Entrepreneurship: Traits and Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship

This report discusses the traits and characteristics exemplified by Fair Phone in social entrepreneurship, as well as the major boundaries and challenges faced in running a social enterprise.

Running head: REPORT 1
Entrepreneurship
Student details
4/7/2019

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Executive summary
Like other companies of phone, Fair Phone does not require users to upgrade the new model. The major
aim of Fair phone is customer satisfaction. Fair phone uses eco-friendly products and recycled products.
The company exemplifies various traits. In the following parts, various characteristics stated by company
and challenge to run social entrepreneurship is discussed and critically examined.

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Contents
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Analysis of Entrepreneur traits/characteristics.............................................................................................4
Major Boundaries or Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship......................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Fair phone is the modern social venture. It is based in Netherlands that’s functioning to establish
the Smartphone which is created and made with smallest damage to the individuals and globe.
As mentioned at the website of this company, the key objective to produce the Fair phone was to
establish the mobile device that does not have conflict mineral and with good labor condition for
workers alongside supply chain. They have joined conflict-free tin scheme and a solution for
hope Project that verify the conflict-free position of the coltan and tin (tantalum), which goes in
the smart phone (Verena, 2017). In adding to secure recycling practice, they are doing work to
create the long-run relations with dealers to make sure the best and safe working conditions,
something which is followed with the clear price breakdown that makes able the people to
exactly have the knowledge in respect of what the purchase is making support and where the
component of phone comes from. In this report Entrepreneur traits and characteristics
exemplified by fair phone, and key obstacles, issues and challenges involved in running social
entrepreneurship is discussed and critically examined.
Analysis of Entrepreneur traits/characteristics
The entrepreneur is refers to the individual who undertakes the venture to earn some profit and
including the substantial amount of the risks and consequently, the entrepreneurship refers to the
business enterprise undertaken by an entrepreneur. The most understandable instance of
entrepreneurship is a beginning of the new business. Fair phone demonstrated various

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entrepreneur traits and characteristics (Reuter, van Schaik and Ballester, 2018). Following are
the various entrepreneur traits and characteristics exemplified by Fair phone-
1. Ability to take risk- The capacity to take risk is a key and foremost characteristic of the
entrepreneurship. Starting this business includes the proper amount of failure’s risk. For
that reason, the ability and guts to consider the risks are necessary for the Fair phone.
2. Visionary- It is required by every entrepreneur that they should be the visionary. With no
the vision for a future of the venture, they will just be functioning pointlessly without
attaining the success’s point. Fair phone has a vision to render the good experience to the
customers. Particularly, the iPhone is recognized for being deliberately complex to fix. In
this situation, this is the challenge to get repaired the iPhone by the people who are not
official Apple technicians. In the addition of this, it is not possible to remove the back of
iPhone without the tool and risking losing the warranty of phone (Van Eynde and
Bachus, 2016).
This often appears that the company like Apple alters its product deliberately by using
strategies, for an example, removing the headphone jack to make more profits. To offset
this annoying thing, Fair phone targets to create the phone long-lasting. Fair phone makes
the phone that can be repaired easily, even selling spare part so the people may do this
themselves (Dempsey, 2016).
3. Innovation- In the present time, where almost all have been done, innovation is the
precious gift to contain .Fundamentally, the innovation refers producing the new concept
with that one may begin the business and get the considerable amount of profit. The
innovation may be in the form of the products, for an example, making the products that
are not sold by anyone in the marketplace. This may also be in the structure of procedure,

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like conducting the similar work in the more well-organized and cost-effective manner.
Not just like other companies of the Smartphone, the Fair phone has the modular
structure, with major component of the phone coming apart in the section. For an
instance, the screen, which may be replaced by users, removable battery, potentially
upgraded camera and component related to the audio. In the addition of this, the Fair
phone’s spare parts are the user friendly. They are not required the talented and
knowledgeable technicians. It also has low repairing cost. It permits the customer to
improve the component of phone as technical improvement happen and potentially
importantly improve the phone’s life beyond the more conventional smart phone (Akemu
and Whiteman, 2015).
4. Confident and well informed- it is required by entrepreneurs that they should be
confident in respect of the concepts and skills. The confidence also encourages the self-
assurance and self-confidence of the people functioning for them as well as the other
shareholders included in the business. As per this, the decision of Fair phone to cancel
new phone and make improvement to present one, in place of reflecting the user friendly
position of Fair phone and can be considered as decision point (Haucke, 2018).
Major Boundaries or Challenges in Social Entrepreneurship
There are various boundaries, issues and challenges faced by the Fair phone in running the social
entrepreneurship (Andrew, 2015). These biggest three challenges are mentioned as below-
1. Struggle to make place in market- this is the biggest challenge for the fair phone to
make its place in the market. The main purpose of the Fair phone is the system change.

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To get this aim, it is required by a company to develop and become the more well-known
player in this industry of phone. The company is required to make and maintain the good
relationship with suppliers, which is not possible to put extra efforts (Kannengieber,
2016).
2. Production level - the company has chosen to be the venture and to produce the changes
through the business model. For actually scale up the impacts, the company is required to
grow by the market, enhancing the demand for fair electronics. It means that enhancing
accessibility of the Fair phone in more nations. This is the biggest challenge for the
company to manufacture the phone at large scale to fulfill the demand.
3. Limited distribution channel- the company is doing work with various devoted reseller.
Numerous internal procedures were manual. They are required more tolerance from team
as well as partners. It is biggest challenge for the company to make focus on lot of
resources, workers of company and time to improve the distribution channel (Akemu,
Whiteman and Kennedy, 2016).
Conclusion
As per the above analysis it can be concluded that Fair phone is the social enterprise with the
delicate mission in the very competitive markets. Independence is that creates the Fair phone
realistic. This is the part of a core belief to be sovereign from the great player of an old economy
where the practices are that profits drive operation. These differences, and manner of company
doing this, are significant; as it is wanted by the company to do things in different manner. The
dangers in functioning with various capital investors at the point are that the company makes the
unevenness between the mission and the aim of company that is the profit (Svensson, Padin and
Eriksson, 2016).

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References
Akemu, O. and Whiteman, G. (2015) Fairphone: Organising for Sustained Social Impact.
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Akemu, O., Whiteman, G. and Kennedy, S. (2016) Social enterprise emergence from social
movement activism: The Fairphone case. Journal of Management Studies, 53(5), pp.846-877.
Andrew N. (2015) Fairphone Fact Sheet. New York: Springer
Dempsey, P. (2016) The Teardown: Fairphone 2 smartphone. Engineering & Technology, 11(1),
pp.80-81.
Haucke, F.V. (2018) Smartphone-enabled social change: Evidence from the Fairphone
case?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 197, pp. 1719-1730.
Kannengieber, S. (2016) Conceptualizing consumption-critical media practices as political
participation. Politics, Civil Society and Participation: Media and Communications in, p.197.
Reuter, M.A., van Schaik, A. and Ballester, M. (2018) Limits of the circular economy: Fairphone
modular design pushing the limits. Metallurgy–ERZMETALL, 71(2).
Svensson, G., Padin, C. and Eriksson, D. (2016) Glocal business sustainability: Performance
beyond zero!. International Journal of procurement management, 9(1), pp.15-26.
Van Eynde, S. and Bachus, K. (2016) Non-state participation in sustainable materials
management: the case of Fairphone. Oxford: Oxford University Press

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Verena, F. (2017) Smartphone-enabled social change: Evidence from the Fairphone
case?. Journal of cleaner production, 123, pp. 45-56