Design Thinking and Social Enterprises: A Solution‐Focused Strategy for Social Enterprise Research

• Published date: 01 September 2019
• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Alejandro Agafonow
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12152

Design Thinking and Social Enterprises: A

Solution-Focused Strategy for Social

Enterprise Research

ALEJANDRO AGAFONOW

ESSCA School of Manag ement

Had we had the vantage point of centuries of experimentation with social enterprises, separating the wheat (i.e.,

successful social enterprises) from the chaff, empirical social enterprise research could be on the verge of making

a contribution.But since social enterprisesas a mass phenomenon are relatively new,the output of empirical research

must be taken very carefully because it may actually support doomed business models. It is thus submitted that a

design thinking approach to social enterprise research that involves a solution-focused strategy of knowledge

production is needed. The latter consists of addressing the internal inconsistencies of a well-established general

theory when trying to account for social enterprises, similarly to how a designer addresses the shortcomings of an

original chair design to come up with something more suitable. It is argued that a solution-focused strategy of

knowledge production will make scientific breakthroughs in the field of social enterprises possible.

Keywords: empirical research; social enterprise; design thinking; theory of the firm

Introduction

It is this paper’scontention that, given thenovelty of social

enterprises and the possibility that they are built on ill-

conceived business models, or at least unproven ones,

we need to adopt a design thinking approach to social

enterprises that invo lves a solution-focused strategy of

knowledge production. The latter consists of addressing

the internal inconsistencies and gaps of a well-established

general theory when trying to account for social

enterprises, similarly to how a designer comes up with a

more restful chair by addressing the shortcomings of the

original design. Empirical social enterprise research can

only offer a problem-focused strategy that, d espite having

a place in knowledge production, has been overestimated

by empirical social scientists in their attempt to emulate

natural science. In the process, natural science has been

caricatured. We draw from philosophy of science to

illustratehow the progress of knowledgein natural and life

sciences has indeed been possible thanks to a solution-

focused strategy that puts scientists in the position of

designers to tackle the inconsistencies of accepted

theories, producing in the process new, improved ones.

This paper answers the question: What is preventing

progress in our understanding of social enterprises, the

lack of data or our views about what the relevant data

is? In doing so it contributes to raise awareness in the

academic community about the limits and actual

usefulness of empirical social enterprise research, which

in our view is muc h more modest t han its advocates t end

to admit. Besides, methodologists and PhD students will

find in this paper a compelling argument for theory-laden

social enterprise research, advising them about the perils

of research strategies that are unlikelyto go beyond trivial

conclusions. If one’s research outcomes cannot take us

beyond truisms, not matter how much data was relied

upon, chances are that a rule-of-thumb heuristics is

driving one’s inquiries, begging the quest ion of whether

valuable resources could have been put to better service

through the use of a well-established general theory. It is

only possible to see a little further by standing on the

shoulders of giants, as Isaac Newton posited.

To this end, two ambitious empirical research projects,

as well as the literature that buildsupon them, were chosen

for analysis as exemplars of empirical social enterprise

research because they overcome problems of insufficient

datasets and quality samples. The first project was

executed by a team from Harvard Business School and

the non-profitEchoing Green. The second projecttargeted

social enterprises affiliated to the Schwab Foundation for

Social Entrepreneurship.

Correspondence: AlejandroAgafonow, 55 quai AlphonseLe Gallo, 92513

Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France, Tel: +33 02 41 73 47 47. E-mail:

alejandro.agafonow@essca.fr

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12152

©2017 European Academy of Management

European Management Review, Vol. 16, 799–, ( 2019)

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