Societal entrepreneurs in the health sector: crossing the frontiers

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore societal entrepreneurship in the turbulent health-care sector in a changing welfare state, Sweden. Empirically oriented questions about the businesses explored in this paper are: how do the entrepreneurs see combining "health-driven" and profit-driven enterprises? What mindset and strategies guide their enterprises? What organizatorial solutions are used? Design/methodology/approach -The paper is based on two case-entrepreneurs, selected due to the author's perception of them as successful both as businesses and as societal change agents. The entrepreneurs have been interviewed by means of unstructured dialogues. Findings -Both entrepreneurs prove to be frontier crossing combiners in several dimensions; they unite ideological commitment with economically sound businesses, they bring together their medical professions and complementary methods of treatment, they combine bridge building with challenging and they reconcile part-time entrepreneurship with employment. Research limitations/implications -With regard to the long-term preconditions for societal entrepreneurship, it is concluded that these two entrepreneurial processes have traits of both opportunity-and self-exploitation. The long-term social sustainability of enterprises of this kind is an issue for further research. Originality/value -The paper goes beyond non-profit research by exploring societal entrepreneurship in the for-profit sector, with focus on entrepreneurship which crosses sectoral borders.

Jumped or pushed: what motivates NHS staff to set up a social enterprise?

“…The emphasis was on personal development, enabling them to lead innovation in new service delivery and "do things differently" away from the NHS structures and boundaries that they considered to be a constraint. Similarly, "professional" aspirations (Traynor et al, 2006;Tillmar, 2009) arose in the way that the RtR policy acted as an opportunity for empowerment through a new business opportunity. This enabled the development of clinical and/or management skills.…”

“…This is also reflected within the health care sector, with social entrepreneurial motivations reported to be based around increasing access for local people to health care services (Tillmar, 2009). Social entrepreneurs have also been identified as "team players" and most literature on social and public sector entrepreneurship points to the fact that social entrepreneurial behaviour often encompasses a significant element of teamwork and networking (Baines et al, 2010).…”

From feminism to FemInc.ism: On the uneasy relationship between feminism, entrepreneurship and the Nordic welfare state

“…Tillmar (2009) showed how a midwife, through her private practice, made a publicly-owned labor ward change their practices. She offered preventive medicine in the form of exercise, massage, and yoga, which her customers also came to demand from the labor ward.…”

“…The first phase of the outsourcing of healthcare and care services in Sweden was regulated by the Public Procurement Act, which allowed entrepreneurs to tender bids for different contracts for these services. Owners of small businesses, often women, were met with both formal and informal obstacles (Tillmar 2007(Tillmar , 2009). Formally, the lowest bidder got the contract, which favored large businesses which could employ economies of scale.…”

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“…On the other hand, entrepreneurs can also be entities innovating new forms of cost efficient care, which means in fact those within the cost pressure itself. Entrepreneurial entities are often perceived as either socially or economically motivated (Tillmar, 2009). Care professionalism based entrepreneurship, however, mostly gets labelled as socially motivated non-growth self-employment, or as small business, at the most.…”