Позитивные изменения. Том 2, № 3 (2022). Positive changes. Volume 2, Issue 3 (2022)
Шрифт:
В ближайшем будущем одной из своих главных задач мы видим разработку алгоритма по включению процедур оценки социального воздействия в деятельность социальных предпринимателей. Он должен быть понятен и содержать в себе инструменты, которые СП смогут использовать без внешней экспертной поддержки, встраивая процедуры сбора информации и мониторинга в существующие бизнес-процессы.
Один из этапов работы – создание матрицы индикаторов в привязке к области работы проекта, стадии развития, целей оценки. Это должна быть именно матрица индикаторов, поскольку по мере развития бизнеса их набор может меняться, а количество как увеличиваться, так и уменьшаться.
Нам кажется, этот инструмент поможет социальным предпринимателям ввести оценку
Do We (Not) Need It? Assessing the Impact of Social Enterprises in Russia
Valeria Zavgorodniaia, Irina Laktyushina
DOI 10.55140/2782–5817–2022–2–2–16–20
Impact assessment is not a vital task that directly determines the existence of a business. Therefore, evaluation is yet to become a mandatory element of social enterprise projects. However, according to many experts, as well as the experience of those who have already made a conscious choice of a professional “refection” of the results of their work, it significantly increases development opportunities and prospects. In this article we are going to talk about the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs in the evaluation of their projects, and the benefits they can get in return.
Valeria Zavgorodniaia
PhD in Economics, Program Director, Impact Hub Moscow
Irina Laktyushina
Program Coordinator, Impact Hub Moscow
Social entrepreneurship is still a relatively new sector in Russia: as of August 2022, only 6,921 social enterprises (SEs) had been registered in the country. Moscow region, with 722 SEs registered, is the leader among the regions. It is followed by the Republic of Bashkortostan with 362 social enterprises, Nizhny Novgorod with 324, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (Yugra) and Primorsky Krai. These businesses mostly operate in areas like education, social work, environment, information technology, medicine and health.
According to a study by the ZIRCON group [14] , despite their small numbers, social entrepreneurs already note underwhelming investment in the social sector and the lack of impact investors. They also mention underdeveloped relationships between social entrepreneurs and the state, lack of visibility of their products in the production of goods and services, lack of large and medium-sized businesses interested in developing social entrepreneurship, and difficulties with obtaining loans.
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Social Entrepreneurship in Russia: Prospects for Development (2021). Analytical report on the findings of an expert survey. Moscow: ZIRCON, Social Business Group. Retrieved from:(accessed: 23.09.2022) (In Russian).
The first time social enterprises faced great difficulties was in 2020–2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a study conducted by Impact Hub Moscow in partnership with experts from the Graduate School of Management at St. Petersburg State University and the University of Massachusetts Boston, 10 % of social entrepreneurs surveyed have experienced a reduction in external funding. 82 % of innovations in this area were implemented mainly with their own funds, the efforts of their employees and internal developments. Commercial and hybrid organizations during the pandemic focused on strategies to improve efficiency – optimizing costs and business processes. Non-profit organizations, in turn, placed greater emphasis on attracting non-profit funding.
In 2022, social entrepreneurs face new challenges: 11 % of the 518 SEs surveyed in March 2022 said they felt the impact of sanctions on their business. 84 % found this question hard to answer, and 5 % said they did not feel any effect of the sanctions. About 60 % of the respondents decided to look for new channels to promote their goods and services. More than a third of the social entrepreneurs surveyed are in search of investment and affordable loans; about the same number of businessmen are quickly developing new marketing mechanisms, such as discounts, deferred payment programs, bonus programs for their businesses [15] .
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TASS (2022) About 40 % of social entrepreneurs surveyed are busy looking for investment during the crisis. Retrieved from:(accessed: 23.09.2022) (In Russian).
Clearly, the teams and leaders of many social enterprises have been in a position of survival rather than rapid growth for many years. At the same time, according to the “Social Entrepreneurship in Russia: Prospects for Development” study, hopes for the further development of social entrepreneurship are pinned not only on external stakeholders – government, big business, private foundations, but also on the consumers of their services and social effect – also known as impact, or social impact.
The teams and leaders of many social enterprises have been in a position of survival rather than rapid growth for many years. Hopes are pinned, including on the consumers of their services.
For the consumer, of course, it is of primary importance that the consumer’s problem is solved in the quickest and most efficient way possible. And identifying this way, among other things, includes the need to evaluate one’s activities: the emergence of in-demand goods and services is based on the needs of the target audience. Actively working with consumers to identify their “pains” and requests and creating new goods and services based on them is the driving force of social entrepreneurship development.
Large businesses and the non-profit sector are actively using assessment and have had notable success in doing so. This is dictated primarily by the need to publish regular public reports and meet performance standards.
The published reports on the impact of business and NGOs are of sufficient volume already to allow numerous studies and competitions. For example, the best NGO annual reports are selected annually as part of the “Point of Reference” competition of the Donors Forum, and the Institute for Emerging Market Studies at the Skolkovo Business School released the “Gold Standard” of impact assessment in 2021 – a collection of cases and practices for measuring the social and environmental impact of business.