The Innovative Beat of Corporate Social Intrapreneurs

The breakout year for the social intrapreneur continues. After being recognized as 2014’s most valuable employee last month, the social intrapreneur will now be at the center of an upcoming book by Professor David Grayson of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility and co-authors Melody McLaren and Heiko Spitzeck. “Social Intrapreneurism and All that Jazz” is filled with evidence of intrapreneurial social impact, analysis of intrapreneurism and its most distinguishing characteristics, and how all this can be understood in the context of jazz as a comparison. The book makes clear that social intrapreneurs are becoming important players in tackling the world’s most pressing social problems and that their stock will rise as the deadline for achieving the United Nations Millenium Development Goals approaches. The reader takes away that social intrapreneurship represents a totally new model of doing business that is not just about innovating new social programs, but establishing a paradigm where initiatives for social good are being driven by economic factors for long term impact and sustainability.
As part of this special Forbes series on social intrapreneurship and co-creation, Professor Grayson has agreed to give us a sneak peak into the findings for the upcoming book, scheduled for release this March. The following has been excerpted from his book:
Defining social intrapreneurs and their “close relatives”
We define social intrapreneurs as “people within a large corporation who take direct initiative for innovations that address social or environmental challenges while also creating commercial value for the company”… In contrast with social entrepreneurs, social intrapreneurs can leverage existing infrastructures and organisational capabilities to deliver social value on a large scale…
…Unlike their “close relatives,” such as corporate volunteers, corporate responsibility (CR) champions or green team members inside companies who are also furthering social and environmental goals, social intrapreneurs aim to generate entirely new forms of commercial value through significant innovations in products, services, processes or business models for their employers. However, as will become evident from the examples in our book, these diverse members of the corporate “family” may find themselves working together as an “ensemble” to enhance the sustainability performance of their companies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2014/02/24/the-innovative-beat-of-corporate-social-intrapreneurs/