The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: New Frontiers in Africa

In the face of limited progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goals or addressing climate change and resource degradation, increasing attention turns to harnessing the entrepreneurial, innovative, managerial and financial capacities of business for improved social and environmental outcomes. A more proactive role for business in sustainable development is especially pertinent in sub-Saharan Africa, which has been plagued by conflict and poverty but shows signs of a brighter future as the world’s second-fastest-growing region. The book considers how the socio-economic context influences the objectives of social innovation and even our definition of what we mean by social innovation. Secondly, the book aims to show how social innovation initiatives emerge and fare in context of the limited ability of many African countries to provide public goods and services. PART I: Introduction   1. The Business of Social and Environmental Innovation: Introduction   PART II: Entrepreneurs   2. Innovations in Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Biofuel Production: The Case of Tanzanian Outgrowers Cultivating Jatropha for the Global Biofuel Chain   3. Social Innovation Through Development Franchising: Compensating for a Lack of Entrepreneurial Expertise and Connecting to Formal Supply Chains   4. Social and Environmental Enterprises in Africa: Context, Convergence and Characteristics   PART III: Corporations   5. The Evolution of a Sustainability Leader: The Development of Strategic and Boundary Spanning Organizational Innovation Capabilities in Woolworths   6. Obstacles To Firms’ Adoption of Socially Embedded Approaches To Bop Markets   7. An Integrated Approach To Poverty Alleviation: Roles of the Private Sector, Government and Civil Society   Part IV: Partnerships             8. Practitioner Case Study: Key Factors for The Successful Implementation of Stakeholder Partnerships: The Case of the African Cashew Initiative   9. From Concord To Conflict: A Conceptual Analysis of a Partnership for Social Innovation   10. Fostering Innovation for Sustainable Food Security: The Southern Africa Food Lab   PART V: Teaching   11. Against Inequality: Towards a Curriculum for Social and Environmental Innovation   12. The Social Innovation Lab: An Experiment in the Pedagogy of Institutional Work