The first SocialBar Event Vienna #1 was held on Jannuary 20th 2009 in the 7th discrict of Austria’s capital. Peter Jedlicka and Valerie Hackl, the two initiators, mobilized 30 people from different organizations, like NGO managers, social workers and company founders. One of the five presentations was about “Effectuation – Venturing beyond Business Plans” according to Saras Sarasvathy’s research work. Other topics was about social entrepreneurship, social internet projects …
Objective of the SocialBar events is to connect web experts and civil society stakeholders. The German invented event format is a networking platform to exchange experiences and knowledge which should enable new projects between social organizations, it-experts and companies. A really good playing field for the idea of Effectuation!
Marcus Ambrosch with "Effectuation - Venturing beyond Business Plans" in Action.
I presented and discussed the means-to-end-approach of expert entrepreneurs with the audience and exemplified the difference between risk and uncertainty in decision-making, one of the main elements of the theory, as well as the 5 principles of Effectuation. The presentation can be found on Slideshare.
During the following get-together it was clear, Effectuation produces interest and response. The focus of the questions was about the five principles and in one-to-one talks there was a clear evidence that Effectuation has a practical impact in the work of the non-profit sector.
The connection between social entrepreneurship and the effectual principles seems to be immanent and could be a good topic for further research works and real world consulting. Does social entrepreneurs naturally act effectual?
But there was also some surprises, e.g. how afraid some NGO/ NPO people are, “if you discuss the possibilities of social entrepreneurship in Austria with them”. They are addicted to (government) aids and don’t see the potential of a more entrepreneurial spirit in the social sector – for some of them the ground floor is the limit and not the sky.
By the way, Christian Lendl has posted some pictures from this first meeting on Flickr . And you can find also an entry on effectuation.at in German.
If you are interested in the Theory of Effectuation don’t hesitate to contact me!
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