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Title: Developing the Social EEntrepreneur: Lessons from the Irish Experience

1
Developing the Social E-Entrepreneur Lessons
from the Irish Experience
Week 6
2
Social Economy

Social Economy within the European Union
represents roughly 6.4 million jobs, of which 59
are in non-profit associations, 34 in
co-operatives and 7 in mutuals - equivalent to
about 4.4 of employment in the EU.
Social Economy in the UK
co-operative retail societies alone employ 68,000
people, are responsible for 4,637 shopping
outlets and have a membership of 8,188,000 with
an annual turnover of 7,310 million.
Within the co-operative insurance sector, 12,500
staff are employed and the sector has assets of
11.5 billion held on behalf of its
policyholders, of which there are 4 million.

3
Social Economy - Definition
Social Economy Achieving social objectives
within a community by applying a business
approach

Economic regeneration and job creation
Local ownership and empowerment
Combined financial and social benefits.
Creating economic and social sustainability

4
Social Economy

The Community and Voluntary Sector in Northern
Ireland constitutes (NICVA/NICDA 2000)
5,000 organisations
33,550 employees
79,000 volunteers
514m annual turnover - less than 1 coming from
business contribution and only 8 from the
public/fund raising contributions.
According to Colin Stutt Consulting (May 2001)
the Social Economy Sector in Northern Ireland has
a scale which has not to date been properly
measured. It is estimated to involve at least
30,000 jobs or 5 of employment in Northern
Ireland, is directly comparable in size to the
construction industry in Northern Ireland

5
Social Economy - the Digital Divide
A Social Economy Development
FACTORS

eBusiness skills
eCommerce skills
Finance
Change Management

B Community Development
C Local Disadvantage Communities
6
Uptake of IT within the Community and
Voluntary Sector in NI

During May 1998, NICVA carried out a random
survey of 500 organisations to take a snapshot of
the Sectors IT capacity. They found
62 stated their organisation owned a computer
58 were connected to the Internet
According to this years survey, 88.3 owned a
computer that could access the Net.
Differences were recorded for organisations
whose income was either below or above 100,000.
Only 20 of organisations with income under
100,000 had access to the Internet
Compared to 58 of organisations with over
100,000 income.

7
ICT as a Core Competency

It can be argued that small firms should acquire
sufficient skills to develop and implement
effective ICT solutions and systems. A key
consideration is the level of resources needed
and the stage at which the level of ICT should
become a core competency of the firm (Barker
200032) The challenge is also that SME
development agencies develop ICT skills as their
core competence

8
Aim of the Research

To assess Business Advisors' level of awareness
and use of ICT and to further assess their
ability to provide advice on new technologies to
clients
Northern Ireland has the lowest uptake of ICT in
the UK and the role that business advisory
organisations play in this should be established
and addressed. Their own ICT abilities may have
an effect on the uptake of ICT within their SME
clients.

9
Research

Quantitative
35 out of 38 questionnaire responses (92 of
staff in the sample organisations)
Qualitative
4 organisations
social economy advisory body
Advisory body for rural SMEs
Local Enterprise Agency
Private sector advisor to SMEs

10
Quantitative

Section 1 - general details of the company
Section 2 - "health check" on the company
Section 3 - respondents own perceptions of
eCommerce and ICT.
The questionnaire was designed to take 5 minutes
to complete. All respondents were informed that
their responses would remain confidential.

11
Qualitative

How senior managers personally felt about the new
technologies
How using new technologies were impacting their
day to day work
How managers felt their organisation was equipped
to deal with the new technologies, in terms of
equipment and personnel
What changes managers felt needed to take place
as a result of the development and introduction
of technology to their office

12
Findings

Section 1 general details
60 of respondents were over 35 years old, with
only 17 aged between 18 and 25
44 had worked for the company for less than 3
years, whilst 39 stated they had been employed
by the company for over 6 years
Section 2 health check
only 32 of employees felt their managers used
ICT, and then very rarely
only 34 of employees felt that there was open
communication amongst staff
69 of respondents reported that they had never
received formal IT training
44 felt that there were no clear guidelines as
to the use of ICT tools in the organisation

13
Findings

Section 3 the individuals and the
organisations connectivity
86 of respondents had access to an office
computer
57 responded that they did not use e-mail on a
daily basis at work
60 recorded that they rarely used the Internet
for work activities
69 respondents said that were currently giving
advice to clients on eCommerce/ICT related
matters
with only 14 of them feeling confident that they
could adequately deal with any enquiries that
would arise
46 said they would refer such enquiries to the
office expert
In one organisation staff reported that they
needed to obtain permission to use the
internet/e-mail.

14
Recommendation
(Foresight eBusiness Report (2000))

To ensure that the benefits of eBusiness are
fully realised by SME development agencies, they
must
Rationalise Take a common sense look at existing
and evolving business processes
Prioritise Prioritise the business processes
Skills Review its skills base including ongoing
training needs analysis of staff, ongoing
review of IT developments in relation to staff
skills, and a detailed IT training strategy
Investment Identify any weaknesses, set a budget
for the process, delegate responsibility and
encourage inclusiveness in the workforce

15
"Action 26 - Joined up Community/Voluntary and
Social Economy Sectors

Policy Community, voluntary and social economy
sectors are given representation and allowed
to provide their own solutions to increase the
uptake of ICT within their own communities
Access Equality of access for all members of
society, in terms of physical access, and
content and design of web materials
Enterprise That social enterprises have equal
access to technology, updated training in IT
skills and can pass on access/skills to
members of the local, often disadvantaged
community

16
International Digital Divide Actions

Republic of Ireland IAS / CAIT Programme - 4m
funding for 71 community groups until 2002
UK UKOnline Initiative- 6000 access centres,
delivering 1 million IT courses online by 2002
via Learning Direct, 10 million assistance to
businesses to exploit IT, increased to 15
million next year and Getting Government online
by 2005
USA Dept of Commerce Department's National
Telecommunications and Information Administration
(NTIA) - Falling thru the Net considers
Americans' access to the Internet and resources
on private sector educational and funding
initiatives www.digitaldivide.gov