What Social Innovation Is & Isn’t
What is Social Innovation?
Social Innovative is a term that is tossed around often, & vaguely defined. Currently, Social innovation is a little bit like pornography, in that most people like to think of the definition as “I know it when I see it.” However, in both cases, that is a poor definition.
Social Innovation has been used to describe everything from policy proposals, to community movements, and tech startups. If we can’t define social innovation then it is doomed to the graveyard of the business lexicon, lying next to synergy, and optimization. Without a proper understanding of the term, social innovation will lose value and become just another way to describe PR campaigns. That would be a shame due to the enormous potential of social innovation for business.
Part of the difficulty of defining social innovation is that it operates in all sectors of society. From business, and non-profits, to government and the informal sector. Social innovation by its nature is social. Any place humans interact and organize social innovation can flourish. Yet, most recently it seems business has found a new enthusiasm for the term. From impact investing, social enterprise, and corporate social responsibility, business is entering the “Social change” game.
When discussing the intersection of business and social impact a lot of words get tossed around. Social entrepreneurship, social impact, conscious capitalism. Unfortunately, these terms get used interchangeably. Their ubiquitous use carves away their meaning, confuses their purpose, and lumps very different concepts together.
Social innovation in the context of business can lead to better product design. Opening new markets, and leapfrogging competition. All while also contributing to the social welfare of humanity and the planet. Social innovation is less an ethos, but a strategy that can be utilized by a wide variety of businesses.
Innovation is at the heart of the business. Businesses can’t survive without innovation. Social innovation uses a similar process of technology or business innovation but takes a larger lensed approach. Businesses that employ social innovation look at where their company intersects with larger social issues and tries to align objectives to create greater value for all.
For my purposes, social innovation can be defined as a deliberate business strategy that approaches social issues, human needs, and ecological sustainability as an opportunity to create new products and processes that can open new markets, increase efficiency, reduce cost, and increase productivity that not only benefits the organization directly but society at large.
There are three key components that must be present for a strategy to be considered social innovation:
- Intention
- Declaration of Values
- Novelty
Intention:
Many inventions and innovations in business can create a positive social effect. The light bulb was revolutionary and helped nearly all people live better lives. However, this invention did not occur with the explicit intention of affecting poverty. Social innovation is the deliberate use of innovation on a social issue.
All successful business strategies require managers to make tough decisions about resource allocation. A strategy that is slapdash pulled together and underfunded almost always fails, and creates a limited positive impact on the organization and its intended audience or customer. Social innovation as a strategy is no different. Social innovation requires the hard work and managers having spines to put the required resources to work. This is also what separates social innovation from most cause marketing campaigns. A good strategy is deeply integrated into the business not just tacked on like a pink ribbon.
Don’t confuse me. Cause marketing is great. There are lots of ways for a company to be a good corporate citizen, support a cause, and participate in the community while not being socially innovative. That’s ok. If a business can genuinely help raise money and awareness for a worthy cause that is fantastic. But until an organization puts forth a deliberate targeted effort that aligns their business with combating or alleviating a humanitarian polemic then it can’t be regarded as socially innovative.
Social innovation isn’t a strategy well suited for every business, but I do believe every business could be socially innovative should they choose.
Declaration of Values:
For an organization to use social innovation they must identify and take a stand regarding the human need or social issue that they are looking to address. All sustainability initiatives inherently have the value that we should take care of the planet. Corporations are often uncomfortable with making value statements (Although it is increasingly normal) however it is required to the implementation of social innovation.
Novelty:
Solutions or products create have to be new and work better than current solutions or processes. This is a basic requirement for any type of innovation. This doesn’t require state of the art technology, but rather new solutions for an issue or population. Community farming is not high tech by any means, but creating guerilla gardens in urban food deserts using vacant lots, and sidewalks as agricultural land is certainly socially innovative.
What Social innovation isn’t:
If we are to talk about what social innovation is, we also have to talk about what social innovation is not. The absence of unethical behavior doesn’t sufficiently qualify as social innovation. We are in fact in a sorry state of capitalism if we consider ourselves altruistic merely by not screwing people over when we could. Social innovation is not simply having a moral compass, and feeling bad for doing bad things. That’s called being a person. Social Innovation is the deliberate application of innovations for some of the world's most pressing issues.
Business doesn’t typically like to make moral decisions outside of the peculiar business ethics framework of “Shareholder Supremecy”. However, an evaluation of company values and morals, as well as an assessment of humanitarian issues, is necessary not only for the integrity of any social innovation strategy but also for its implementation and success.
Additionally, “Benefiting society” isn’t the sole qualification for social innovation. I would hope that all businesses benefit society in some capacity. Otherwise what value does that organization bring? Even big tobacco pays tobacco farmers and brings pleasure to its users. Sure, cigarettes also deliver cancer, but we can’t say that people didn’t enjoy the ride.
Social Innovation is much more than “doing good.” It like any business strategy requires thought, effort, resources, sacrifice, and difficult decision making.
