The social innovation process as a response to institutional voids: a multidimensional overview in

projects that aim to poverty reduction

Manuela Rösing Agostini Doctorate student – Unisinos (Brazil) Visiting PhD student – ULB (Belgium)

Dr. Claudia Bitencourt Associated Dean - Graduate Program in Business Administration

Unisinos (Brazil)

Round Table I: Case Studies from Brazil

UNISINOS and Jesuit universities

• Social business and Innovation – 14 MSc and 11 PhD

• Subjects: Living Labs; RBVN; BoP; NGOs; voluntary work; social business; social capital; microcredit; dynamic capabilities; institutional voids.

• Special issue on Social Innovation at RAM (editors: Diego Maconatto; Lucano Barin Cruz and Emmanuel Raufflet HEC, 2016)

• Book about Social Innovation (2017)

GESMAC –

(Competencies, learning and social business & innovation)

• Porticus Project – NEIS – Entrepreneurship and social innovation Center (Netherlands, 2014)

• Network for Business Sustainability – NBS - (USA, 2014)

• TRANSIT (ULB, 2016)

• Business Lab (Unisinos, 2016)

• DESIS – Design & Social Innovation (Italy and PPG Design, Unisinos)

• ICE – Instituto de Cidadania Empresarial (São Paulo, 2016)

Network and Partners

The concept of "institutional void” will be analysed as: when the institutional arrangements that support the social issues are absent, weak, or fail to fulfil the role expected of them. This type of institutional vacuum/failure/void could be

generated by the State or the market in different social contexts.

Issues analysed

• Institutional voids • Social innovation and transformative social innovation

The research analysed concepts and origins of the term “social innovation” in authors like Mulgan et al. (2007), Pol and Ville (2009), CRISES (2013), The

Young Foundation (2012), Tardif and Harrison (2005), among others. To this research, social

innovation is the generation of new ideas and solutions that have an impact on the solution of

social problems, involving actors and stakeholders in promoting a change in social relations.

Transformative Social Innovation, as “change in

social relations, involving new ways of doing, organizing, framing and/or knowing, which challenges, alters

and/or replaces dominant institutions/structures in a

specific social context” (TRANSIT, 2016).

Met

ho

d

Grounded Theory – preliminary results Mexican case – Yomol A’tel – context Chilón

Coffee chain

Universities Foundations Companies

Coffee Producers’ cooperative Industry and comercialization

Coffee shop

Honey cooperative Soap cooperative

Microfinance

Grounded Theory – preliminary results

Grounded Theory – preliminary results

The “nodes” of NVivo: • Culture • Challenges • Personal histories • Social innovation (main

activity and process) • Origin of the activity • Institutional voids • Context • Concept of Yomol A’tel • Actors • Scale • Value Chain • Policy • Micro-credit • Decision make

Mexican case – Yomol A’tel

The “nodes” of NVivo: • Context / Institutional voids

• Culture • Challenges • Policy

• Project / process of SI: • Concept of Yomol A’tel • Origin of the activity • Scale • Value Chain • SI - main activity and process • Micro-credit • Decision make

• Actors • Personal histories

2nd step: Theoretical framework – after the Grounded Theory

Proposition 1: Institutional voids are filled by multiple actors that have complementary objectives and which can act together in projects with a social mission.

2nd step: Propositions

Proposition 2: Institutional voids are influenced by normative, regulative and cognitive dimensions of multiple actors involved in a social initiative.

Proposition 3: Institutional voids occur in different environmental contexts, both in developing economies as in developed markets.

2nd step: Propositions

Proposition 4: Institutional voids will be influenced by political, financial, education/work, and cultural systems.

Proposition 5: Social innovation initiatives shall have at least these five dimensions: (1) Modify / transform a social need; (2) Innovative solution; (3) Implementation of social innovation; (4) Involve actors and stakeholders; (5) Effective results.

Proposition 6: Social innovation initiatives involve multiple actors, including social enterprises and social entrepreneurs, having a systemic approach to solving institutional voids in different contexts.

3rd step: Brazilian cases The Ecocitrus - Cooperativa dos Citricultores Ecológicos do Vale do Caí, works with the concepts of sustainable agriculture and cooperatives. Since 1994 Ecocitrus develops the

concepts of socially equitable agriculture, environmentally friendly and economically viable by encouraging family farming and the maintenance of families in the countryside. The

cooperative has developed a process in which the associated farmers have to manage the whole production chain of citrus, keeping the values of fair trade and solidarity economy.

3rd step: Brazilian cases

Bailique - AP

Community Protocols are internal rules created by the community. Such rules reflect their own traditional character, the manner in which the community

relates both to itself and externally, and also define certain procedures, criteria, and tools for territorial management and the use of natural

resources.

Bailique - AP

.

1. Creation of the Community

Protocol

2. Definition of the main economic activities

3. FSC certification of

açaí

4. Add value to açaí - cutting

intermediaries

5. Creation of the Family

School

Bailique - AP

3rd step: Brazilian cases

Preliminary results Regulative

“Norms and laws” Normative

“value and norms” Cognitive

“beliefs and values”

· Inconsistency of

government policies to social projects;

· Lack of government

control in the region (political, social and

legal in Brazilian cases) (military in Mexican

case)

· Inappropriate laws for social projects;

· Values (Mexican -maintenance

the importance of tseltales characteristics to achieve the

business) (Brazilian cases –

different perspective in different contexts – more business in south

and more ideological in north);

· Beliefs - interculturalism (Catholic and Maya in Mexico)

(Christian and traditional features in Brazilian case):

· Machismo

· Collective and family

· Respect mother earth / nature and forest

· Respect the authority and community leaders

· Trusts or distrust:

· Between the community and managers;

· Among the project and customers;

· Among the project and foundations, companies.

· Stereotypes (prejudice or

unfavorable perception of people of Western culture or Tsental)

(family agriculture system /

organic food / traditional communities and “normal

market”);

· Management Practices (goals following the communities

rhythm; decisions taken in assemblies);

· Identity:

· Language and indigenous roots (Mexican case)

· Traditional features to territorial management

with sustainable principles (Amazonian case)

· Organic food and solidarity economy (south

case)

· Relations of equality and community for fair labor

exploitation

· Education level (in a more

developed context the education

level is higher and influence the concepts of the project)

· Collaboration between community members and the “sister

communities” and similar projects.

Thanks a lot! Muito obrigada!

Danke!

Manuela Rösing Agostini manuragostini@gmail.com

Dr. Claudia Bitencourt claucbitencourt@gmail.com

Round Table I: Case Studies from Brazil