The business of social and environmental innovation : new frontiers in Africa

In the face of limited progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goals or addressing climate change and resource degradation, increasing attention turns to harnessing the entrepreneurial, innovative, managerial and financial capacities of business for improved social and environmental outcomes. A more proactive role for business in sustainable development is especially pertinent in sub-Saharan Africa, which has been plagued by conflict and poverty but shows signs of a brighter future as the world’s second-fastest-growing region. The book considers how the socio-economic context influences the objectives of social innovation and even our definition of what we mean by social innovation. Secondly, the book aims to show how social innovation initiatives emerge and fare in context of the limited ability of many African countries to provide public goods and services. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation....Pages 3-24 Front Matter....Pages 25-25 Social and Environmental Enterprises in Africa: Context, Convergence and Characteristics....Pages 27-47 Social Innovation Through Development Franchising: Compensating for a Lack of Entrepreneurial Expertise and Connecting to Formal Supply Chains....Pages 49-62 Innovations in Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Biofuel Production: The Case of Tanzanian Outgrowers Cultivating Jatropha for the Global Biofuel Chain....Pages 63-83 Front Matter....Pages 85-85 The Evolution of a Sustainability Leader: The Development of Strategic and Boundary Spanning Organizational Innovation Capabilities in Woolworths....Pages 87-104 Obstacles to Firms’ Adoption of Socially Embedded Approaches to BoP Markets....Pages 105-127 An Integrated Approach to Poverty Alleviation: Roles of the Private Sector, Government and Civil Society....Pages 129-145 Front Matter....Pages 147-147 From Concord to Conflict: A Conceptual Analysis of a Partnership for Social Innovation....Pages 149-162 Fostering Innovation for Sustainable Food Security: The Southern Africa Food Lab....Pages 163-181 Key Factors for the Successful Implementation of Stakeholder Partnerships: The Case of the African Cashew initiative....Pages 183-197 Front Matter....Pages 199-199 The Social Innovation Lab: An Experiment in the Pedagogy of Institutional Work....Pages 201-212 Against Inequality: Towards a Curriculum for Social and Environmental Innovation....Pages 213-232 Erratum....Pages E1-E1 Back Matter....Pages 233-235 In the face of limited progress toward addressing poverty and resource degradation, increasing attention has been paid to harnessing the entrepreneurial, innovative, managerial and financial capacities of business for improved social and environmental outcomes. A more proactive role for business in sustainable development is especially pertinent in sub-Saharan Africa, which has been plagued by conflict and poverty but shows signs of a brighter future as the worldĺls second-fastest-growing region. This book contributes to the growing body of scholarly work on social and environmental innovation with the two-fold aim of studying the role of business in creating such innovation and focusing the analysis to the African context. To cover the various terrains of social and environmental innovation, this book contains novel empirical cases looking at social or environmental enterprises, social intrapreneurship and innovation in incumbent businesses, and social innovation through cross-sector collaboration. The final part of the book focuses on the implications for academics, exploring the role of universities and business schools in social innovation