Innovation and entrepreneurship

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Order Description
?21227 Innovation & Entrepreneurship AUT2016
Assessment Item 1: Individual Report
The Brief
In 2012, The Australian Government provided $10 million in seed funding to Social Enterprise
Finance Australia (SEFA) with a further $10 million being invested by a range of corporate and individual investors, to seed the $20 million SEFA Loan Fund.
SEFA (https://sefa.com.au/) brings together a range of enterprise partners with expertise in social finance, business development, community development, and research and training. These partners include Triodos Bank, Community Sector Banking, Macquarie Group Foundation, NSW Aboriginal Land Council, and Bush Heritage Australia. SEFA offers loan products to social enterprises in tandem with targeted business advice and support to help build their capacity to manage debt and become financially sustainable over time.
The overall aim of the Australian government in supporting SEFA, is to improve access to finance and support for Australia’s social enterprises to help them grow their business, and by doing so, increase the impact of their work in their communities. By supporting SEFA, the Australian Government is also seeking to catalyse the development of the broader social impact investment market in
Australia. The SEFA funds will provide flexible, tailored financial products and support to social enterprises to help them to grow their business and achieve greater social outcomes. The funds do not provide grants to social enterprises.
The new CEO of SEFA is keen to see the fund succeed and provide a return on investment (ROI) for investors (including the government).They now need to select the ‘right’ social enterprises to support to ensure money is not lost and the goals of the fund are achieved. There are several social enterprises in Australia that may have a good chance of prospering, if they had additional support.

The Task Ahead
As a business consultant, acting pro bono, it is your task to provide assistance to SEFA. SEFA are requesting that you provide them with an analysis of three organizations, identifying one for each category (with reasons):
Select an organization that you can ‘RECOMMENDED NOW’ – i.e. based on your analysis, this organization has a sustainable business model, competitive positioning, and is likely to achieve a positive ROI and SROI in its current form.
Select an organization that you would ‘RECOMMEND WITH CHANGES’ – i.e. based on your analysis, this organization needs to make at least three key changes to its business model, or competitive positioning, or value proposition etc. If it makes these changes, it will likely provide a ROI and SROI in the future.
Select an organization that you would ‘REJECT’ – i.e. based on your analysis, this organisation currently has a weak business model, poor competitive position, and will provide a weak (or non-existent) ROI or SROI in its current form.
In making your recommendations to SEFA, it is advisable that you consider issues such as:
?? their business model (in some cases a diagram may assist)
?? an environmental analysis (e.g. life cycle of industry, competitors, role of technology
?????????1
?21227 Innovation & Entrepreneurship AUT2016
andso on)
?? the management and organizational structure and demonstrate they have the
necessary skills available to manage a loan/support from SEDIF (or not)
?? the sustainability of their business model and competitive position – i.e. revenue
streams,
?? ROI, ability to repay interest and/or principal, ability to capture and measure social
impact etc.
In making your recommendations, you may want to refer to other cases, business examples or concepts discussed in class.
This report needs to be succinct, no more than 2000 words (excluding references). You are also a busy consultant, so in analysing the short list, the organisation’s website, the lectures, assigned readings and case studies from class will provide enough data for your initial analysis to the client (i.e. you do not need to contact the organization).
?????????Description of each organization and environment
???????5%
????Analysis of selected organizations
?? Use of appropriate references, diagnostic tools and frameworks
?? Identification of strengths and weakness of models
?? Consideration of alternative models or competitor models
????15%
????Recommendations
?? Building on analysis of model to support recommendations
?? Identification of key issues to resolve e.g. IP, asset
security, marketing, management structure or team
?? Concise, relevant, realistic, practical recommendations
??15%
???Clarity of writing, grammar, spelling, references
???????5%

1. Introduction (issues with social enterprises); summary of recommendations.
2. ‘RECOMMENDED NOW’:
?? Organization
?? Analysis
?? Conclusion/Rationale
3. ‘RECOMMEND WITH CHANGES’ ?? Organization
?? Analysis
?? Recommendations
?? Conclusion/Rationale
4. ‘REJECT’
?? Organization
?? Analysis
?? Conclusion/Rationale
5. Conclusion
?? Common issues across short listed applicants
?? Ways to stimulate/improve the social enterprises sector in Australia
?? Advice to SEFA in selection process/awarding of funds
?????????3

A useful list of 14 social enterprises that you can consider for you final report is for instance here: https://sefa.com.au/borrowers/borrowing-from-us/ (just look at the left tab: each case comes with a detailed case study).

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