo, Husk Power Systems and iziBac. Overall, our interview partners’ organisations are based in six countries and internationalised to target countries on five different continents. In the course of the qualitative interviews, our informants reflected on their journey to internationalisation, the challenges they faced throughout the process, and the competences that were critical for scaling. Our findings suggest that internationalising social entrepreneurs face a myriad of new questions associated with working in a different country, reaching from language, social and legal differences to explicit and implicit cultural differences.
Building on the previous sections, we lastly integrate our findings from both empirical studies with our previously designed literature framework. By building an integrated competence framework for internationalising social entrepreneurs, we show that competence needs for social entrepreneurs are manifold. More precisely, we identify 19 competences along the lines of seven areas: 1) international opportunity identification, 2) diagnostic and strategic competence, 3) financial and business management,4) human resource management and leadership, 5) marketing and communication, 6) intercultural competence, and 7) network management and advocacy.
Taken together, these findings underline the need to provide targeted support for internationalising social entrepreneurs. Support provision needs to be tailored to the respective scaling strategy chosen by the entrepreneurs, as well as to the challenges that arise from the fact that they scale impact and not merely commercial operations. Building on the scientific insights derived from this report, this framework will serve as a basis for the design of vocational education and training curricula serving social entrepreneurs across Europe
Do you know your biases? A Monte Carlo analysis of dynamic panel data estimators
Get PDFWe assess the performance of widely-used dynamic panel data estimators based on Monte Carlo simulations of a dynamic economic process. Knowing the true underlying coefficient of the autoregressive term, we show that most estimators exhibit a severe bias even in the absence of measurement errors, omitted variables, and endogeneity issues. We analyze how the bias changes with the sample size, the autoregressive coefficient, and the estimation options. Based on our insights, we recommend i) carefully choosing appropriate estimators given the underlying structure of the data and ii) scrutinizing the estimation results based on the insights of simulation studies.Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie
Emotional Value Landscape – A new tool to bridge emotional user experiences and value-based technology assessment
Get PDFResearchers and practitioners in the fields of User Experience research (UX) have developed profound knowledge on the human perception of technology. With a typical focus on the artifact’s attributes [5] or its affordances [4], common approaches focus on the immediate interaction with a technology. Where emotions entered the field, UX scholars typically measured emotional responses with simple affect scales [9]. Such scales, however, do not study emotions beyond positive or negative affect. They do not capture the nuances of meaning underlying these emotions in shaping the long-term impressions users gain from interaction.
Stepping into this void, scholars promoting the consideration of values in IT design take a broader perspective. They argue that technology implicates human values, with effects on individuals and societies [6]. Striving for ethical technology development, the value-based tech-community has advanced meaningful approaches to consider value potentials in technology by design [8]. In this field, emotional responses are key. They are understood as users’ reactions to the values involved in technology [1]. Consequently, emotions help to identify how technology implicates “what is important to people in their lives” [1, p.24]. Material Value Ethics [3, 7] links values with emotions, emphasizing that emotions are intuitive responses to the value-ladenness of objects. Empirical attempts to identify actual value-realizations of technology have remained rare, particularly when approached through the lense of emotional responses.
Against this background, we developed a methodological approach that captures users’ perceived value implications and emotional responses. The Emotional Value Landscape (EVL) is a tool for the analysis of meaning, unfolding through human-computer interaction. It captures a broad spectrum of values and their nuanced emotional carriers, both of which become effective when people interact and live with technology over longer periods of time. Based on qualitative analysis of verbal user accounts, the EVL illustrates value implications in different areas of users’ lives and considers finer emotional responses than prior research has. Our first in-depth EVL study focused on Conversational Agents (CAs) [2]. One important finding was that CAs elicit positive responses when they strengthen users’ activity, independence and sense of community. Technology can then reach beyond hedonic pleasure and create lasting, ethically desirable impacts. Also value harms elicit unique emotional reactions. Fear and concern prevail when users consider harms of their privacy or autonomy, whereas typical usability issues raise anger and frustration.
The EVL is applicable to different technological artifacts, user groups and contexts. It is flexible to include collections of human values from various disciplines and to represent different levels of granularity for both human values and emotional responses. The EVL represents a human-centric approach to UX and a reusable methodology to bridge the investigation of user experiences and that of technological value implications. At the is4si summit, we present how the tool works and outline its philosophical underpinnings. We would like to discuss how the EVL is able to capture the inherent meaning of technology use
"Das Rechnungswesen ist tot, es lebe das Rechnungswesen!" Didaktische Überlegungen zum Rechnungswesenunterricht unter Berücksichtigung der fortschreitenden Digitalisierung
Get PDFVerschiedene Untersuchungen zum Einfluss der Digitalisierung auf das Rechnungswesen (RW) zeigen, dass durch den Einsatz entsprechender Computersoftware eine Reihe von Geschäftsfällen sowie die damit zusammenhängenden Belege elektronisch erfasst und automatisiert verbucht werden können. Diese Entwicklung bringt mit sich, dass sich das Anforderungsprofil und das Aufgabenspektrum für Buchhalter/innen, aber auch andere RW-affine Berufe ändern. In diesem Zusammenhang stellt sich die Frage, welche Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten im Bereich Rechnungswesen in Zukunft von Absolvent/inn/en von berufsbildenden, insbesondere kaufmännischen und humanberuflichen höheren Schulen erwartet werden. Pointiert könnte man fragen, ob sie überhaupt noch einfache Geschäftsfälle verbuchen können müssen.
Auf der Grundlage von rezenten empirischen Ergebnissen, insbesondere aus Experteninterviews, werden die Veränderungen im Rechnungswesen durch die Digitalisierung – mit Fokus auf den Bereich Buchhaltung – dargestellt und die derzeit wie auch in Zukunft gewünschten Kenntnisse und Fähigkeiten von Mitarbeiter/inne/n im Rechnungswesen konkretisiert. Darüber hinaus geht der Beitrag darauf ein, wie diese Desiderata im Rechnungswesenunterricht berücksichtigt werden können und welche didaktischen Überlegungen und Maßnahmen dafür erfolgversprechend erscheinen
Technological competence leveraging projects via intermediaries: Viable means to outbound open innovation and mediated capability building?
Get PDFAiming at reaping the benefits of open innovation, a growing number of organizations utilizes innovation intermediaries as external facilitators. However, the effectiveness of such intermediaries, especially in outbound open innovation, such as leveraging existing technologies in new market opportunities, remains unclear. We aim to investigate if and how externally conducted technological competence leveraging (TCL) projects provide value to the focal organization. Based on interviews with key personnel and analysis of reports from such projects conducted in the course of several research consortia at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, we find that the projects were successful in identifying new application fields. Further, the externally conducted projects also contributed to the development of TCL-related project capabilities within the focal organization. This research also identifies a number of barriers to short- and long-term success such as lack of a company-internal perspective and project owners without management responsibilities
Hybrid coordination of city organisations: The rule of people and culture in the shadow of structures
Get PDFUnder far-reaching reforms, many cities have delegated core tasks previously delivered by their administrations to independent organisations that they formally own, e.g. municipal companies,or supervise, e.g. municipal trust funds. The coordination of these (as we call them) ‘domestic’city organisations has proven challenging. Extant literature argues that such coordination isachieved through a mix of various hierarchical, market and network mechanisms. Yet it is unclearhow these modes are combined. Addressing this gap, we ask: How do governance modes interactin the hybrid coordination of domestic city organisations? Analysing the case of Vienna, where 100 domestic organisations employ about 60,000 people, we find that while cultural mechanisms, rooted in the network mode, are predominant, they unfold in the shadow of latent structural mechanisms, which are associated with hierarchy and market. In the background, structural mechanisms keep cultural coordination effective, while cultural mechanisms allow structural coordination to remain (generally) hidden. This study aims to contribute to the literature on the governance of public organisations by exploring the relationship between governance modes as well as furthering urban governance studies by applying insights from studies on the coordination of public organisations to the city context
Internal capital markets and bank holding company efficiency
Get PDFBank Holding Companies and in particular their internal capital markets have been widely discussed in recent financial literature. The financial crisis especially brought regulatory intervention in financial markets into question. Empirical evidence suggests that bank holding companies have clear preferences for double leverage, which
are not based on unambiguous and explicit economic foundations. In this article, we analyze the effects of equity, debt and double leverage on the efficiency of bank
holding companies. We show that Bank Holding Company efficiency is negatively affected by equity financing from parents to subsidiaries and this effect is even more
pronounced in case of double leveraging. Our findings indicate that further measures from regulators are necessary in order to prevent inefficient financing via double
leverage, which may be used to circumvent regulatory capital requirements
Banking on bullshit: indifferences towards truth in corporate social responsibility
Get PDFPurpose: This study aims to identify and deconstruct bullshit in banks' corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication to advance the management rhetoric research space, which has been characterised by an indifference to truth and meaning.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on the management rhetoric theory, the study provides a typology of bullshit phenomena overview in the banking sector and follows McCarthy et al.'s (2020) Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose/Point of View (C.R.A.P.) framework to showcase how bullshit can be comprehended, recognised, acted against and prevented.
Findings: This paper puts a spotlight on written and spoken language to detect bullshit in banks' CSR statements. It provides actionable insights into how stakeholders can act against and prevent bullshit statements from occurring in the future.
Research limitations/implications: Future research is warranted to assess the use of still imagery, events and video materials in corporate communications and non-financial reporting. Further rigorous assessment of actual CSR initiatives must be undertaken to assess claimed contributions.
Practical implications: Monitoring mechanisms and independent assurance statements prepared by authorised third parties may strengthen the motivation and ethicality of CSR activities.
Originality/value: This viewpoint is the first to follow the C.R.A.P framework and critically assess indifferences towards truth in banks' CSR communications
Wirtschaftswissen junger Erwachsener in Österreich Entwicklung eines Testinstruments zu Themen in den Wirtschaftsberichten von Tageszeitungen
Get PDFDie letzte empirische Untersuchung zur Messung des Wirtschaftswissens von österreichischen Maturantinnen und Maturanten liegt bereits mehr als ein Jahrzehnt zurück und beschränkte sich auf den allgemeinbildenden gymnasialen Schultyp (vgl. Brandlmaier et al. 2006). Derzeit fehlt es an aktuellen
Befunden zum vorhandenen Wirtschaftswissen von jungen Erwachsenen. Vor diesem Hintergrund besteht die Zielsetzung des vorliegenden Forschungsvorhabens darin, ein Testinstrument zur Messung
des Wirtschaftswissens junger Erwachsener, die sich in der Übergangsphase zwischen sekundärer und tertiärer Ausbildung befinden, zu entwickeln. Die Inhaltsbereiche der Testfragen wurden anhand einer Medienanalyse zu den Themen in den Wirtschaftsberichten österreichischer Tageszeitungen bestimmt.
Das nach den Ansprüchen wissenschaftlicher Testtheorie entwickelte Testinstrument wurde einer Experten/innenvalidierung unterzogen und im Rahmen eines ersten Testlaufs (N=388) empirisch erprobt. In diesem Beitrag werden die methodischen Entwicklungsschritte skizziert und ausgewählte
Ergebnisse aus dem ersten Testlauf vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse der Itemanalyse nach klassischer sowie probabilistischer Testtheorie geben Aufschlüsse darüber, ob eine angemessene Passung der Testaufgaben zum Konstrukt Wirtschaftswissen vorliegt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Großteil der Items
insgesamt eine angemessene psychometrische Eignung aufweist. Die faktorenanalytische Dimensionsanalyse weist auf eine angestrebte eindimensionale Lösung hin
Implementing the material footprint to measure progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 12
No full textSustainable development depends on decoupling economic growth from resource use. The material footprint indicator accounts for environmental pressure related to a country’s final demand. It measures material use across global supply-chain networks linking production and consumption. For this reason, it has been used as an indicator for two Sustainable Development Goals: 8.4 ‘resource efficiency improvements’ and 12.2 ‘sustainable management of natural resources’. Currently, no reporting facility exists that provides global, detailed and timely information on countries’ material footprints. We present a new collaborative research platform, based on multiregional input–output analysis, that enables countries to regularly produce, update and report detailed global material footprint accounts and monitor progress towards Sustainable Development Goals 8.4 and 12.2. We show that the global material footprint has quadrupled since 1970, driven mainly by emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region, but with an indication of plateauing since 2014. Capital investments increasingly dominate over household consumption as the main driver. At current trends, absolute decoupling is unlikely to occur over the next few decades. The new collaborative research platform allows to elevate the material footprint to Tier I status in the SDG indicator framework and paves the way to broaden application of the platform to other environmental footprint indicators.Security: staffonl