Business Commons^™

Business As Ministry In The Us Rural Midwest For The Common Good, Eric Zhong-Ming Ma

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

The rural Midwest region of the United States serves as a significant locus for American history, culture, and faith, in addition to being renowned as the nation’s primary agricultural hub for maize and soybeans production. Nevertheless, the prevailing body of literature pertaining to the integration of business and Christian ministry for the common good predominantly represented the viewpoints of individuals engaged in international missions or those involved in urban settings regarding the underlying purposes of business. Limited knowledge existed regarding the practices and perceptions of business as ministry stakeholders in the rural Midwestern United States concerning the concept of the …

Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurial Orientation: A Case Study Of Evangelicals, Richard Clark

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study is the experiences of eight individual evangelical social entrepreneurs within their congregations. What type of legitimacy do they seek and/or receive for? Do they sense any pressure to conform/motivations to act relative to their congregation’s values/identity? Do these relationships encourage or discourage their entrepreneurial orientation/intensity and in what ways?

The primary research question is “how does embeddedness in an evangelical faith community affect the experiences and expression of social entrepreneurial orientation and intensity for evangelical faith-based social entrepreneurs, if at all?”

The study identifies three types of congregations in terms of their relationship to the …

The Context And Enactment Of Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurship, Bruce R. Borquist

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Faith-based organisations have been at the forefront of efforts to meet human need and effect positive social change for centuries, and they continue to make significant contributions to social welfare. However, a paucity of empirical research into the nature of faith-based social entrepreneurship limits knowledge and theory development and hinders the effectiveness of faith-based initiatives. In response, this thesis explores how a religious worldview intersects with values, gender and institutional logics to influence social entrepreneurial activity. The thesis thereby aims to develop new theoretical insights into the contextual embeddedness of the process of social entrepreneurship.

Qualitative, interpretive research based on …

Justice And Righteousness For Creation, Renita Reed-Thomson

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

A hymn entitled “This Is My Father’s World,” written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock around the year 1901, includes the words: “This Is My Father’s World, O let me ne’er forget…” Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have forgotten that this world belongs to their Heavenly Father. Justice for the poor and the environment has been neglected as Christians pursue economic and material gain, as well as the church’s pursuit of converts over disciples. That the Protestant Evangelical Church may have forgotten the creation may be a surprising point for some given that it has a reputation for caring for the poor …

A Quasi-Experimental Study Of Socio-Economic Effects Of Social Enterprise Vocational And Education Training Programs In Myanmar, Trisha Bailey

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Sustainable economic development is a challenge in bottom of pyramid (BOP) communities, such as those in Myanmar, where people live in subsistence conditions. Contributing factors are the lack of vocational training and education available for BOP community members. The UN and the OECD are rallying the organizations around the world, including social enterprises, to address the challenge of increasing sustainable economic development. Social enterprises are businesses that address social and environmental challenges while creating economic profit. Some social enterprises offer vocational and education training (VET) in the BOP communities in which they operate. The problem addressed by this study is …

Faith-Based Social Entrepreneurship: The Integration Of Faith And Business For Sustainable Social Impact, Christine Beech

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Faith-based nonprofit organizations face myriad challenges in securing a sufficient donation base within a restricted pool of donors. This funding challenge often limits their ability to conduct their mission. To offset this challenge and model self-sufficiency, many faith-based organizations are looking to evolve into hybrid platforms that operate as faith-based social entrepreneurial ventures and manage to a triple bottom line of social good, financial impact, and spiritual mission. Yet even with the best of intentions, successfully merging a for-profit business model into a preexisting nonprofit organization often fails, even before the faith-factor is in play. This study of social entrepreneurship …

Business As Mission And Mission As Business: Case Studies Of Financially Sustainable Christian Mission Ventures With A Focus On Anglican Dioceses In East Africa, Dennis Obura Tongoi

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Anglican dioceses established by The Church Mission Society and other Western-founded Christian denominations in East Africa were envisaged to grow and become self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting. The first two goals (to be self-governing and self-propagating) have more or less been achieved. The third goal (the pursuit of self-support) is at a critical stage, especially considering that resources, in terms of funding and personnel, are in decline. This research sought to document the factors that contribute to, or hinder, the role that lay people (business people in particular) can play in sustaining the ministry and mission of Anglican dioceses. The research …

An Integrative Study Of Doxological Metanarrative, Mission, Motivation And Mechanism, João Mordomo

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation engages in an integrative study of the doxological metanarrative of Scripture in relation to mission, motivation and mechanism, with special attention given to the business as mission (BAM) mechanism in Brazil. Two research techniques were utilized: 1) archival research in order to define and describe both the doxological components (metanarrative, mission and motivation) and the BAM mechanism; and 2) case study method in order to examine the motivations that drive successful Brazilian Christian entrepreneurs to start Kingdom companies.

The researcher identified three key metanarrative frameworks for understanding Scripture and redemptive history: the Nature of God (NOG), the Kingdom …

When Business Is The Mission: A Study Of Faith-Based Social Business In Sub-Saharan Africa, Brian W. Albright

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

There is an extraordinary group of people, motivated by their Christian faith, starting businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa because they believe that business plays a key role in alleviating poverty. These faith-based social business (FSB) leaders face situations similar to those faced by leaders in other academic and practitioner fields including business as mission, social entrepreneurship, international business, and international development, given their pursuit of multiple-bottom lines, cross-cultural engagement in undeveloped nations, and a focus on integration of faith. The complexities of their contexts create opportunities and challenges in which their strategies and operations require further investigation and analysis.

This case …

An Inductive Study On How Business As Mission Entrepreneurs Decide To Start Businesses, Michael J. Bates

Business as Mission Theses and Dissertations

Anecdotal evidence suggests that Businesses as Mission (BAM) entrepreneurs seem to have characteristics of both for-profit and social entrepreneurs. For-profit entrepreneurship literature has transitioned from focusing on who the entrepreneur is, to what they do as a function of their cognitive processes. Social entrepreneurship research areas have trended toward the formation of personality and motives of the socially-minded entrepreneur. Regardless of type, each entrepreneur must recognize opportunity, evaluate it, and then decide to take action or not. There were few peer-reviewed articles in the literature with regard to the study of BAM organizations or the entrepreneurs that start them. Since …