B327 CHAP 2 Entrepreneurship and innovation: a focus on societal impacts Week 2 Arab Open University

This chapter argues the need to assess enterprises’ ability to challenge societal issues by considering their aims and governance.
It is important to acknowledge that there are a variety of governance solutions that can support solving societal challenges, and thus generate positive impacts for communities and specific stakeholders (especially those who are marginalized).
Key factors for understanding governance can be summarized  in four questions:
Who is included in production decisions?
What criterion is used?
What do participants partake in?
what are the desired effects of the activity?
By understanding the answers to these questions, enterprises can anticipate societal impacts.
At community level, the relevance of entrepreneurial activities for societal challenges may be determined by:
The number of enterprises with a local sustainability remit.
The degree of stakeholder participation in production decisions.
The number of users who can access the services produced.