Analysing the spectrum of social replication

: getting of the beaten track

Abstract

It has been demonstrated in the literature that social replication, defined as “replicating a successful social purpose organisation or project in a new geographical location” (Berelowitz et al. 2013, p. 5), can bring both private and social benefits. However, this process is still widely misunderstood or unknown by social ventures. The lack of consensus on the main concepts of this field of research may have been nourishing this issue. This dissertation, which adopts a structure mixing academic dissertation and case study, aims at better defining, analysing, and continuing to explore the present spectrum of social replication in order to assist social ventures in finding a suitable replication path according to their characteristics and social objectives. Based on both the social and the business literatures, potential new replication strategies are sought and defined. Their pros and cons are discussed, as those of the already known paths. The replication paths of two organisations, characterised by their social purpose, are also analysed through case studies. This analysis indicates that there is no right replication path, therefore confirms the Wei-Skillern and Anderson’s (2003) theory. Rather, some social ventures are able to develop tailor-made paths that fall outside the present spectrum of social replication as well as to change them over time in order to improve private and social benefits. Two particular strategies, called “smart collaborative networking” and “social combination”, corresponding to the social replication definition, broaden the present spectrum.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Susana Frazão Pinheiro (Supervisor)