Page 31 - Sustainability and entrepreneurship for CSO's and CSO networks Cambodia 1 November 2018

Aware and autonomous
Entrepreneurs seem to have little interest in how things should be done according to others. As Kennedy puts it: "Entrepreneurship means, that you create your own rules. You feel free to ignore or violate or, at the very least, challenge and test all of your industry established norms” (Kennedy, p.25, 2011). Dees describes entrepreneurs as change-makers, people who constantly look at how things can be done differently, or better. (Dees, 1998). Another feature that characterises entrepreneurs is a strong degree of self-consciousness. Entrepreneurs know what they want to achieve and what sacrifices they have to make (in time, money and resources). Furthermore, they usually know what they are good at and not good at, what they can and cannot do and they are especially confident in their abilities. Entrepreneurs know how to sell, since they are in love with their own products. They would be happy to spend their money on the product if they were customers.
Market orientation
Entrepreneurs have a strong external orientation. Entrepreneurs are focused on the customers’ and stakeholders’ potential needs. They put an effort in market research. They want to be as specific as possible about what the customers or stakeholders needs are. They build lasting relationships. As Drucker says: "entrepreneurs consider involving and retaining stakeholders as their primary task" (Swalm, p.15, 2011). Entrepreneurial non-profit organisations assess their stakeholders on a regular basis through interviews, questionnaires, assessments, client panels, social media, etc. See next chapter for more marketing.
Earned income
Generating earned income is an important characteristic of entrepreneurship. Organisations that sell services or products are externally oriented. Earning income creates a mechanism through which market feedback is automatically generated. Customers will complain when they are not satisfied, and spend their money elsewhere (Black, Nicholls, 2004). CSOs working with donor, charity or government funding have another focus since these financial sources are not paid by the primary beneficiaries of their services. CSOs tend to focus on the needs and requirements of their donors, thus risking to create an inside orientation.
Case - ONCE, RNIB
Among organisations for the blind, ONCE (Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles in Spain) and RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People in UK) can be seen as external oriented, focusing on different groups in society: ONCE, being a lottery seller, values its image and reputation in society and permanently assesses its public relations. ONCE owns a lottery, hotels, laundries, travel agencies and shops for assistive devices and generates its income mainly through business. RNIB has a good mixture of income via charity, government, projects and business (assistive devices, consultancy) and highly values its reputation among a great variety of stakeholders.
Characteristics of both organisations, ONCE and RNIB, are similar to the definition of entrepreneurs: they maintain an intensive external orientation and serve a great variety of stakeholders one way or another connected to blindness
For information visit their websites:
ONCE: http://www.once.es/new/otras-webs/english RNIB: http://www.rnib.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx
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