Browsing by Autor "Ezequiel Reficco"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Aprovechar la convergencia (Capitalizing on Convergence)
(2009) James E. Austin; Roberto Gutiérrez; Enrique Ogliastri; Ezequiel Reficco
The English version of this article can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1011017 Spanish Abstract: En los anos sesenta, las empresas y las organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) recorrian sendas separadas, y tenian poco que ver entre si. En las ultimas tres decadas, sin embargo, los senderos de ambos mundos no solo se han cruzado sino que han convergido. Empresas y OSC convergen en la naturaleza del valor que crean, en los grupos de interes que deben gestionar, en las estructuras de las organizaciones que forman y en los instrumentos financieros que utilizan para financiar sus emprendimientos. La era de convergencia ha llegado para quedarse. ?Sabe como capitalizarla? Palabras clave: emprendimiento social, empresa social, responsabilidad social, innovacion social, BOP, negocios inclusivos, empresa y sociedad, organizaciones no lucrativas, organizaciones sin fines de lucro, ONG, organizaciones no gubernamentales, estrategia. English Abstract: Nonprofits and business are converging - in the value they create, the stakeholders they manage, the organizations they form, and the financial instruments they use. The era of convergence is upon us. Do you know how to take advantage of it?
Capitalizing on Convergence
(2006) James E. Austin; Roberto Gutiérrez; Enrique Ogliastri; Ezequiel Reficco
Nonprofits and businesses are converging - in the value they create, the stakeholders they manage, the organizations they form, and the financial instruments they use.
Collaboration Mechanisms for Sustainable Innovation
(2018) Ezequiel Reficco; Roberto Gutiérrez; Maria Helena Jaen de Izquierdo; Nunzia Auletta
The purpose of this article is to advance research on sustainable innovation through a business model (hereafter, BM) perspective. We consider the BM as a boundary-spanning system that encompasses various firms, in which value is created, exchanged and captured. More specifically, we look at the changes called for by the imperative of sustainable development, through the perspective of the BM. When companies coalesce around well-entrenched BMs, sunk costs and lock-in effects emerge as formidable barriers for sustainable innovation. We posit that the multiple dimensions in which sustainable innovation creates value for BM participants have not been adequately studied. In this article, we seek to address that gap by exploring the following research questions: What mechanisms enable transactions in boundary-spanning BMs that seek to bring about sustainable innovation? Are there synergies or otherwise meaningful connections between the different collaboration mechanisms? Are there enabling mechanisms that may facilitate or hinder those mechanisms? We look at the BM of three green innovators: new entrants that created a niche in their industries with clear social and environmental advantages over imperfect substitutes. Our main contributions to the literature on sustainable innovation are: (1) the integration of social and environmental collaboration mechanisms in addition to the economic ones used by extant studies; (2) the identification of the connections among these social, economic and environmental collaboration mechanisms; and (3) the identification of a set of enabling conditions within the focal firms that facilitate collaboration at the BM level. We close with propositions about enabling conditions, collaboration mechanisms and outcomes (sustainable innovations).
Configuration and Development of Alliance Portfolios: A Comparison of Same-Sector and Cross-Sector Partnerships
(2015) Roberto Gutiérrez; Patricia Márquez; Ezequiel Reficco
Management of different types of partnerships plays a decisive role in company performance. Complex business ventures, such as those created to serve low-income populations, usually include both cross-and same-sector partnerships. However, the initial diversity featured in these alliance portfolios diminishes as companies take their ventures up to scale. This article develops theoretical propositions about the evolution and configuration patterns of portfolios that include both cross-and same-sector partnerships. Two longitudinal case studies serve to illustrate the theoretical framework developed for alliance portfolios that include both types of partnerships. Companies that create such portfolios adopt partnership strategies that follow paths also identified in the evolution of portfolios only made up of partnerships with other private firms: i.e., an evolution from adapting to shaping and exploiting strategies.
Inclusive Businesses in Latin America (Spanish Version)
(2009) Patricia Márquez; Ezequiel Reficco; Gabriel Berger
Despite progress made in recent years, poverty and inequality continue to burden developing countries. The issue is not only ethical and political, but also economic: poverty in emerging countries is both a cause and outcome of economic stagnation. The current financial crisis has only made the problem worse. Across Latin America, interest in inclusive businesses has soared, becoming a shared focal point of concern by groups that, up to now, were hardly talking to each other: businesspeople, social entrepreneurs, activists, philanthropists - even political leaders. Widespread enthusiasm over inclusive businesses, however, has not been coupled with an equal measure of clarity on the meaning of the concept. Not surprisingly, skepticism has emerged from both the business community and spokespeople for the social sector, voicing legitimate concerns and doubts. Such concerns put into question what exactly is innovative about current efforts to undertake business ventures with people drawn from the bottom of the economic pyramid. What defines these initiatives? What are key factors for success? Following is an attempt to examine and conceive emerging practices in inclusive businesses by drawing on three years’ of research findings led by the Social Entrepreneurship Knowledge Network (SEKN) in nine countries from Iberoamerica.
Inclusive Networks for Building BOP Markets
(SAGE Publishing, 2009) Ezequiel Reficco; Patricia Márquez
The idea that business can play a role in alleviating poverty has caught the imagination of academics and practitioners alike. An emerging consensus points to the critical importance of partnerships in market initiatives addressed to the base of the pyramid (BOP). But despite the calls for cross sector partnerships in BOP initiatives, our collective understanding of how these actually work has not advanced proportionally. This study attempts to address this issue by examining the dynamics at play in nine networks that integrated the BOP with mainstream markets in nine developing nations of North, Central, and South America. Our field-based analysis generated a number of tentative propositions structured around three broad issue-areas: alliance formation (drivers that compelled companies to engage in strategic partnerships), alliance implementation (choice of governance mechanisms, resources for enhancing trust and reciprocity between partners, and conflict-resolution mechanisms), and performance outcome (the extent to which an organization’s commitment to an alliance impacted its performance and its societal context).
Organizational Ambidexterity and the Elusive Quest for Successful Implementation of BoP Ventures
(2016) Ezequiel Reficco; Roberto Gutiérrez
Successful cases of base of the pyramid (BoP) ventures in large corporations remain hard to find. The BoP literature has identified external and (to a lesser extent) internal barriers to implementation. However, this literature has treated barriers as isolated and discrete elements, overlooking the fact that most often those are integrated as part of the organization’s business model. In fact, the challenge of implementing a BoP venture within the umbrella of a large corporation can be framed as a challenge to achieve organizational ambidexterity. We apply that frame to the study of a critical incident, a “most likely” case where 12 large corporations received every incentive to implement BoP ventures, yet only 3 survived. We looked at both failures and success cases, and extract lessons from them. Our findings go against the grain of some prescriptions of mainstream BoP literature and the practice of funding agencies. We finish with recommendations for policy.