How Social Enterprises Create Sustainable Value

Social enterprises, having dual goals of social mission and financial viability, are most likely to create sustainable value, which is the generation of environmental, economic, and social value that delivers satisfaction for multiple stakeholders in the short and long term. This study focuses on how 18 Philippine social enterprises create sustainable value by analyzing their respective value chains. A qualitative method using thematic analysis was used. Results show that 15 of the social enterprises explicitly create sustainable value (environmental, social, and economic) across their value chain while the three other social enterprises only explicitly create social and economic value but still implicitly create environmental value. Analyzing the value chain also showed the connections between the building blocks in the business model that help in the creation of environmental, social, and/or economic value. The social enterprises in the study use a combination of a business model and a stakeholder development model to achieve financial viability and their social value propositions. Some social enterprises have explicit initiatives and approaches to create environmental value; others focus on eco-efficiency to achieve this goal.