Deck 9: Scaling the Social Venture

Question 1

Even though relatively few nonprofits seek growth, it is what is expected of social entrepreneurs for which of the following reasons?

A) All social ventures must become gazelles (meaning they grow exceptionally fast)
B) Foundations want their grant dollars to achieve as much social mission as possible
C) A surging movement is underway that advocates the double bottom line (profits + social impact) or the triple bottom line (profits + social impact + positive environmental impact) among nonprofit ventures
D) Social ventures ought to be actively seeking opportunities to consolidate and focus on their missions locally and regionally

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What are gazelles in the context of social ventures?

A) Ventures that show high growth
B) Ventures that show high impact
C) Ventures that show high growth and high impact
D) Ventures that are volatile in terms of growth and impact

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Challenges to growth of social ventures can be thought of as being of two major types: internal to the social venture and external to it. All of the following are examples of internal challenges except which one?

A) Successful growth requires adequate and appropriate human resources
B) Social ventures are held to a very high standard of accountability
C) Nonprofit social ventures, like almost all for-profits, are legally controlled by their boards of directors
D) Social entrepreneurship takes place on a very public stage, unlike commercial entrepreneurship

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Dees identified two general types of resistance to innovation or change: which ones?

A) Threat-based and inertia-based
B) Joy-based and inertia-based
C) Threat-based and volatility-based
D) Joy-based and volatility based

Question 5

Threat-based resistance to innovation or change can be either internal or external to a social venture. Which of the following is an example of external threat-based resistance?

A) People see the change as a personal threat to them in some way
B) People believe the change challenges their core values or those of the venture
C) People think that the change may require that they develop new skills and competencies
D) The market being served by the social venture might perceive a risk if it threatens to disrupt the status quo

Question 6

Inertia-based resistance is more likely to be internal to the venture than external and is likely to manifest itself when __________________________.

A) People within the venture know about and understand the reason for growth and change
B) The lead entrepreneur makes her or his vision for growth understandable and compelling
C) It is easier to continue with the status quo than to make the change
D) the prospect of growth creates certainty about the risk within the venture

Question 7

LaFrance et al. identified and examined seven capacities necessary for scaling in local entrepreneurship. Which ones?

A) Mission, structure, business model, organizational culture, data system, resources, leadership and governance
B) Vision, structure, business model, organizational culture, data system, resources, leadership and governance
C) Mission, structure, business model, organizational culture, data system, resources, individualism
D) Mission, structure, business model, organizational culture, data system, resources, leadership

Question 8

Growth, or scaling, of a social venture involves considerable change and thus requires a balance between control and flexibility through which of the following?

A) Good management skills, effective communication and holding everyone accountable for rigid performance standards
B) Effective communication, building and maintaining a robust technology infrastructure and holding the home office accountable for outcomes
C) Good management skills, effective communication, and building and maintaining a robust technology infrastructure
D) Good management skills, effective communication, building and maintaining a robust technology infrastructure and holding branch offices accountable for outcomes

Question 9

A good system for gathering and analyzing data is an essential capacity for growth and data can be used in all but one of the following major ways. Which of the following is not an appropriate use of data?

A) To identify and document new needs on the part of target beneficiaries that may require expansion into new geographical or program areas
B) To document the success of the social venture, justifying the scaling of its impact
C) To determine key strengths in the venture's programs, services and personnel that can be replicated
D) To market the social venture to attract material and political support and pave the way for growth

Question 10

An absolutely essential capacity for scaling is having the necessary resources. There are numerous costs associated with growth in this respect, but most fall in which two categories?

A) Costs of expansion and costs of professionalization
B) Costs of control and costs of savings
C) Costs of expansion and costs of savings
D) Costs of control and costs of professionalization

Question 11

Which of the following ways to scale a social venture is the simplest and fastest?

A) Dissemination
B) Affiliation
C) Marketing
D) Branching

Question 12

Dissemination is the scaling strategy of choice for social ventures with a keen interest in which of the following?

A) Control over the quality of the product or service
B) Cost and speed of adoption
C) Trusting others to execute the work well and take pride in it
D) Minimizing mission accomplishment

Question 13

The branching strategy to scaling is attractive to some social entrepreneurs because it maximizes control; however, there are numerous tradeoffs to this method including which of the following?

A) It requires buying or leasing additional facilities, buying or leasing office equipment
B) It requires hiring and training additional staff
C) It is not particularly efficient
D) All of the above are tradeoffs to the use of a branching strategy

Question 14

Which of the following statements accurately describes the affiliation approach to scaling a social venture?

A) Affiliation shares common characteristics with branching, but it is more threatening to local communities because the degree of outside control is significantly increased
B) It is substantially less expensive to implement because the self-sufficiency of local affiliates precludes the need for major facility, resource, and staffing investments by the home office
C) It is substantially more expensive to implement because the local affiliates require major facility, resource, and staffing investments by the home office
D) Despite variation in level of control among affiliation models, affiliates are considerably less autonomous than branches

Question 15

Before a social venture decides to pursue social franchising, it should consider and answer which of the following questions?

A) Is there flexibility in the model to permit feedback from franchisees and adjustments based on that feedback?
B) Does the venture have a complex business model for which quality can be measured at least to some degree?
C) Does the franchise model being considered fit the business strategy of and the major accomplishments of the would-be franchisor?
D) All of the above are questions that should be asked

Question 16

Which of the following ways to scale a social venture brings with it the highest costs and the highest control?

A) Dissemination
B) Affiliation
C) Marketing
D) Branching

Question 17

Every social venture, no matter its legal or financing structure, should include a marketing plan in its business plan, which consists of ____________________.

A) A market analysis, a user data bank, and a competitive analysis
B) A market analysis, a competitive analysis, and a marketing strategy
C) A competitive analysis, a personnel evaluation analysis and a user data bank
D) A competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, and a personnel evaluation analysis

Question 18

The increasingly important aspect of marketing, branding, can be accomplished in a variety of ways, such as ________________________.

A) Creating a distinctive logo and requiring employees to wear uniforms
B) Creating a distinctive logo and developing a catchy tag line
C) Creating a distinctive logo, requiring employees to wear uniforms and developing a catchy tag line
D) Requiring employees to wear uniforms and developing a catchy tag line

Question 19

When considering networking as a scaling strategy a social entrepreneur should take into account what important concerns, i.e., what questions should be asked?

A) With whom should I build alliances? How should I approach successful alliance building?
B) How should I approach successful alliance building? Why is networking necessary and beneficial?
C) Who will be my customers (beneficiaries)? Who will be my "complementors" and "substitutors"? Who will be my suppliers?
D) With whom should I build alliances? How should I approach successful alliance building? Why is networking necessary and beneficial?

Question 20

According to Wei-Skillern (2007) the key reasons for a social entrepreneur to network are _____________________.

A) Resource scarcity, growing competition for resources, a growing societal appetite for greater efficiency, and increasing demand for documented performance
B) A growing societal appetite for greater efficiency and increasing demand for documented performance
C) Increasing demand for documented performance, resource scarcity and a growing societal appetite for greater efficiency
D) Resource scarcity, growing competition for customers, growing competition for resources, and a growing societal appetite for greater efficiency

Question 21

A surging movement is under way that advocates the double bottom line (profits + social impact) or the triple bottom line (profits + social impact + positive environmental impact) among for-profit ventures.

Question 22

In some organizations, particularly those organized as nonprofits, market-based growth may not be comfortable because it flies in the face of organizational culture and may be viewed by some as detracting from the social mission, rather than as building capacity to expand mission achievement.

Question 23

Successful growth requires adequate and appropriate human resources so it is important that no employees are ever fired and that very few leave of their own accord.

Question 24

Social outcomes and impact are exceptionally difficult to measure.

Question 25

Social entrepreneurship and commercial entrepreneurship are similar in that they both take place on a very public stage.

Question 26

The two general types of resistance to innovation or change, threat based and inertia based, may both be either internal or external to the social venture.

Question 27

Inertia-based resistance is much more likely to be external to a social venture than internal and it usually manifests itself when it is easier to continue with the status quo than to make a change.

Question 28

According to LaFrance (2006), a good system for gathering and analyzing data is an essential capacity for growth to identify and document existing needs on the part of target beneficiaries that may require expansion into new geographical or program areas and to document the failings of the social venture to make improvements.

Question 29

Options for how a social venture is to grow include dissemination, branching, affiliation, and social franchising.

Question 30

The simplest and fastest way to scale a social venture is via networking and involves making a social venture's services and intellectual property widely available to people and organizations around the world who want to use them.

Question 31

The affiliation approach to scaling is substantially less expensive to implement because the self-sufficiency of local affiliates precludes the need for major facility, resource, and staffing investments by the home office or headquarters.

Question 32

Before a social venture decides to pursue social franchising, it should consider whether there is flexibility in the model to permit feedback from franchisees and adjustments based on that feedback.

Question 33

A marketing plan should consist of three phases: a market analysis, a competitive analysis, and a marketing strategy.

Question 34

When considering networking as a scaling strategy, a social entrepreneur needs only to take into account two important questions: with whom should I build alliances and how should I approach successful alliance building?

Question 35

An important reason why networking is necessary and beneficial to social ventures is that there is a growing demand for performance accountability and no matter what their structure, investors expect social ventures to prove their social impact.

Question 36

Brooks, citing Betty Henderson, discussed six internal challenges that social ventures experience during the scaling process. Which ones?

Question 37

According to Dees, there are two general types of resistance to innovation or change that may be either internal or external to the social venture. What are these two types? Which is more likely to be internal and which external? Give an example of each.

Question 38

LaFrance et al. identified and examined which seven capacities for scaling in social entrepreneurship?

Question 39

A good system for gathering and analyzing data is an essential capacity for growth. What are the four major ways data can be used by social entrepreneurs?

Question 40

What options are available to the social entrepreneur who is interested in beginning the process of scaling his or her enterprise?

Question 41

Rank the four options of how to grow the social venture (dissemination; branching; affiliation; and social franchising) in terms of cost level (low, moderate, high).

Question 42

Rank the four options of how to grow the social venture (dissemination; branching; affiliation; and social franchising) in terms of control level (low, moderate, high).

Question 43

The marketing plan of a social venture should consist of which three elements?

Question 44

Branding is an increasingly important aspect of marketing, also for the social venture. Mention three examples of branding the social venture.

Question 45

A useful framework for thinking about potential networking or alliance building is the Value Net, which is about the market ecosystem in which any social venture operates. The market ecosystem is home to the activities of which four major players?

Question 46

Describe the internal challenges that social ventures experience during the scaling process according to Betty Henderson Springfield. Explain the sequence in which you deal with these internal challenges.

Question 47

Explain why networking is such an important aspect of scaling the social venture and list the key questions a social entrepreneur should take into account when considering networking as a primary scaling strategy.

Question 48

The costs of organizations consist of fixed costs and variable costs. High fixed costs may be a reason for a social enterprise to scale up. Explain why.
Within proportions, the organization can grow without increasing the costs. Next to that, a too small size does not compensate adequately for the costs.