College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management

DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND

ASSESSING OPPORTUNITIES

Group 3

Añonuevo, Harlen May

Eyao, Catherine

Fajilagmago, Elizabeth

Guinto, Jhoanne

Pasia, Andrea

BS ENTRP 3203

Ms. Juliene Canatuan

 College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management

CHAPTER 7
DEFINING SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND ASSESSING OPPORTUNITIES

Learning Objectives
● Define Social problem
● Explain the objective and subjective components of the definition of a social problem.
● Discuss the social constructionist view of social problems.
● Identify the stages of the natural history of social problems.

Introduction
What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?

Social entrepreneurship is evolving across the globe. It is helping to solve problems like unemployment, civic
engagement, social security etc. It is seen as a key factor to reduce poverty, improve the environment and
increase employment. In the past decade or so, social entrepreneurship has achieved remarkable progress in
solving social problems in developing countries.

Social problems tend to develop when we become neglectful and fail to see that serious problems are
developing.

SOCIAL PROBLEM
A social problem is an issue within the society that makes it difficult for people to achieve their full potential.
Poverty, unemployment, unequal opportunity, racism, and malnutrition are examples of social problems. So are
substandard housing, employment discrimination, and child abuse and neglect.

A social problem is any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and
that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed. This definition has both an
objective component and a subjective component.

The objective component is this: For any condition or behavior to be considered a social problem, it must have
negative consequences for large numbers of people.

The subjective component of the definition of social problems: There must be a perception that a condition or
behavior needs to be addressed for it to be considered a social problem.

The social constructionist view raises an interesting question: When is a social problem a social problem?
● The condition or situation must be publicly seen as a social problem because of a public outcry.
● The condition must be at odds with the values of the larger society.
● Most people must be in agreement that a problem exists.
● There must be a solution to a social problem.
 College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management

The Natural History of a Social Problem

Most social problems go through a natural history consisting of several stages of their development (Spector &
Kitsuse, 2001).

Stage 1: Emergence and Claims Making

A social problem emerges when a social entity (such as a social change group, the news media, or influential
politicians) begins to call attention to a condition or behavior that it perceives to be undesirable and in need of
remedy.

Stage 2: Legitimacy
Once a social group succeeds in turning a condition or behavior into a social problem, it usually tries to
persuade the government (local, state, and/or federal) to take some action—spending and policymaking—to
address the problem.

Stage 3: Renewed Claims Making

Even if government action does occur, social change groups often conclude that the action is too limited in
goals or scope to be able to successfully address the social problem. If they reach this conclusion, they often
decide to press their demands anew.

Stage 4: Development of Alternative Strategies

Although the groups may continue to press their claims, they nonetheless realize that these claims may fail to
win an adequate response from established interests. This realization leads them to develop their own
strategies for addressing the social problem.

Identifying and Defining Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship

1. Lack of Financial Resources

One of the most common challenges faced by social entrepreneurs is the lack of financial resources. Unlike
traditional entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs often struggle to secure funding for their ventures as they focus
on creating social impact rather than generating profits. This limited access to capital can hinder their ability to
scale their initiatives or even get them off the ground.

For example, imagine a social entrepreneur who wants to start a nonprofit organization to provide education
and vocational training to underprivileged youth in a rural community. Without sufficient financial resources,
they may struggle to hire qualified teachers, purchase educational materials, or even rent a suitable facility to
run their programs effectively.

2. Limited Awareness and Support

Another significant challenge in social entrepreneurship is the limited awareness and support for their cause.
Many social entrepreneurs work on solving complex social problems that may not receive much attention from
 College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management
the general public or mainstream media. Consequently, they often face difficulties in raising awareness about
their initiatives and garnering support from stakeholders, including potential investors, donors, and volunteers.

For instance, consider a social entrepreneur who is dedicated to addressing the issue of food waste by
creating a platform that connects surplus food from restaurants and grocery stores to food banks and shelters.
Despite the importance of their work, they may struggle to gain traction and attract partners or volunteers due
to the lack of awareness and understanding of the problem they are trying to solve.

3. Balancing Social Impact and Financial Sustainability

Social entrepreneurs face the unique challenge of balancing social impact and financial sustainability. While
their primary objective is to create positive social change, they also need to ensure the financial viability and
long-term sustainability of their ventures. Finding the right balance between generating enough revenue to
cover costs and maximizing social impact can be a complex and ongoing challenge.

For example, let's say a social entrepreneur wants to establish a social enterprise that provides job
opportunities for individuals with disabilities. While their main focus is on creating employment opportunities
and improving the lives of people with disabilities, they also need to generate enough revenue to pay fair
wages, cover operational expenses, and expand their impact.

4. Scaling and Replicating Impact

Scaling and replicating impact is another significant challenge in social entrepreneurship. Many social
entrepreneurs start with small-scale initiatives that demonstrate their effectiveness in tackling a specific social
problem. However, scaling these initiatives to reach a larger population or replicating them in different
geographical locations can be a complex and resource-intensive process.

For instance, consider a social entrepreneur who has developed an innovative technology solution to provide
clean drinking water in a remote village. While their solution may be successful in that specific context,
expanding its reach to other villages may require significant investment in infrastructure, distribution networks,
and community engagement.

Opportunities for Social Entrepreneurship: Sources, Identification and Development

Opportunity cognition is the core of entrepreneurship and the basic ability of social entrepreneurs to solve
social problems.

Traditional entrepreneurial opportunity Social Entrepreneurship

refers to the situation where new products, services
or organizational methods can be transferred at a
price higher than their cost.
● To use market methods to solve deep-rooted
social problems
● Social entrepreneurship opportunities mostly
come from market failure and government
function failure, closely linked to the special
 College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management
circumstances of entrepreneurs themselves.

The institutional environment can shape the entrepreneur’s pursuit of social influence.

1. The traditional view is that the threat of legal expropriation reduces the expected entrepreneurial
returns of new organizations and leads to the reduction of entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, the
imperfection of law promotes the formation of social entrepreneurial opportunities.
2. The irrational economic system has led to an endless stream of environmental problems, but it has
awakened the environmental awareness of some members of society. Giving birth to the idea of
changing the status quo of society and actively seeking to achieve an environmentally sustainable
business model, becoming a special social entrepreneur—environmental entrepreneurs.
3. Informal systems affect the overall values of society and have an indirect impact on entrepreneurship
through demand and motivation.

Macroeconomic factors such as politics, social culture and taxation can affect their social value proposition and
value creation concept.

The social support culture (SSC), as an informal cultural norm based on friendship and support, realizes this
requirement under weak social capital.

Opportunity Identification of Social Entrepreneurship

1. Opportunity identification
● opportunity discovery perspective - entrepreneurial opportunities exist objectively in the
existing market and are independent of entrepreneurs’ will, influenced by the external
environment.
● opportunity creation perspective - opportunities are formed endogenously by entrepreneurs
through creative actions, reflecting their own perception of changes in the external environment.
2. Opportunity co-creation - way for stakeholders to choose and construct each other. Some
stakeholders are committed to rescuing the poor in remote communities, while other interest groups
may be more eager to provide opportunities for female entrepreneurs.

Opportunity Development of Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs pursue fundamental or innovative social changes.

1. After identifying entrepreneurial opportunities, they will adopt various strategies and implement
various decisions.

Social impact is regarded as one of the most important outcome variables of social entrepreneurship.

- usually conceptualized through different terms such as social value, social performance, and social
return on investment.

Advantages:

● covers most of the existing methods for studying social impacts.

 College of Accountancy, Business, Economics and International Hospitality Management
● recognizes that social impacts include many different phenomena and the complexity of target
group data.
2. Diversification - help social enterprises expand the range of products or services.
3. Horizontal expansion - help spread and share the social innovation of the social organization.
4. Absorbing new beneficiaries through scale expansion.

Successful social enterprises are particularly good at using social networks to catalyze change and create
social value.

1. Lobbying Stakeholder Participation

2. Access to Government Support

References:

Georgia Levenson Keohane. (2013) Social entrepreneurship for the 21st century: innovation across the
nonprofit, private, and public sectors. New York : McGraw-Hill

Daryl Poon. The Emergence and Development of Social Enterprise Sectors.. Sector: Social Enterprise. Date of
Publication: Jan 1 2011. Publisher: University of Pennsylvania

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https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-management-and-entrepreneurship/socialentrepreneurship/how-to-ide
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https://open.lib.umn.edu/socialproblems/chapter/1-1-what-is-a-social-problem/

https://fastercapital.com/content/Challenges-and-Opportunities-in-Social-Entrepreneurship.html?fbclid=IwAR3T
tgfmffGfCDmmC60mpPSUPCiOi5JX9Ipcex9LVMNg43BuqdofH_YtCJI#Identifying-and-Defining-Challenges-in-
Social-Entrepreneurship