Xây dựng bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của các doanh nghiệp xã hội ở Việt Nam - Tóm tắt luận án Tiếng Anh

Nội dung bản trích yếu: Mục đích và đối tượng nghiên cứu của luận án Mục tiêu nghiên cứu của luận án là định hướng các chỉ báo của bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH phù hợp trong bối cảnh ở Việt Nam, và được cụ thể hoá như sau: - Hệ thống và làm sáng rõ những vấn đề lý luận về bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH; - Phân tích thực trạng phát triển DNXH ở Việt Nam và đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH ở Việt Nam; - Đề xuất các chỉ báo của bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH và kiểm chứng thực tiễn ở Việt Nam; - Hướng dẫn ứng dụng bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH ở Việt Nam ở một số lĩnh vực hoạt động doanh nghiệp. Đối tượng nghiên cứu của luận án là DNXH và bộ công cụ đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH ở Việt Nam. Phạm vi nghiên cứu bao gồm nội dung nghiên cứu, không gian và thời gian nghiên cứu. Các phương pháp nghiên cứu đã sử dụng Luận án sử dụng kết hợp cả phương pháp nghiên cứu định tính và nghiên cứu định lượng, cụ thể như sau: - Phương pháp nghiên cứu tại bàn Phương pháp nghiên cứu tại bàn bao gồm việc thu thập dữ liệu nghiên cứu trong và ngoài nước, và dữ liệu từ một số DNXH tiêu biểu ở Việt Nam. - Phương pháp điều tra khảo sát Phương pháp điều tra khảo sát được tiến hành với bảng câu hỏi và thang đo chuẩn đã được điều chỉnh sau khi nghiên cứu sơ bộ, trên quy mô hợp lý với các nhà đầu tư tác động, người nghiên cứu/hoạch định chính sách (Quy mô mẫu hơn 100 tại hai thành phố lớn là Hà Nội và Hồ Chí Minh). - Phương pháp xử lý dữ liệu Phương pháp xử lý dữ liệu là thống kê với phần mềm Microsoft Excel. Các kết quả chính và kết luận Lợi ích của các DNXH được đánh giá trên 4 khía cạnh chính là Phát triển kinh tế (Economy - E), Phát triển xã hội (Society - S), Bảo vệ môi trường (Geography - G) và Phát triển cá nhân (Human - H) của Phát triển bền vững. Khi đánh giá lợi ích kinh tế, các DNXH nên có cách sắp xếp thứ tự từ cao đến thấp như sau: E3 ~ SDG12: Đảm bảo các hình mẫu sản xuất và tiêu dùng bền vững E1 ~ SDG8: Khuyến khích tăng trưởng kinh tế dài hạn, tạo việc làm đầy đủ, năng suất cao và bền vững cho tất cả mọi người E2 ~ SDG9: Xây dựng cơ sở hạ tầng đồng bộ, khuyến khích quá trình công nghiệp hóa toàn diện và bền vững, thúc đẩy đổi mới Khi đánh giá lợi ích xã hội, các DNXH nên có cách sắp xếp thứ tự từ cao xuống thấp như sau: S2 ~ SDG5/6/16: Giảm bất bình đẳng trong xã hội S3 ~ SDG17: Tăng cường mối quan hệ hữu nghị giữa các khu vực S1: Xây dựng các đô thị, cộng đồng dân cư an toàn, đồng bộ và bền vững Khi đánh giá lợi ích môi trường, các DNXH nên có cách sắp xếp thứ tự từ cao xuống thấp như sau: G3 ~ SDG6/ SDG14: Sử dụng bền vững các nguồn tài nguyên nước và biển G1 ~ SDG7/ SDG13: Triển khai các hoạt động để giải quyết vấn đề biến đổi khí hậu và các tác động của nó. G2 ~ SDG15: Bảo vệ và khuyến khích sử dụng bền vững hệ sinh thái trên bề mặt đất Khi đánh giá lợi ích con người, các DNXH nên có cách sắp xếp thứ tự từ cao xuống thấp như sau: H1 ~ SDG1/ SDG2: Làm giảm tỉ lệ đói nghèo H2 ~ SDG3: Đảm bảo cuộc sống lành mạnh, sử dụng nguồn nước đảm bảo sức khỏe H3 ~ SDG4: Đảm bảo giáo dục chất lượng toàn diện, công bằng và thúc đẩy cơ hội học tập cho mọi người Các DNXH hướng tới cân bằng trong việc tạo ra lợi ích tới xã hội và duy trì tài chính bằng cách lồng ghép SDG vào mô hình kinh doanh tạo tác động (impact business model) của doanh nghiệp. Đánh giá lợi ích của DNXH chính là đánh giá những nỗ lực hoạt động của các DNXH góp phần thực hiện SDG, trên bốn tiêu chí là Kinh tế - Xã hội - Môi trường - Con người như bốn mặt của một kim tự tháp mà luận án đặt tên là Kim tự tháp phát triển bền vững. Giáo viên hướng dẫn Nghiên cứu sinh

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

The thesis is completed at: Foreign Trade University

Science instructor: Assoc Prof., Dr Dao Ngoc Tien; Assoc Prof., Phạm Thị Hồng Yến

Reviewer 1:

Reviewer 2:

Reviewer 3:

The research will be protected in front of the council meeting at

INTRODUCTION

1 Research rationale

The model of social enterprise (SE) or impact business (social and environmental impact) is spreading strongly around the world Enterprises are now developing innovative business activities to address social and environmental issues, especially

in the context of increasing natural disasters and epidemics

In Vietnam, activities that use business as a tool to create benefits for the community, especially disadvantaged communities, have been around for a long time Many organizations in Vietnam are identified with full social enterprise characteristics (CIEM, British Council and CSIP,

2012, p.19) Social enterprises that balance between social mission and profit goals have been creating a direct and lasting impact on the surrounding community In the context of the Vietnamese Government's efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, developing the social enterprise sector is developing a more sustainable and inclusive approach to economic growth, through innovation and technology; improving labor productivity, while solving social and environmental problems in the country

Social enterprises in Vietnam are facing many challenges and difficulties to grow, and measuring social impact is the weakest area Only a few enterprises use independent tools or independent social impact measurement tools (National Economics University and UNDP, 2018, p.37) Measurement standards for the success of social enterprises are

not yet available, and impact data is still a challenge for social enterprises to collect and share

With the reality analyzed above, the topic "Building a toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam"

is very urgent and has practical significance in both theory and practice

2 Research objective

The objective of the thesis is to propose the criteria of the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in accordance with the Vietnamese context The toolkit will help social enterprises in particular and impact organizations in general in Vietnam get orientations in impact measurement and management, as well as help stakeholders such as impact investors and the Government have orientations in supporting social enterprises and towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

3 Object and scope of research

The research object of the thesis is social enterprises and the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam Research scope includes research content, research space and time

- Scope of research content

The thesis focuses on orienting the criteria of the toolkit

to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam The thesis mentions the evaluation process but not specifically This will be another research content in the future with training and

consulting programs to improve business capacity The thesis is aimed at impact investors, researchers/policy-makers, and social enterprises in Vietnam The way to select evaluation criteria from the perspective of impact investors, researchers/policy-makers is to contribute to proposing an independent set of tools when the assessment objects (impact investor, researchers/policy makers) are independent of the assessed subjects (social enterprises) First, impact investors are those who seek to maximize social and environmental impact through financial activities They use social or environmental benefits as their primary goal and may accept some financial disadvantage such as interest rates on loans Impact investors sometimes also accept investment into social enterprises with higher risks or towards social and environmental goals that are difficult to combine with potentially profitable activities Government is one group of impact investors Second, impact investors, researchers/policy-makers can also be customers who purchase products and/or services of social enterprises

- Scope of research space and time

The thesis conducted research in Hanoi and HCM These are two big cities, the economic centers of Vietnam gathering most of impact investors, researchers/policy-makers

as well as social enterprises

The thesis collects secondary and primary data The secondary data is used to serve the research, analysis and evaluation process mainly from 2010 to present The primary

data used for analysis in the thesis are collected directly from the subjects surveyed from 2018 to 2020 The thesis provides orientations and recommendations to 2030

- What is the context of Vietnam? What are the criteria

of the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam?

- What are trends of social enterprises and assessment

of future benefits? What orientations and recommendations are given to guide the toolkit for assessing the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam?

- Survey method

The survey method is conducted with a standard questionnaire and scale that has been adjusted after preliminary

research, on a reasonable scale with impact investors, researchers/policy makers

- Data processing method

Data processing method is statistical with Microsoft Excel software

6 Structure of the thesis

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, list of references, appendix, the thesis has four chapters, including Chapter 1: Research overview and theoretical basis for the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises; Chapter 2: Research methods, building a toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam; Chapter 3: The current situation and research findings on the toolkit for assessing the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam; Chapter 4: Orientations, recommendations for the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam

CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH OVERVIEW AND THEORETICAL BASIS ON THE BENEFITS

ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

1.1 Research overview

Social enterprises are a new type of business, characterized by an entrepreneur's approach to providing activities in line with a clear social and/or environmental mission Social enterprises are becoming the center of the global economic system (Borzaga & Defourny 2001; Nicholls

2006, 2009, 2010; Galera & Borzaga 2009; OECD/EU 2013) The complex nature of social enterprises, coupled with their increasing number and influence around the world (Drayton 2002; Bornstein 2004; Harding 2004; Nicholls 2006, 2009; Nicholls & Young 2008; Defourny & Nyssens 2008; OECD 2009; OECD / EU 2013), has made understanding and assessing the benefits of social enterprises an important priority for all stakeholders of social enterprises

Benefit assessment or impact measurement (social and environmental) is not an unfamiliar concept to western countries, especially the UK with a background of more than

50 years of benefit assessment research However, for Vietnam, most businesses are not aware of how to evaluate the benefits

of social enterprises According to the Report "Promoting the development of the social enterprise sector with impact in Vietnam" by Truong Nam Thang et al (2018), up to 86% of the total 49,980 enterprises in the self-measurement research

survey impact without using an existing model Also in this report, up to 46.4% of surveyed enterprises identified themselves as very weak in the field of impact measurement

Recognizing this research gap, the thesis "Building a toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises in Vietnam" will have contributions in both theory and practice

In theory, the thesis systemizes and compares the existing benefit assessment toolkits On the basis considering the context of sustainable development orientation, the thesis investigates the factors affecting the assessment of the benefits

of social enterprises in Vietnam, and builds the criteria of a set

of tools suitable for the purpose of social enterprises case with preliminary practical verification The toolkit proposes the Benefit Creation Index (BCI) – an index that evaluates benefits created on four aspects: economic, social, environmental and human

In practice, the thesis gives orientations, proposes guidelines for toolkits to assess the benefits of social enterprises in particular and other organizations in general The saying of James Harington, an international expert in the field

of organizational management, can be applied to all areas of management "What cannot be measured cannot be understood, cannot be understood if cannot be controlled can be controlled,

if it is not controlled, it cannot be improved”

1.2 Theoretical foundations of social enterprise

1.2.1 The process of forming and developing social

enterprises

The social enterprise model first appeared in London, United Kingdom in 1665, when the Great Plague raged many wealthy families, who were industrial and commercial owners, withdrew from the city leaving a rapid increase in unemployment among the working poor In that context, Thomas Firmin set up a production enterprise and used his personal financial resources to supply raw materials for the factory to create and maintain jobs for 1,700 workers Right from its inception, Thomas Firmin stated that the enterprise did not pursue the goal of profit maximization and that the profits would be transferred to charities

Social enterprises only really thrived to form a widespread movement with the appearance it is today since British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher came to power in

1979 Thatcher advocated narrowing the role of the State and allowing that the State should not directly provide social welfare The state must consider the civil society sector (also known in a narrower sense as the third sector in comparison with the public and private sectors) as a key partner in solving social problems ( CIEM, British Council & CSIP, 2012)

In the past five decades, social enterprises have grown strongly beyond national borders and become a movement with global influence An exact data on the number of social enterprises operating worldwide has not been reported Although the general model of social enterprises has been

widely recognized, when it comes to specific content and criteria for definition and classification, there are many different views, depending on the level of development, specific characteristics economic and social points of each country, even the policy goals of each Government (CIEM, British Council & CSIP, 2012)

1.2.2 Social enterprise concept

Although social enterprises have existed for a long time and are present in many countries; However, up to now, the world has not had a common and standard concept of social enterprise

The concept of social enterprises was first introduced in Vietnam in 2008 by the Center for Community Service Initiatives (CSIP) Along with the development of social enterprises in Vietnam, the concept of social enterprises has been defined in Article 10 of the Enterprise Law 2014 (the National Assembly officially approved it on November 26,

2014 and took effect from July 1) 2015) This is the highest and only legal document issued up to now that has recognized a new economic type of social enterprises Accordingly, social enterprises must meet 3 criteria:

(1) Being an enterprise registered for establishment under the provisions of the Enterprise Law 2014;

(2) Operational objectives are to solve social and environmental problems for the benefit of the community;

(3) Use at least 51% of the total annual profit of the enterprise for reinvestment to realize the social and environmental goals as registered

The concept of social enterprises in Vietnam has combined the understanding of social enterprises in both narrow sense (criteria 1) and broad sense (criteria 2 and criterion 3) In this thesis, a social enterprise is agreed in an

understanding: “Social enterprise is an organization aiming for social and community goals, activities that bring economic, social, environmental and human benefits"

1.3 Theoretical basis for the toolkit to assess the benefits of social enterprises

The concept of benefit is defined in the Cambridge dictionary as “a helpful or good effect, or something intended

to help); and in the Oxford dictionary is “a beneficial influence;

a helpful and useful effect that something has; an advantage that something provides

In the thesis, the concept of benefits is unified in an

understanding as follows: "Benefits are the changes created, the results of the organization's activities The benefit is positive and purposeful.” The benefits of social enterprises are

the results that social enterprises create from their activities for society and the community, the changes that individuals (namely employees or customers or the community) expect to have gained, felt or achieved with the products/services of social enterprises Actual benefits are outputs, outputs, and

perceived benefits are outputs and impacts Or put it briefly, the benefits of Social Enterprises are changes in the lives of employees/customers/communities associated with the business activities of Social Enterprises, these are the stakeholders of the business (stakeholders)

The Logical Model (Resources/Inputs  Activities  Outputs  Objectives  Impact) is a commonly used evaluation framework for evaluating any program or organization “Basically, Logic Modeling is a systematic and intuitive method for presenting and sharing an organization's understanding of the relationship between the resources the organization has to operate its program, the activities the organization plans to achieve and the results or changes the organization hopes to achieve.” (W.K Kellogg Foundation

2004, p.1)

The toolkits to evaluate the operation of enterprises in general and the benefits of social enterprises in particular are presented in chronological order from the past

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Toolkit: A policy

assessment that quantifies all the outcomes that policies bring

to members of society (Boardman, Greenberg, Vining & Weimer, 2010) )

Social Auditing Accounting (SAA) Toolkit: Approach

for reporting corporate activities, which emphasizes the need to identify corporate social behavior, customer validation customers, the stakeholders in society for which businesses are

jointly responsible in their operations, and the development of appropriate reporting techniques and measures (Crowther, 2000)

The Theory of Change (ToC) Toolkit: Explain the

process of change by outlining cause and effect relationships,

or short, medium, and long-term goals (objectives) ) of a change initiative (Brest, 2010)

Social Return on Investment (SROI) Toolkit: Provides

a consistent quantitative approach to understanding and managing the benefits of a project, business, or policy SROI considers stakeholder views of interests and assigns financial values to all interests identified by stakeholders that typically have no market value (Social Value UK, 2009)

Investment Standards and Impact Reporting (IRIS) Toolkit: A set of standardized measures that can be used to

measure and describe the social, environmental and financial performance of organizations and businesses receive impact investment capital (GIIN, 2009)

Lean Social Business Model (SMBC) Toolkit: Visually

present an enterprise's business model, and describe how it creates, delivers, and captures value (Osterwalder, 2010)

SAA and SBMC are more supportive for business assessment purposes SROI and IRIS for impact investors CBA for authorities TOCs collectively support the goals of both the business and its stakeholders; framework And no matter which toolkit is selected for implementation, the