Do you need something more tangible to use when talking about social business?
Is the 'social purpose' argument a bit thin for you?
According to Marjorie Kelly in Towards Mission-Controlled Corporations: Extractive vs Generative Design there are 5 elements of a generative ownership-driven design framework for social businesses:
- Membership – How can we have the right people forming part of the business? How can they contribute to the running of the business? What roles and authority can they have?
- Purpose – What purpose can a business have beyond profit-making for shareholders? What problems might it solve? How is 'wealth', and value spread within the local community?
- Governance – Who is the board? Who does the board answer to?
- Finance – Where does the money come from? Where does it go? How does it circulate through the business? How does it generate wealth and value?
- Networks – How does the business get access to goods, services, information? How might the exchange be carried out? How might it be non-financial? How might it reach beyond typical boundaries e.g. geography?
