Specialisterne, changing the standards - A case study of a Danish social entrepreneurial company Nanna Nicoline Elkjær Jensen M.Sc. in Strategy, Organization and Leadership Copenhagen Business School December, 2011 Characters: 178,672 Pages: 78,5 Supervisor: Karin Strzeletz Ivertsen Department of Organization Page ii Executive summary Einstein’s famous quote ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it’, can in the framework created for this thesis be translated to how the (social) challenges of the 21’st century cannot be facilitated from a 20’th century mentality. New ways of thinking are important for companies to become stronger and better in doing business today. The purpose of this thesis is to show another side of the social entrepreneurial field; a sector where the boundaries between for-profit and not-for-profit have become blurred and the companies with a social aim are becoming more focused on the business part. This thesis presents a case that shows a social entrepreneurial company that has managed to survive and even expand in spite of the continuing financial crisis. My research question is: How is it possible for Specialisterne to be innovative, sustainable, and social entrepreneurial when employing people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as a new resource in the workforce? This research question is investigated by four analysis questions. The thesis is based on a single case study of a social entrepreneurial company called Specialisterne, which is a pioneer within their field. This is the first company in the world to educate and hire people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to perform IT-consultancy services. The data has been collected through interviews and observations at an international conference in May 2011, hosted by Specialisterne. The theoretical analysis primarily draw from an article written by Dacin et al. (2010), which captures the different characteristics of a social entrepreneurial company and provides very useful framework for analysing Specialisterne and their surroundings. My findings revealed that Specialisterne manage to be innovative, sustainable, and social entrepreneurial. The most important thing in their business model is that they have achieved to turn (what most people regard as) a disability into ability and create an entirely new way of doing business by taking in these specialist people and letting them be the inspired peculiarities who can create innovation just by thinking differently. Something conventional businesses could learn from in a future perspective of management. Keywords: Social entrepreneurship, innovation, sustainability, business model Page iii Table of content Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. vi Preface ............................................................................................................................................. vii 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Justification of thesis ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research question .............................................................................................................................. 3 1.3 Contribution to research .................................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Definitions of key concepts ............................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Structure of thesis .............................................................................................................................. 8 2 Case description: Specialisterne ............................................................................................. 9 2.1 The history of Specialisterne ....................................................................................................... 10 2.2 Logo and the dandelion metaphor ............................................................................................. 12 3Theoretical framework ............................................................................................................ 14 3.1 Social entrepreneurial theory ..................................................................................................... 14 3.1.1 Descriptions and relevance of theory ................................................................................................ 14 3.1.2 Relation to thesis ........................................................................................................................................ 16 3.1.3 Critique of theory ....................................................................................................................................... 17 3.1.4 Critique of social entrepreneurial theory in general .................................................................. 18 3.2 Business model theory .................................................................................................................. 18 3.2.1 Descriptions and relevance of theory ................................................................................................ 19 3.2.2 Relation to thesis ........................................................................................................................................ 19 3.2.3 Critique of business model theory ...................................................................................................... 20 4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 21 4.1 Research philosophy ...................................................................................................................... 21 4.2 Research approach .......................................................................................................................... 22 4.3 Research strategy ............................................................................................................................ 23 4.4 Empirical data ................................................................................................................................... 23 4.4.1 Primary data ................................................................................................................................................. 23 4.4.2 Secondary data ............................................................................................................................................ 26 4.5 Limitation of data ............................................................................................................................ 26 4.6 Delimitations ..................................................................................................................................... 27 Page iv 5ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................................... 28 5.1Empirical analysis ............................................................................................................................ 28 5.1.1 Exploration of Specialisterne- a micro perspective ..................................................................... 29 5.1.2 Exploration of Specialisterne – a macro perspective .................................................................. 38 5.1.3 Verification of Specialisternes business concept .......................................................................... 47 5.2 Summing up the empirical analysis .......................................................................................... 50 5.3 Theoretical analysis ........................................................................................................................ 52 5.3.1 The characteristics of individual social entrepreneurs ............................................................. 52 5.3.2 The operating sector of Specialisterne .............................................................................................. 54 5.3.3 The processes and resources used by Specialisterne ................................................................. 56 5.3.4 The primary mission and outcomes associated with the social entrepreneur ................ 57 5.4 Summing up the theoretical analysis ........................................................................................ 59 5.5 Justification ........................................................................................................................................ 61 5.5.1 Innovation ...................................................................................................................................................... 61 5.5.2 Financial perspective –behind the scene in Specialisterne ...................................................... 63 5.5.3 Specialisterne – a sustainable business ............................................................................................ 64 5.6 Summing up the clarification part ............................................................................................. 66 6 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................