Scaling Social Entrepreneurial Impact

2009/04/01 by Paul N. Bloom, Aaron K. Chatterji, Aaron Chatterji · 312 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Accounting #Alliance #Business #CITES #Community Development and Social Impact #Earnings #Economics #Entrepreneurship Studies and Influences #Industrial organization #Innovation and Socioeconomic Development #Management #Marketing #Outsourcing #Political science #Public relations #Scaling #Situational ethics #Staffing

paper · doi:10.2307/41166496

published in California Management Review 51(3), 114-133 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2009/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Successful scaling of social impact by a social entrepreneurial organization is driven by its capabilities in seven areas, identified in this article by using the acronym SCALERS: Staffing, Communicating, Alliance-building, Lobbying, Earnings-generation, Replicating, and Stimulating market forces. The relative importance of each of these capabilities in driving scaling will depend on several situational contingencies, such as the labor needs of the organization or the public support attracted by its causes or programs. The article presents the logic, theory, and prior research that support the SCALERS model and cites examples of case experiences that are consistent with the model.

Citations

• The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders

Cited by

• Targeting Social Messages with Emotions of Change: The Call for Optimism
• Social entrepreneurship research: A review and future research agenda
• From Caring Entrepreneur to Caring Enterprise: Addressing the Ethical Challenges of Scaling up Social Enterprises
• Balancing dual missions for social venture growth: a comparative case study
• A Framework for Introducing Global Health Innovations to the US. [europepmc]
• Beyond the “ivory tower”. Comparing academic and non-academic knowledge on social entrepreneurship [europepmc]
• Strategy and Human Resources Management in Non-Profit Organizations: Its Interaction with Open Innovation [europepmc]

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