1

Social Entrepreneurship

[Name]

[Course and Subject]

[Professor]

[Institution]

[Date of Submission]
 2

Social Entrepreneurship

The author of the "Systems Change-Big or Small?” article notes that traditionally,

systems change has been characterized by grandiose thinking and approach. Systems change has

been, over the years, associated with fundamentally large-scale change that affects how a

majority of players alter their perspective on a social issue or problem (Muhlenbein, 2018).

However, according to the article, this perspective is wrong, and systems change should not only

be limited to large-scale transformative revolutions in social entrepreneurship. Rather, the

approach should aim at smaller, target-specific changes that cumulatively translate to

transformational changes in social entrepreneurship. The author notes that there is nothing wrong

with having rand ambitions; however, there is a need to break down the generic idea into target-

specific actionable goals that are more achievable and practical in reality (Muhlenbein, 2018).

This way, we are better positioned to achieve social goals such as free education and healthcare.

The author, however, recommends that there is a need to integrate both approaches. Ideally, the

big vision ought to provide purpose and motivation, while fragmented target-specific goals act as

an actionable strategy towards achieving the grandiose idea.

In his article, “The Innovation Sandbox," Prahalad (2006) details the need for innovations

that are conceptualized with a primarily "base of the pyramid" thinking. In this context, the base

of the pyramid refers to the low-income earning consumer segment, which accounts for the

majority of the market in many populations. As such, the innovation sandbox is a way of

experimenting with boundaries to create a service or product that is affordable to this segment,

scalable, and one that has high cost and efficiency improvements. The author details these as the

four imperative conditions for sandbox innovation, i.e.,

i. The innovation is of world-class quality – offers very high efficiency.

 3

ii. The innovation must be affordable to the masses (low-income earners).

iii. The innovation must be scalable and can be replicated in many locales.

iv. The innovation achieves a tremendous price reduction from other alternatives.

Sandbox innovation objectively bypasses conventional thinking constraints to take a new

approach to maximize opportunities and solve problems (Prahalad, 2006). As such, this

innovation is particularly instrumental in dealing with malignant social problems such as

healthcare, drug epidemics or housing shortage. For instance, to address a problem such as a

housing shortage where the base of the pyramid is the primarily affected group, sandbox

innovation would prioritize aspects such as the reduction of the price of housing for the majority

to ensure affordability. This could be realized through the production of cheaper yet durable

materials for housing and can be replicated on a large scale. This would ensure that housing

stakeholders can provide consumers with more affordable homes. The base of the pyramid would

thus have a cheaper and more efficient solution, solving the housing problem in our societies.
 4

References

Muhlenbein, O. (2018). Systems Change-Big or Small? Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1-4.

Prahalad, C. (2006). The Innovation Sandbox. Tech and Innovation.