TEIL.style A business plan for the transformation from an entrepreneurship to a social business

In recent years, a new business type has emerged: the social business. A social business combines the characteristics of conventional businesses and social non-profit organizations. They aim to achieve social goals by striving for economic profit that can support and enable these social goals. One such business is TEIL.style, a small Bernese company whose business model can be described as a clothing library. TEIL.style wants to innovate their current conventional entrepreneurship to a social business.

The aim of this thesis was to develop a business plan for TEIL.style. However, the analysis and comparison of TEIL.style with the two business model canvasses has shown that the gap between current conventional business and future social business is still too big to write a specific business plan. Nevertheless, this thesis and the proposed business plan can serve as a starting point for TEIL.style to see what it would mean for them to be a social business and might be a guideline for other entrepreneurs.

 The thesis builds on existing literature on social business, business model innovation and uses two frameworks to analyze TEIL.style. The first framework is the business model canvas developed by Osterwalder & Pigneur (2011); a tool that helps entrepreneurs develop a business plan. The second framework is the social enterprise model canvas developed by Sparviero (2019), which is an adapted version of the business model canvas specifically for social businesses.

The research questions asked and answered were the following:

-       What does the current business model canvas for TEIL.style look like?

-       How does the social enterprise model canvas for TEIL.style look, especially regarding social value proposition, cost structure and income?

-       What steps does TEIL.style need to undertake to develop into a social business?

The method used in this thesis was a qualitative approach, namely a holistic case study conducted through four semi-structured interviews. The case study has shown that the following steps need to be undertaken by TEIL.style to transform into a social business: finding a clear vision for their social business, deciding on an income structure, reaching out to potential investors, finding a solution for the volunteers, evaluating their strategic options, and deciding on a feasible and possible strategy.

Further research questions that could now be asked and discussed are:

-       Do non-profit organizations wanting to turn into social business face the same or similar challenges as conventional businesses wanting to turn into social businesses?

-       When is the right time for a company to change its business model into a social enterprise? What size does the company need to have? What other characteristics are beneficial?