By using a Tragedy of the Commons approach, the authors here describe why and how leveraging the knowledge and resources of their ecosystem partners can help many a social entrepreneur overcome the obstacles to success
The domain of social entrepreneurship is replete with possibilities and innovations to address and potentially solve some of society’s most intractable problems. In this essay, we highlight the role of the “Tragedy of the Commons” and examine how it represents both opportunities and obstacles for the social entrepreneur. We use the example of Verdant Power, a Green Energy provider, to illustrate our comments.
ENTER THE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR
While solutions to the Tragedy of the Commons quickly fall victim to bureaucratic inertia and/or red tape, the more insidious problem is the question of political will – namely that policy makers have to make change happen. But, politicians also respond to incentives. Each stakeholder in the air pollution drama prefers a solution that is paid for by someone else; the benefits of being a free rider on the global scale are huge. Politicians know that they will be punished by well-funded interest groups, especially if the decision is made to allocate a larger share of the costs to specific sectors or industries rather than allow society as a whole to suffer from the free-rider problem.
Reprint from Ivey Business Journal
[© Reprinted and used by permission of the Ivey Business School]