Demystifying the perspectives of enterprise X social innovation organization cooperation – what benefits can be brought by the cooperation between the two parties? What are the gaps between expectations?

On the road of sustainable development, no one or any department is an outsider. In the public sector, it can be seen that the Taiwan government has been recognized by the international non-profit organization Catalyst 2030 Facilitator Award for connecting social innovation organizations to achieve the sustainable development goals of the United Nations; The sustainable development road map and ESG evaluation system, hoping to drive more enterprises to implement sustainable development. In the field of social innovation, both social enterprise flow and living water impact investment have observed that enterprises have higher and higher demands for cooperation with non-profit organizations and social enterprises. Under the influence of climate change and the new crown pneumonia epidemic, etc., In addition to making profits, more and more companies have begun to pay attention to sustainability issues and ESG (Environment, Social Society, and Governance corporate governance). Create a new sustainable vision.

What are the benefits of businesses collaborating with social innovation organizations?

First, as social enterprises are new creations, they continuously test and expand innovative business models, which can be used as a key solution to the dilemma of general corporate sustainability projects. Second, social enterprises have been operating specific groups for a long time, such as the elderly, local community groups, etc., and having relevant resources and contact channels can complement the enterprise. Third, social enterprises can contribute to more ethical and resilient supply chains when they act as corporate suppliers. Seeing this trend, in order to understand the current situation of cooperation between social innovation organizations and enterprises in Taiwan, Social Enterprise Flow and Huoshui Impact Investment jointly launched the “Enterprise X Social Innovation Cooperation Opinion Survey”. The published research report “Corporate Ready” uses 4 aspects and 13 indicators (Note 1) to evaluate the readiness of a social innovation organization to cooperate with enterprises—ideally, when a social innovation organization meets which indicators describe, Most likely to lead to cooperation with enterprises? Back to the current situation, what indicators do social innovation organizations think they meet, and are these indicators consistent with the state expected by the enterprise? The survey attracted nearly 80 enterprises and social innovation organizations to fill in, including enterprises with clear ESG strategies internally, and social innovation organizations with willingness or experience in in-depth cooperation with enterprises.

Consistency of cognition – more than half of the respondents believe that “compatibility of value concept, excellent product service” is the key factor to promote the cooperation between the two parties

The survey results show that more than 80% of the social innovation organizations believe that they meet the criteria of “good product and service quality, social influence and effectiveness”. In this regard, 60% of the enterprises also believe that the social innovation organizations they have cooperated with in the past meet this standard. In addition, nearly 70% of social innovation organizations believe that they meet the criteria of “the ability of social innovation organizations to find corporate partners with common values ​​and ideas”. This indicator. According to the above results, it can be seen that the product service quality and influence of social innovation organizations, as well as their ability to find ideal business partners, are the key factors that promote the cooperation between the two parties, and it is also the part that enterprises currently believe that social innovation organizations generally perform well. Carrefour Corporate Social Responsibility and Communications Director Su Xiaozhen, and DBS Bank (Taiwan) Group Promotion Strategy and Vice President of Communications Rachael, encouraged social innovation organizations to think about how to use easy-to-understand and think from the perspective of enterprises when cooperating with enterprises In order to effectively amplify the influence, we must communicate our ideas with enterprises in a unique way, and the most important thing is to uphold our original intention of starting a business and carefully select the enterprises we cooperate with.  

​Gap of cognition – 60% of social innovation organizations recognize that they meet the needs of enterprises, but less than 40% of enterprises agree

When asked “whether the business models of social innovation organizations have been verified by the market and can exert social influence”, about 70% of the social innovation organizations thought they had met the standard, but less than 40% of the enterprises believed that the social innovation organizations they had worked with in the past met the standards. index. As for the indicator of “whether social innovation organizations can quickly and immediately meet the needs of enterprises and enhance customer value”, about 70% of social innovation organizations think they meet the standards, and about 40% of enterprises agree. The survey results reveal a cognitive gap between social innovation organizations and enterprises. Directly share with Jin Xinyi, the founder of Nongfumai, and Qiu Yi, CEO of Walking in the Island, that in the early stage of cooperation with enterprises, good communication should be implemented first, including information such as costs, risks, solutions, etc. need to be transparent, in order to avoid follow-up expectations as much as possible gap and improve work efficiency.

​Two major capabilities that social innovation organizations lack: effective access to stable working capital, core business capabilities and corporate procurement departments

In this survey, more than half of social innovation organizations believe that they lack the ability to effectively obtain stable working capital and the business ability to cooperate with corporate procurement departments. Nearly 80% of the companies also believe that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the above-mentioned capabilities of social innovation organizations that have cooperated in the past. To sum up, if a social innovation organization wants to attract enterprises to cooperate and expand its influence, it needs to develop a more complete business model, a method to meet the needs of enterprises in real time, and supplement the capabilities in terms of capital acquisition and business development. In this way, Fang has the opportunity to join hands with enterprises to achieve the vision of a friendly society and environment under the wave of sustainable trends. Regarding the cooperation between enterprises and social innovation organizations, social enterprise flow iLab also invited representatives of enterprises and organizations to share their co-creation experience and views on enterprises and social innovation organizations during the Demo Day #4 event. Welcome to read the event report , or watch the highlight video for more details! Note 1 (refer to the structure of the research report “Corporate Ready”, and adjust part of the language according to the current situation of the Taiwan market):

4 aspects:

• product service
• supply and demand management
• resource acquisition
• core operation

13 indicators:

1. The products/services are of high quality and have proven social influence and effectiveness
2. Possess strong and well-established operational management and leadership capabilities
3. Possess a business strategy, plan or business model that has been proven by the market and can exert social influence
4. Ability to find corporate partners with common values ​​and ideas
5. Can quickly and instantly meet the needs of enterprises and increase the value of enterprise customers
6. Possess robust product/service supply and expansion capabilities
7. Clearly grasp the concept of “unit economics” and the current situation of the organization, such as how much revenue each customer brings
8. Ability to effectively logistics, distribute and export products/services
9. Efficient access to financial capital, cash flow and working capital to meet product/service expansion needs
10. Can effectively obtain opportunities to build relationships and network in order to expand the visibility of the organization
11. Possess core business capabilities, especially cooperation with corporate procurement departments
12. Continuous product/service innovation and customization
13. Have good infrastructure, talents, operating procedures and related technologies