How corporate social consciousness changes business: the Jamie Oliver case

Antonin LEONARD Mark BARRAUD December 2010

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ContentsContents.............................................................2 INTRODUCTION:...................................................4Context:.......................................................................4 Jamie OLIVER................................................................5Jamie Oliver: a committed businessman....................................................7 ...Or a Social Entrepreneur, damn good at doing business?......................7

What is social entrepreneurship?........................10Social Entrepreneurship, a need for definition:.............11 Definition of the terms social and entrepreneur:. . .12Starting with entrepreneurship:............................................................12 How social changes business entrepreneurship:..................................14

Definition of Social Entrepreneurship:..........................16 Boundaries of Social Entrepreneurship:.......................21 Further questioning and areas of research on Social Entrepreneurship:.......................................................22

Jamie Oliver, a Social Entrepreneur?...................24An Entrepreneur.........................................................24The roots/seeds of a food entrepreneur...................................................24 Jamie Oliver a true Entrepreneur.............................................................26

An Entrepreneur with a Social Heart............................35The roots of a Social Entrepreneur ..........................................................35 The Social Entrepreneur taking actions...................................................36 Discussing Jamie Olivers social ventures................................................41 A true Social Entrepreneur.......................................................................44

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The reasons why a more social company model would benefit business: ....................................48The emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): ..................................................................................49 More social consciousness increases business performance:..............................................................50Attract new customers or boost sales:.....................................................50 Risk avoidance:........................................................................................51 Build connections within the community:................................................54 Bolster recruitment and retention of quality employees:.........................55 Better working conditions:.......................................................................56 Anticipate future legislation:....................................................................56 Increase access to capital:.......................................................................56

How can the companys stakeholders make a change and encourage the emergence of this socially responsible corporate model.........................................................58Stakeholder vision....................................................................................58 Governments:..........................................................................................59 Investors role:.........................................................................................60 Employees role:......................................................................................61 Customers:...............................................................................................62 The civil societ:........................................................................................63

Impulse social change: the Social Entrepreneurs role. .63 Remaining obstacles:..................................................64

Conclusion.........................................................67 Bibliography:.....................................................69

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INTRODUCTION:Context:The recent striking economic crisis, coupled to growing environmental concern and increasing development disparities around the world has triggered off a new social consciousness. In the late twentieth century, new social theories and structures such as social entrepreneurship, sustainable development or Corporate Social responsibility experienced an important diffusion amongst media and mainstream opinion. A main idea emerged: that we should create and encourage alternatives to government and traditional social programs for helping the poor and disadvantaged in countries throughout the world. A parallel movement during this period was the growing number of non-government organizations, or NGOs. While NGOs are not a new concept, their recent growth occurred because of a belief that neither government nor the traditional private sector could solve all economic or social problems (BORNSTEIN, 2004). A manifestation of this conviction was a series of conferences and summits held in the 1990's on economic development one of whose outcomes eventually became known as the Millennium Development Goals. In 2000, the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution called The Millennium Declaration, which called for initiatives for a more peaceful, just, and prosperous world. Here are the following goals1 that the UN set itself, with a target year of 2015: 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2. Achieve universal primary education. 3. Promote gender equality and empower women. 4. Reduce child mortality. 5. Improve maternal health. 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. 7. Ensure environmental sustainability. 8. Develop a global partnership for development.1

www.unitednations.org, December, 2005

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Is the social landscape any better today? Have private and business initiatives managed to come to grips with these noble but yet alarming goals? We have decided to study the cases of Social Entrepreneurship and Corporate Social Responsibility by the lens of one amazing businessman and social activist: Jamie Oliver. The present study is organized as followed: First, we define social entrepreneurship and examine what are the differences with more traditional entrepreneurship. In a next step, we draw a portrait of Jamie Oliver and determine the characteristics which help us to coin him as a social entrepreneur. We conclude with a description of a new company model which integrates a strong social consciousness in its way of doing business and interacting with its stakeholders. Our aim is to show how these socially responsible companies can benefit from the belief that the bottom line should be more than profits only and that business is a way of positively transforming society on the long haul.

Jamie OLIVERJamie Oliver is a British cook who became a TV presenter, a successful business man and a Fresh food, teach your children how to cook evangelist. Discovered by a BBC producer, Jamie Oliver became famous with his first TV show the naked chef , released for the first time in 1998. Jamie Oliver is not an old-school chef: his aim is to make good food affordable through easy to prepare, tasty and cheap recipes. With his authentic, outgoing style, he succeeded in giving another perception of the rigid and traditional world of chefs. He is also a well-known activist (well discuss further the relevance of the term) who fights to draw public attention to the changes British, Americans and now Australians need to make in their lifestyles and diet. Do you know Jamie Oliver? Having been working on this thesis for months, we had the opportunity to ask many people from all over the world if they knew about him. We were surprised by the number of people who did. This first impression was confirmed by a look at his influence through Social Media. We live a time in which Social Media are a relevant metric to assess~ 5 ~ PFE 2010

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somebodys popularity and influence. Jamie Oliver has more than 550,000 followers on Twitter, hes ranked among the 350 people more followed on the planet and among the top 50 if you exclude American citizens. His official Facebook webpage has a total of more than 350,000 fans. He is of course the most famous cook in the world, but he is a lot more than that. Before detailing Jamie Olivers amazing career, let us introduce him in 10 events of his life: The Naked chef (his first series) was launched when Oliver was only 23. In 2000, Oliver became the face of UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's through an endorsement deal worth 2 million a year. In 2001, J.O decided to open a training restaurant for young people who were not in full time education or employment, Fifteen. In 2003, at the age of 28, he was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire). He was named most inspiring British political figure of 2005 by Channel 4 news annual viewers poll. His programs have now been broadcasted in over 50 countries including the USA, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Japan and Iceland to name a few. His books are translated in 26 languages and sold at more than 13 million copies. Jamie Oliver was one of the top 100 richest people under 30 in the UK and, at the age of 34, he is now amongst the top 1000 richest people in the UK2 In December 2009 Oliver was awarded the 2010 TED Prize3 for his campaigns to "create change on both the individual and governmental level" in order to "bring attention to the changes Englanders and now Americans need to make in their lifestyles and diet.

2

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/04/19/tv-chef-jamie-oliver-among-britain-s-richest-people115875-22195923/ 3 http://www.tedprize.org/jamie-oliver/ A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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August 2010: After UK and the USA Jamie Olivers Food Revolution has been launched in Australia...

Well describe and discuss further Jamie Olivers both ability to do business and commit for better, fresher food. Yet these ten facts help us to get a glimpse of the phenomenon behind Jamie Oliver.

Jamie Oliver: a committed businessman...There are few examples of such a mixture between a very talented businessman and a committed citizen who fights for a better world (with his skills rather than his money). One may refer to Bill Gates or other successful businessmen generously investing in foundations 4. But there are major differences: Jamie Oliver belongs to another kind of committed businessmen. We pointed out two main differences between Jamie Oliver and other kinds of philanthropic businessmen: 1) Oliver did not wait to be rich to become a social activist. He even took financial risks to make his projects real such as Fifteen. 2) Not only did he invest money, he also put a lot of himself into his projects: fifteen, ministry of food, Jamies food revolution. Oliver perfectly knows how to promote himself and exploit his name as his company flag. In that sense, he may be compared to Richard Branson but, once more, there are major differences. Jamie Oliver built his own brand through his personality while Branson used his charisma to promote the company he had been working for over years. In a sense, Olivers commitment seems to be much more authentic although Bransons TV and commercial apparitions work as well.

...Or a Social Entrepreneur, damn good at doing business?As a matter of fact, Jamie Oliver makes things happen. In 2005, after delivering a 271,000 signature petition to Tony Blair, he got the British government to spend 280 million on improving school lunch in dinner halls5.4

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/06/16/gates-buffett-600-billion-dollar-philanthropychallenge/ 5 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4391695.stm A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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In August 2010, he had obtained more than 615,000 signatures from American citizens since the launch of his Food Revolution. As a result, an improving Nutrition for America's Children Act is now been discussed at the American Senate6. Now what does it mean to be a social entrepreneur? And can Jamie Oliver be coined as one of these appealing people driven by social change and transforming society at a large scale? As we move forward into this thesis and define what it is a social entrepreneur, we will discuss whether Jamie Oliver could and should be called a Social Entrepreneur and if so, what this would imply for the definition of the term social entrepreneur. Clearly, Jamie Oliver does things on the grand scale and wants to change the whole picture. It is not only about improving the School lunch in one peculiar city, it is about changing peoples habits and inventing a new, financially sustainable environment in which children could eat better and fresher food every day. In that sense, rapidly speaking, Jamie Oliver could be called a Social Entrepreneur because hes building a new and repeatable equilibrium. Whats astonishing with Jamie Oliver is his ability to build a genuine business empire while keeping fully committed to the diverse food improvement processes he has been involved in. Whether or not he should be called a Social Entrepreneur, the success of his unstopping commitment leaves no room for discussion. While he seems to have a peculiar ability to make a difference, hes also a talented and highly successful businessman who established himself as a powerful brand. Now aged 34, Jamie Oliver presides over a pretty extensive and lucrative empire that includes a dozen of companies7 from Italian restaurants8 to a creative design agency9, including kitchen products10 and retail food sold in supermarkets and food stores. Jamie Oliver attributes his success to continuous innovation and courage to questioning existing business processes. In an interview to the European Union review for Regional Policy11, he explained that very few companies and organizations are structured in a way that promotes innovation [...]. [Companies] need to either inspire existing staff to be creative or bring in6 7

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/school-food-revolution-still-in-session http://www.jamieoliver.com/jobs/Org-Jamie_Feb-10.pdf 8 http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/ 9 http://www.theplant.co.uk/ 10 http://www.jamieoliver.com/jme/index.html 11 http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/panorama/pdf/mag29/mag29_en.pdf A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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staff that can be creative and shake things up a bit. Be bold and dont be afraid to experiment with new ideas. As we go deeper in the analysis of Jamie Oliver Ltds strategy, well discuss the degree of interdependence between Jamie the brand and Jamie the person. Should it be distinguished from Jamies actions? To what extent business and Social activism help and feed each other..? Has Jamie Oliver invented a new way of doing business? This may lead us to eventually discuss strategic opportunities for companies to move towards Corporate Social Responsibility. Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart are other successful people with personal brands which include a vast array of different companies involved in distinct sectors. Yet is this multiplatform approach to business a guarantee for success? Is it possible to maintain the true nature of a brand with so many and different businesses? In a nutshell, this paper has two main objectives: Focusing on Jamie Olivers figure and social achievements, we would like to provide a humble and hopefully meaningful insight on what it takes and what it means to be a Social Entrepreneur. Exploring J.O.s approach to growing and maintaining a diverse portfolio, we hope to contribute to a strategic thought on innovative, more responsible ways to organize and run businesses.

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What is social entrepreneurship?Since the late 1990s we are witnessing the proliferation of the concept of social entrepreneurship amongst scholars and practitioners of both business and social sectors. Although the phrase is new, the origins of this phenomenon are much older. The concept takes its roots in the individual will to come to grips with social problems. There is something inherently interesting and appealing about social entrepreneurs. But beyond, the phenomenon of popularity and fascination, community members are realizing that existing institutions are struggling to assess major inequalities such as poverty, unemployment, education or housing. On the one hand, major social sector institutions are often viewed as ineffective, inefficient and unresponsive to these problems. On the other hand, the non-profit sector is facing intensifying demands for improved effectiveness and sustainability in light of diminishing funding from traditional sources and increased competition for these scarce resources. As a result, many poverty reduction programs have turned into global charity rather than serving local needs. A lack of community intervention, collaboration and ownership, coupled to inexistent measurement of social value creation can explain this pessimistic landscape. Social entrepreneurship appears to be a credible alternative to traditional welfare institutions and emerges as a new source to drive a lasting, transformational benefit to society. Catford (1998) eloquently summarizes this context, underlying that social entrepreneurship could be a solution: Traditional welfare-state approaches are in decline globally, and in response new ways of creating healthy and sustainable communities are required. This challenges our social, economic and political systems to respond with new, creative and effective environments that support and reward change. From the evidence available, current examples of social entrepreneurship offer exciting new ways of realizing the potential of individuals and communities...into the 21st century. Nevertheless, before being able to explain in which respects Jamie Oliver can be coined as a social entrepreneur it is necessary to define this young and fuzzy concept. To do so we suggest answering the following questions: What do social and entrepreneur mean in the phrase social entrepreneur? In which respect are social entrepreneurs different from business entrepreneurs? What are the boundaries of social entrepreneurship? What are the personal characteristics of this special breed of entrepreneurs?~ 10 ~

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Social Entrepreneurship, a need for definition:Despite manifestations of Social Entrepreneurship as early as the founding of Grameen Bank by Professor Muhammad Yunus in 1976 which aims at eradicating poverty and empowering women in Bangladesh, SE has only recently attracted the interest of researchers (Alvord, Brown & Letts, 2004; Dees & Elias 1998). The direct consequence is the lack of clear boundaries and a debated, non-unanimous definition. Indeed, SE means different things for different people. Many associate it exclusively with not-for-profit organizations starting for-profit or earned income ventures. Others use it to describe anyone who starts a not-for-profit organization (Gregory DEES, the meaning of social entrepreneurship, 1998). SE also suffers from socioeconomic and cultural determinism as its meaning varies from one region to another. Here are examples of the heterogeneity of definitions given by different group of researchers: One of them refers to social entrepreneurship as not-for-profit initiatives in search of alternative funding strategies, or management schemes to create social value (Austin, Stevenson, & Wei-Skiller, 2003; Boschee, 1998). A second group understands it as the socially responsible practice of commercial businesses engaged in cross-sector partnerships (Sagawa & Segal, 2000; Waddock, 1988). And a third group views social entrepreneurship as a means to alleviate social problems and catalyze social transformation (Alvord et al., 2004).

Moreover, confusion around social entrepreneurship is due to the use of other terms to describe similar activities and initiatives, including: social purpose venture; community wealth venture; non-profit enterprise; venture philanthropy; caring capitalism; social enterprise (Cannon, 2000); and civic entrepreneurship (Henton et al., 1997). The concept needs to be defined to enter mainstream conscious without being diminished and influenced by other resources from the social sector and to liberate the great potential associated to this new kind of venture. It is only by doing so that SE will attract new researchers which have the power

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of reaching the business sector and governments, assuring a large-scale promotion and development of the concept.

Definition of the terms social and entrepreneur:Any definition of the term social entrepreneur must start with the word entrepreneurship. The word social simply modifies entrepreneurship (Roger L. MARTIN & Sally OSBERG, 2007, Social Entrepreneurship: The case for definition).

Starting with entrepreneurship:There are two sides to the term entrepreneur, a positive and a negative one. On the positive side, it characterizes a special, innate ability to sense and seize opportunities, combining out-of-the-box thinking with a unique brand of determination to create or bring something new to the world. On the negative side, entrepreneurship is an ex post term as it takes some standing back and a certain laps of time before determining its impact. For instance, somebody who exhibits all the personal characteristics of an entrepreneur but who does not achieve economic success in his venture will not be called an entrepreneur but a business failure. This aspect tends to make the definition more complex and ill-defined as success can be reached immediately or after a few years of activity. The concept of entrepreneurship originates in French economics as early as the 17th and 18th centuries. The word comes from the French entreprendre which qualifies somebody who undertakes. Jean Baptiste SAY first described the entrepreneur as one who shifts economic resources out of an area of lower into an area of higher productivity and greater yield. Entrepreneurs create value. A century later, the Austrian economist Joseph SCHUMPETER described entrepreneurs as the change agents in the economy, driving the creativedestructive process of capitalism. There role, both generative and disruptive is paradoxical: the function of entrepreneurs is to reform or revolutionize the pattern of production. But for the contemporary Peter DRUCKER, entrepreneurs are not necessarily agents of change themselves but sees them as exploiting the opportunities

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that change creates (in technology, social norms, consumer preferences, ). According to DRUCKER, the entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity, a premise identified by Israel KIRZNER, who considers alertness as the entrepreneurs most critical ability. The Harvard Business School theorist, Howard Stevenson added the notion of resourcefulness to DRUCKERs opportunity-oriented definition. After attempting to define what makes entrepreneurship different from other forms of administrative management, he suggested that entrepreneurial management was the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controls. Entrepreneurs do not allow their own initial level of resources limit their options.

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To sum up, Roger L. MARTIN and Sally entrepreneurship describes the combination of: A context in which an opportunity is situated,

MARTIN

consider

that

A set of personal characteristics required to identify and pursue this opportunity, The creation of a particular outcome.

The definition obtained by the complementary ideas of SAY, SCHUMPETER, DRUCKER, and STEVENSON is convenient for us, as it can easily be applied to entrepreneurship in both the business and social sector. More than limiting itself to a type of business venture (many people assume that entrepreneurship is synonym to start-up ventures), this definition describes a mind-set and a kind of behavior that can be manifest anywhere.

How social changes business entrepreneurship:Now we have defined entrepreneurship, let us determine the social element in the definition and what makes SE different from business entrepreneurship. First of all, it is essential to come to grips with the common thoughts polluting the concept of social entrepreneurship. It would be simplistic to follow the mainstream idea that entrepreneurship in the business sector is determined by the pursuit of profit whereas social entrepreneurship is an expression of altruism. For instance, despite a strong sense of moral responsibility and social awareness, social entrepreneurs motives can include much less altruistic reasons such as personal fulfillment. Moreover, business entrepreneurship can also have strong social virtues. As VENKATARAMAN puts it, entrepreneurship is particularly productive from a social welfare perspective when, in the process of pursuing selfish ends, entrepreneurs also enhance social wealth by creating new markets, new industries, new technology, new institutional forms, new jobs, and net increases in real productivity. Finally, the idea that social entrepreneurship is a not-for-profit venture and that for-profit activities are reserved to its business counterpart is flawed. We believe that social entrepreneurship can take both forms and that the choice between these two types of ventures is due to the nature of the mission undertaken, the resources needed and the capacity to capture economic value. Nevertheless, the wealth created isA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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usually just a mean to a social end, only ensuring the structures financial viability. In fact, boundaries between non-profit and for-profit tend to vanish, social entrepreneurship being at the crossroad of the public, private and voluntary sectors (figure 1: Sources of the Social Entrepreneur Sector, LEADBEATER, 1997):

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Figure 1: Sources of the Social Entrepreneur Sector

Therefore, Johanna MAIR and Ignasi MARTI in Social entrepreneurship research: A source of explanation, prediction, and delight (2006), consider that in social entrepreneurship, social wealth creation is the primary objective, while economic value creation, in the form of earned income, is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the initiative and financial self-sufficiency. This emphasis on the social mission is also the main difference between the two forms of entrepreneurship for J.Gregory DEES (2001). He considers that for social entrepreneurs, the mission-related impact becomes the central criterion, not wealth creation. Unfortunately this opens the doors of a major difficulty for SE: how do we measure the creation of social value? Unlike business entrepreneurship which is confronted to market discipline which constantly evaluates its value creation, social entrepreneurship lacks this discipline. This essential evaluation role is played by the ventures stakeholders and especially the people paying the fees or providing the resources with all the risks and bias it implies.

Definition of Social Entrepreneurship:After having described the elements making up social entrepreneurship we must bear in mind that the definition of this original social venture must incorporate the constituting elements of entrepreneurship described earlier by SAY, SCHUMPETER, DRUCKER, and STEVENSON. Social entrepreneurship

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combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline.

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For J. Gregory DEES (2001), social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector, by: Adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value), Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission, Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning, Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand, and Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served This is an idealized definition and presents a major limit in our attempt to demonstrate whether Jamie Oliver is a social entrepreneur, it is highly unfunctional. Indeed these elements can be reached in different ways and to different degrees. Although we can define the following elements in the definition, there will always be some place for subjectiveness and interpretation. Rather than taking this risk we prefer to follow the path opened by Roger L. MARTIN & Sally MARTIN (Social Entrepreneurship: The case for definition, 2007), in which social entrepreneurship is a spinoff of business entrepreneurship, combining its three entrepreneurial components (context, characteristics and outcome) with a social orientated mission. Social entrepreneurship is defined by the combination of the three following elements: identifying a stable but inherently unjust equilibrium that causes the exclusion, marginalization, or suffering of a segment of humanity that lacks the financial means or political clout to achieve any transformative benefit on its own; identifying an opportunity in this unjust equilibrium, developing a social value proposition, and bringing to bear inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude, thereby challenging the stable states hegemony; forging a new, stable equilibrium that releases trapped potential or alleviates the suffering of the targeted group, and through imitation and the creation of a stable ecosystem around the new equilibrium~ 18 ~PFE 2010

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ensuring a better future for the targeted group and even society at large. The authors illustrate their definition with the example of the Noble Price Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and father of microcredit. We find it interesting to develop this case as it will help us to study and evaluate Jamie Olivers achievements. First, the inherently unjust but stable equilibrium he identifies consisted in poor Bangladeshis limited access to the tiniest amounts of credit. This huge population was left aside of the credit market, there only possibility of borrowing money being from local moneylenders at exorbitant interest rates. This situation fostered the countrys endemic poverty and perpetuated this stable but highly unfortunate equilibrium. Then, Yunus confronted the system, proving that the poor were extremely good credit risks by lending 27 dollars from his own pocket to 42 women from a poor village. The women repaid the entire loan. He realized that these women invested in their own capacity for generating income which enabled them to repay the loan but also buy food, educate their children and finally lift themselves up from poverty. This was his social value proposition which was triggered off by his inspiration, creativity, direct action, courage, and fortitude invested in his venture. Finally, he proved his models viability, and over two decades launched a global network of other organizations that replicated or adapted his model to other countries and cultures. This corresponded to the advent of the microcredit industry worldwide: a new equilibrium ensuring a better future to millions of people was born.

Now we have defined social entrepreneurship, an interesting aspect of our work is to identify the qualities of the individuals who drive this social transformation. Although there is not an exhaustive list describing the perfect social entrepreneur, we believe that some common features emanate from this special breed of entrepreneurs. According to Charles LEADBEATER in The rise of the social entrepreneur (1997), successful social entrepreneurs are also: leaders, storytellers, people managers, visionary opportunists and alliance builders: Leadership: social entrepreneurs are good at setting a mission for an organization and mobilizing people around it. In the absence of marketA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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control, the guiding purpose is set by the entrepreneurs sense of mission. This mission has to be coherent and clear enough to command support, but flexible enough to allow growth. Social entrepreneurs have to be good at both mission management and mission setting. Storytelling: social entrepreneurs have to be good at communicating the mission. They communicate their values and motives through stories and parables rather than analytically. This ability to communicate an inspiring vision is essential in order to recruit and inspire staff, partners and volunteers. People management: the main resource of these ventures being the people the knowledge and ideas of staff, helpers and users social entrepreneurs must show strong relational and people management skills. Visionary opportunism: social entrepreneurs are visionary; they communicate their aims in moral terms. They are also realistic, pragmatic and opportunistic. Alliance building: social entrepreneurs are good at networking in order to maximize their resources and assure their survival via networks of support. Their leadership is collaborative in order to bring diverse parties to the table, identify common ground and take joint action. To these qualities we can add strong social ideology: their primary mission is to lead social change by addressing a concrete social problem in their community or more broadly in society. Once more, CATFORD (1998) summarizes these issues nicely in his eloquent discussion of social entrepreneurs. Social entrepreneurs combine street pragmatism with professional skills, visionary insights with pragmatism, an ethical fibre with tactical thrust. They see opportunities where others only see empty buildings, unemployable people and unvalued resources....Radical thinking is what makes social entrepreneurs different from simply good people. They make markets work for people, not the other way around, and gain strength from a wide network of alliances. They can boundary-ride between the various political rhetorics and social paradigms to enthuse all sectors of society. After defining social entrepreneurship and inventorying the main personal characteristics of social entrepreneurs, MARTIN & OSBERG consider that aA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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good way of clarifying the concept is to explain what doesnt fit in the definition.

Boundaries of Social Entrepreneurship:Undefined boundaries appear to be a major risk for the concept of social entrepreneurship. The scope of the word social is so vast that many other social activities, yet highly meritorious, can interfere with SE leaving the term meaningless. These activities simply do not fit in the definition we established. There are two primary forms of socially valuable activity that MARTIN & OSBERG believe need to be distinguished from social entrepreneurship. The first type of social venture is social service provision. Like SE, a courageous and committed individual identifies an unsatisfactory stable equilibrium AIDS orphans in Africa, for example and develops a program to address it for example, a school which ensures that the children are cared of and receive education. The new school will definitely change these childrens life but unless it is designed to achieve large scale or encourages a legion of imitators and replicators, it is not likely to lead to a superior new equilibrium. This is what makes social service provision different from SE. Their impact is constrained and their services remain confined to a local population which will not enable them to forge a new equilibrium. A second class of venture is social activism. In this case, the identification of an unjust equilibrium and several aspects of the actors characteristics inspiration, creativity, courage and fortitude are the same. What differs from SE is the type of action followed by the actor. Social activists, who may or may not create ventures to reach their aims, attempt to create change through indirect action, by influencing others to take action: governments, NGOs, consumers, workers, . Successful activism can result in great progress of existing systems and even result in a new equilibrium but the nature of the action is different. Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Vaclav Havel are social activists and it would only confuse the public opinion to now coin them as Social entrepreneurs. Figure 2: Pure forms of social engagement (MARTIN & OSBERG, 2007)

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Despite the distinction between these three pure forms of social engagement, we must bear in mind that in practice, many social actors use an association of these forms or create hybrid models to advance the changes they seek. Without detailing these hybrid models it is very likely that Muhammad Yunus used social activism to accelerate and amplify the impact of Grameen Bank.

Further questioning and areas of research on Social Entrepreneurship:Defining social entrepreneurship enables us to set the landscape for the development of our work. Meanwhile it would be selfish and non-academic to go on with this paper without mentioning the main issues still needing to be addressed. An important challenge is related to the monitoring and/or evaluation of social entrepreneurship projects. This may be a particularly relevant area for organizations and individuals seeking funding and investment from public sector sources where monitoring and evaluating activities would be a requirement. Unfortunately, many consider it very difficult, if not impossible, to quantify socio-economic, environmental and social effects. As EMERSON pointed out, for many of those active in the social sector, it has been taken as a virtual given that most elements of social value stand beyond measurement and quantification (2003).

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Another issue identified is to develop the adequate environment to support the emergence of social entrepreneurs. Given the radical new approaches that social problem solving demands, social entrepreneurs appear to be a dynamic group with a viable and highly sustainable approach which needs to be supported. Yet because the concept of social entrepreneurship - in its current phrase - is relatively new, there are few institutional mechanisms in place to support this work. Detailed models of good practice are also lacking in the literature, as are guidelines for operationalizing partnerships and/or collaborations between the public, private and non-profit sectors. Which structure should social entrepreneurs implement? With which partners? The following questions lay the emphasis on the need of gathering the public, private and voluntary sectors together.

Through this presentation of the concept of Social Entrepreneurship, we have delimited the boundaries that will help us to comment on Jamie Olivers Actions. In a nutshell, Social entrepreneurship combines the passion of a social mission with an image of business-like discipline. Social Entrepreneurs are neither Social service providers, nor Social Activists because theyre directly acting on their environment, by creating a new and sustainable market equilibrium. Successful social entrepreneurs seem to share some characteristics; they are leaders, storytellers, people managers, visionary opportunists and alliance builders. In the light of this definition, we will now study Jamie Olivers achievements and bring an insight on what it means and what it takes to be a social Entrepreneur.

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Jamie Oliver, a Social Entrepreneur?An EntrepreneurHe knows what hes got, said a friend of his. He has a killer instinct, a warrior instinct. He sees what he wants, and gets it. Hell never give up -hes that type of guy- and thats quite inspirational. Jamie Oliver himself would probably say that it is all down to being in the right place at the right moment, and a lot of luck besides. He might also say that his childhood shaped his entire career. Psychotherapists would probably agree.

The roots/seeds of a food entrepreneurChildhood is often useful to explain the path of a career, scientific literature clearly indicating that vocational development begins during childhood.12 The theory of vocational personalities and work environments asserts the importance of childhood experiences and that "a person's career or development over the life span can be visualized as the long series of person-environment interactions and their outcomes that all people experience as they grow-up" (Holland, 1997). Entrepreneurs seem to be aware of that. As Guilhem Bertholet13 puts it, it is funny to notice that when you interview entrepreneurs, you almost always get back to childhood time so as to explain their innate sense of business. Most of them used to sell event tickets, create stuff, organize travel and so on. Through these early experiences, many developed a strong sense of business affairs, a will for freedom, and most importantly, realized their entrepreneurial abilities.14 Jamie Oliver is not reluctant to talk about his childhood and his early entrepreneurial experiences. He might even say that his childhood shaped his entire career. His parents: Undoubtedly his parentsvision was a source of inspiration for him. An exbank worker, Sally was as good with figures as Trevor was with his staff. Managing a pub of his own was what Jamie Olivers father, Trevor had always wanted. Starting with a rather humble pub, he managed to make The12 13

http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/183870354_2.html French Entrepreneurship consultant 14 http://www.guilhembertholet.com/blog/2010/10/01/ma-toute-premiere-creationdentreprise/A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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cricketers a highly successful place, gaining a reputation for using freshly prepared best quality ingredients as opposed to the ubiquitous frozen scampi and chips and 'boil in the bag' of the 1970s. Jamie Oliver has often said that his father was the one who inspired his strong self-confidence: Dad taught me to believe that anything is possible.15 His childhood: Jamie Oliver was born in the countryside and had limitless horizons to explore. His sense of adventure, of never seeing any limits in the goals he sets himself may well come from that experience.When I was younger I used to dream that I could fly, he once said. I can recall quite clearly that when I was about five, I dreamt of hovering above the sofa. In my vivid imagination I felt I could float wherever I want to go. Anna-Marie, his sister has said they both believed they could take on the world. he had his life mapped out from the beginning and, hes achieved it. She has her own explanation for Jamies self-confidence. Growing up in a pub made us both very confident, she told the Biography Channel. You get exposed to a lot of teasing and criticism that most kids dont come across. School: School was not exactly a place of academic achievement for Jamie Oliver. Although he obtained an Art and Geology GCSE, school was more a confirmation for his innate sense of action. He proclaims on the website of the fifteen foundation : Having not been the brightest banana in the bunch myself, I realized that my biggest weapon in life was determination, enthusiasm, hands-on and actions speak louder than words approach my father taught me and I wanted to get this across to others especially those interested in food.16 The food: Jamies sister Anna-Marie recalls they were unusual among their peers. Children were not eating avocados in the Seventies, she said. Jamies love for tasty food is said to come from there. Hes genuinely excited about feeding people tasty delicious healthy food that makes them happy, said his mentor chef Alice Waters (at Panisse). It thrills me to give a child a beautiful ripe peach and watch them fall in love with it. Im a missionary and my aim is to get good food into peoples mouths. [Jamie] thinks the same way: he

15 16

The Jamie Oliver effect, Gilly Smith http://www.fifteen.net/mission/Pages/default.aspx

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knows how to make things tasty, and he loves children, thats what drives him. Its very simple. Early entrepreneurial experiences: His father believed everyone had to work for their own money and his son was not excluded. As soon as Jamie wanted more than usual toys, he offered him to do some washing in the pubs kitchen. Oliver revealed a taste for business early in his life. Inspired by his father and mother he started to buy sweets at wholesale prices from the cash and carry used by his parents, which he would then resell in school, making 30 pounds a week.

As we can see with the example of Jamie Oliver, childhood is useful to explain what it takes to be an Entrepreneur. There is a never-ending debate on the foundations (nature vs nurture) of Entrepreneurship: are entrepreneurs born this way or can they be made? 17 There is no clear scientific answer to this question and it is easy to bring reasonable arguments for one or the other point of view. Besides, the question involves an evident ideological content. What is definitely true is that education and culture shape identity. Studies suggest that willingness to take risk and trust others are inherited.18 Willingness to take risk is at the heart of the Entrepreneurs psychology and was critical in Jamie Olivers achievements. As he puts it, Dad taught me to believe that anything is possible, it seems that Olivers family background was decisive in building himself as an Entrepreneur.

Jamie Oliver a true EntrepreneurJamie Oliver is more than a celebrity chef with a bankable image, he is at heart an entrepreneur. Over the decade after his first appearance he has displayed determination to maintain as much control over his business activities while at the same time extending the potential of his main company (Jamie Oliver Holdings) to increase its revenues and profits through a series of enterprises. Following the definition developed in the first chapter, we have identified ten qualities Jamie Oliver shares with other Entrepreneurs.17 18

http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/27/can-entrepreneurs-be-made/ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061128140652.htm

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Specialized Knowledge in one field It is easier to start a successful business with a deep knowledge of the market one decides to pursue. Having a specialized knowledge helps to aim at a niche market. Consciously or not, Jamie Oliver developed strong abilities to popularize elitist food and make tasty fresh recipes affordable. Through TV programs, books and restaurants19, he also specialized in Italian food following his own taste for this kind of food. Doing so, he has proved able to build an image of a cook with a specialized knowledge, and especially in one kind of food, which is valuable for customers. He now possesses more than 15 Italian restaurants all over the world.

Self-confidence: Self confidence is a key entrepreneurial skill for success. The maintenance and enhancement of self-esteem has always been identified as a fundamental human impulse. Philosophers, writers, educators, and of course psychologists all have emphasized the crucial role played by self-image in motivation, affect, and social interactions. Self-confidence is concerned with how a person feels about his ability. Therefore, self-confidence is at the heart of the entrepreneurs psychology because it makes him believe he deserves to be successful. A successful entrepreneur believes in his abilities. He is not scared to explore unchartered territories, take risk and make difficult decisions. Jamie Oliver has not always dreamt himself as an Entrepreneur: he became an Entrepreneur, following his instincts and because he had gained celebrity. At the very start of his career, in 1996, Jamie Oliver was working at The River Caf20, a restaurant he had chosen for its new approach of Italian food and philosophy based on respect for food and people. A close friend of Jamie Olivers said it was The River Caf attitude which was the most formative experience of his career. Thats where Jamie did the bulk of his learning. He learnt to make food really accessible. Another reason why the River Caf experience proved instrumental in Jamie Olivers career is because he participated to a documentary filmed on The River Caf, only six months after he had started working there.

19 20

http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/ http://www.rivercafe.co.uk/rc_page.php

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Ruth Rogers, owner of The River Caf who had recruited Jamie remembers the moment when it life changed for him: He could talk to the camera and be himself, and thats a very difficult thing to do. Youre doing two things; youre trying to inform and educate, and you have to be at ease with yourself and the camera and the camera in order to do that and he was there. Months later when the program was finally aired, his colleagues at the restaurant were among the many that were astonished by him. Everybody told him he was amazing, said Ruth Rogers. A prodigiously talented new TV chef was born. This TV apparition offered Jamie many jobs in media, including one for BBC2 which would turn out to be a springboard for his career. One could argue that Jamie Olivers career is a question of luck. If he had not been in the right place at the right moment, he would not have become a TV chef and gained the celebrity that enabled him to take Social actions. That is true, Oliver himself would agree. However his natural self-confidence made a clear difference when this documentary was released. Self-confidence is also linked to perseverance.

Determination and Perseverance: Hell never give up and thats quite inspirational.One of Jamie Olivers friends Among all the characteristics of Entrepreneurs, perseverance is probably the quality every entrepreneur would agree on and it seems quite natural. Creating a company, were it social or not, implies difficulties. Things hardly happen as planned and an Entrepreneur should be ready to persevere when dealing with difficulties. The saying "If at first you don't succeed, try and try again" means that few individuals are able to achieve great things without first overcoming some obstacles. Just like Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs, Jamie Oliver proved able to continuously try new projects which for many seemed to be destined for failure. Jamie Olivers perseverance has something to do with these two brilliant inventors and entrepreneurs. Like Edison, he did not seem to be made for success. Very soon in life, Oliver was diagnosed dyslexic, as a result he did not prove very good at school. Like Jobs, he experienced success early in his life, becoming a TV star at the age of 23. The first Naked Chef (the program that made Oliver famous) was aired in April 1999 and by the end of the summer he was bombarded by press and public looking for a piece of him.A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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With five million viewers watching the BBC2 show Oliver became a big star in 5 weeks only. With his first book, Oliver went straight to the top of the British bestseller list and things stayed that way as the books accompanied the success of the series. The third in the trilogy - Happy days with the Naked chef- became an immediate bestseller and was the official No.1 in the British non-fiction chart in 2001. The Naked Chef was the first British cookery program to be sold to France, Italy and Spain. By 2001 the program was broadcasted on 60 channels, in 34 different countries. Aw will comment on later, after these early successes, Oliver felt it was about time to give a little back and inspire others. Olivers idea was to train a team of unemployed kids from inner London to become cooks in his very first restaurant. The idea was ambitious but not easy and Oliver had to prove perseverant to get the project to an end. The idea had first been offered to the BBC but it was rejected. Channel 4 gave him the opportunity to achieve his project, and, with average weekly audiences of over five million, Jamies Kitchen became one of the channels top two shows of the year in 2002.

Outside-the-box thinking: Innovation is the basis of Entrepreneurship. As an entrepreneur, one is offering something new to the market. An entrepreneurs quality is to be able to think out of the box, take risks and step up to major challenges. That is exactly what Jamie Oliver constantly did since he committed to improving peoples food. Fifteen21 (the restaurant launched after Jamies Kitchen was aired) was a very ambitious idea: opening a restaurant is not an easy job, but opening a restaurant while training a team of unemployed kids is even tougher. Besides, think fresh is one of Jamie Oliver Ltds six values (the company behind Jamie Oliver).22

Being inspirational: Just like political leaders, entrepreneurs need to build a team of followers. There are two types of followers: employees and fans.

21 22

http://www.fifteen.net/Pages/default.aspx http://jamieoliver.me.uk/var/docs/jo_bb_about018.pdf

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To build his company, the entrepreneur needs very committed people who will work very hard (including week-ends) for a lower salary than in a big corporation. In order to achieve that, an entrepreneur needs to get his team motivated from day one to the end. That is why being inspirational is so important. Your early employees need to believe in and follow your vision. They should believe that they are working for something more important than just making money (otherwise it makes no sense to work in a small company). As for fans, they correspond to the early clients that will trust you. People usually are not eager to trust products or services provided from a young company. So it is very important to get people to believe in your vision. The early clients do not buy a product or a service from your company, they buy a why, they buy the answer to why you created this company, they buy your vision. This brings them in a position of partners. That is why an entrepreneur needs to be an Evangelist of his vision. Jamie Oliver is the perfect example of great inspiring individuals. Through his programs (The Naked Chef, Jamies Kitchen, Jamies School Dinners, Jamies Ministry of food), he inspired millions of people to eat better and fresher food. Jamie also perfectly knows how to transmit his vision and use the media to promote it. He is a perfect communicant using both traditional media (TV, books) and Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Twitpic and others). One of Jamie Olivers teachers said one day: I always thought that Jamie was much brighter than his tests and exam results revealed. He had a gift for talking to people with the sort of honest, wide-eyed enthusiasm thats hard to resist. There is no side to him at all.

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Enthusiasm and optimism: I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom. Anatole France Enthusiasm is predominant in the Entrepreneurs success. Enthusiasm is related to all the other qualities, and is probably at their basis. The Entrepreneur is by nature optimistic, otherwise he would not create and try. Furthermore enthusiasm is necessary to inspire others and our self in order to transcend our limitations and make a real difference (it is also much easier to share a vision with a smile, just think of Mandela, Gandhi, Obama). More important maybe, enthusiasm and optimism are necessary to bolster ones determination and perseverance. It is usually because you believe positively that great things happen. Henry Ford said that You can do anything if you have enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is the yeast that makes your hopes rise to the stars. Enthusiasm is the spark in your eye, the swing in your gait, the grip of your hand, the irresistible surge of your will and your energy to execute your ideas. Enthusiasts are fighters, they have fortitude, they have staying qualities. Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress! With it, there is accomplishment. Without it, there are only alibis. As his teacher explains, Jamie Oliver has this sort of honest, wide-eyed enthusiasm [which is] hard to resist and which helped him bring barriers down. This enthusiasm has been his hallmark since the very beginning of his programs. It is also why he managed so well to inspire so many people in the UK, the USA and now in Australia to change their food habits.

Willingness to seize opportunities The willingness to take chances is an essential part of the make-up of an entrepreneur. One could argue that Jamie Oliver did not really take risks as he was already famous (and success was almost guaranteed) when he started his first business, which, by the way was simply a publishing company, producing his own books. But this willingness to take controls at an early stage is, in itself, the proof of an entrepreneurial spirit. After the success of his first book (Something for the weekend), the time came to negotiate on the secondA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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book. Oliver had hired an agent to get a better deal. By the time his fourth book (Happy Days with the Naked Chef) hit the shelves, production company Optemon was no longer part of the royalties deal. On one level, Olivers willingness to drive his business reflects nothing more than an awareness of his own rising stardom. Thanks to his celebrity, he could dictate terms rather than comply with the production companys standard book deal. But it was also an early indicator that as his career developed he would be very much his own man, choosing business partners on his own behalf and in his own best interests. But Jamie Olivers first move into the restaurants came in the surprising form of the Fifteen chain. Why is it surprising? Given the success that Oliver had enjoyed in the UK and around the world at this point, we could have expected him to capitalize on his fame by opening restaurants that would bring hum easy money. But Fifteen was social venture, set up by Jamie Oliver as a way to train disadvantaged young people for a career in catering. As we will discuss further, It was (and it is) run as a commercial venture that has to finance itself but the profits are all reinvested rather than intercepted by Jamie Oliver as dividends. Jamie Oliver has also been creating and funding more than ten different companies, showing his willingness to always innovate and create something new. In addition to the core activities of TV production and book publishing, Jamie Oliver has been opening restaurant chains and quality food shops; he has also designed a range of kitchenware products. But his business empire has expanded into rather more surprising areas. Recently Jamie Oliver has given his name to a video game on a cookery theme and launched a series of videos downloadable from mobile phones. In short he has used his celebrity his personal brand- as a means to kickstart an array of different but interrelated ventures. Strategists would probably question the relevance of such diversity in Jamie Olivers empire. It seems Jamie Oliver has sometimes been investing trusting his feelings and his heart instead of listening to his financial advisers, showing his willingness to seize opportunities. The creation of Fifteen is a perfect example of this wilingness.

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Curiosity Entrepreneurs need to understand how things work; they are constantly driven by innovation. Astonishingly some entrepreneurs share one seemingly weakness: dyslexia. Why is that so? According to experts, dyslexics share certain traits and are generally highly creative individuals. They use the brains ability to alter and create perceptions; and are usually curious about how things work. Dislexia was also shared by Jamie Oliver, which caused him some trouble at school. His curiosity pushed him to always learn new things, which made him so successful. His employers at The River Caf, chefs Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, agreed that this was the first sign that he would make a great chef. He was always asking questions, always, said Gray. The diversity of his business has a lot to do with this curiosity.

Luck This is maybe the most controversial part. Entrepreneurs usually do not believe in luck and firmly believe that success and failure lie within their personal control or influence. Yet they are more prone to acknowledge that, at some point of their venture, they were lucky. Jamie Oliver himself once said that his career is all down to being in the right place at the right time and a lot of luck behind.

Manage a team/Hire talented people: This is a common issue for successful entrepreneurs managing fast-growing businesses. Young businesses are usually shaped by the personality and vision of their founders. It is relatively easy for an entrepreneur to keep a close check on everything when the business is starting. As the business grows, it changes. More staff, more customers, complexity. The business organization has to evolve and it is no longer possible for the founders to run the show unaided. Along his career, Jamie Oliver managed to hire talented people in every field he undertook new things. As a program maker, he has worked closely with Dominique Walker, a commissioning editor at Channel 4 and series producer on Jamies school Dinners : he knows when to delegate to other people. The thing about Jamie is that he spots talent, recognizes what everyone

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elses strengths are and then lets you do what youre good at, she told the Guardian in 2006 before going on to describe the freedom she was allowed to make the program. Jamie didnt come and see the [School Dinners] until it had been signed off by Channel 4. His attitude was you tell me what you need. He understood we needed great TV moments, as program makers.23

Now that we understand better what made Jamie Oliver an Entrepreneur, let us focus on the Social part of his ventures. How did Oliver turn out to be more than a traditional entrepreneur?

23

Brown, Maggie, Whats Jamie cooking now ? The Guardian, May 2006

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An Entrepreneur with a Social HeartWe will distinguish three different Social ventures initiated by Jamie Oliver: Fifteen (2002) A social venture restaurant whose purpose is to inspire disadvantaged young people to believe that they can create great careers for themselves in the restaurant industry.24 Fifteen has four restaurants worldwide: London, Cornwall, Amsterdam and Melbourne.

Jamies school Dinners / Feed me better (2003) A School Food campaign whose mission is "to transform school food and food skills, promote the education of health of children and young people and improve the quality of food in schools."

Food Revolution (2010) A campaign that seeks to educate American people about food and cooking, address the quality of the food served in school lunch halls and inspire food retailers to provide good quality, fresh, local food to their customers. The campaign is funded solely by donations made from the USA. Jamie's Food Revolution combines the ambitions of both Jamie's Ministry of Food and Jamie's School Dinners and exists to tackle the obesity epidemic in America.

The roots of a Social EntrepreneurJamie Oliver usually comments on the beginning of his first social venture, Fifteen, explaining that he wanted to give something back to the industry that had given so much to him. His parents and the education he received are also a good way to explain his will to give to others. Trevor and Sally are the perfect parents, said Gennaro Contaldo, who would become Jamies London dad when he gave him his first job. Theyre very warm and24

http://www.jamieoliver.com/foundation/

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humble. They say This is what we are... This is a bit of bread, lets share it. Jamie is just like them he will share what he has with anyone. He loves people, he loves children and he loves challenge. He is an unbelievable family man.

The Social Entrepreneur taking actionsFifteen It all started with an idea... About seven years ago, when I had just started working at the River Caf, Jamie wrote in Jamies Kitchen I was having a cup of tea with my friend Kirsty. At the time she was working with problem children aggressive and bad-tempered, they werent fitting into their school or home environment very well- and she was explaining to me that the main thing was to inspire and empower them to give them some hands-on responsibility. She said that cooking classes had been going very well with them because they could feel, smell and create things, and above all it was fun. Plus they could eat what theyd made! I realised that my biggest weapon in life was the determination, enthusiasm, hands-on and actions speak louder than words approach my father taught me, and I wanted to get this across to others, especially those interested in food. Having had five really great years, I felt it was about time to give a little back and inspire others. The idea was ambitious. Young people with dysfunctional problems need a lot of time and dedication. And most of the time there is just not enough time to invest in them. Jamies idea was to train a team of unemployed kids from inner London to become chefs in his very first restaurant. He was not looking for slaves as early critics suggested. Fifteen was this was an opportunity to take learning to cook to a new level through the magic of TV (the entire project was broadcasted on channel 4). Furthermore, Jamie Oliver invested his own money in this venture. As he was not allowed to make a loan to fund Fifteen, Jamie Oliver decided to mortgage his house. Since then, he has continued to invest money into his foundation, Jamie Oliver Foundation. In 2007, after a profit fall announcement, a spokesman for the Jamie Oliver holding said the main reason for the profits fall was a decision to funnel 2.5 million of royalties from his bestselling book to his charity restaurant venture Fifteen.2525

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23420179-chef-jamie-takes-a-1m-paycut.doA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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The idea behind Fifteen was to offer hope to young people whose personal problems had prevented them from finding their own way in life. The idea behind Fifteen was not to plan a business venture: he couldnt think of a business idea, said a member of the Fifteen crew, that wouldnt be the way he thought up Fifteen. Its a heart-felt thing he did without a doubt. It was a gut reaction and no business plan. Jamies vision was quite optimistic. He would open a first-class restaurant in a London already full of good restaurants and run it as a charity: when profits would arise, they would be used to finance scholarships and give graduates the opportunity to work with some of the best chefs in Britain, Italy, France, Australia and Japan. Teaching these kids was not an easy task (some had to leave the adventure) and financial issues caused to delay the opening but Fifteen eventually opened, just as planned. When the day of the grand opening came, Fifteen had became the place to be in London (thanks to Jamies fame and the success of Jamies kitchen program,). We were so popular that we had to turn away Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake, said one of the pupils, Elisa Roche. Meanwhile, ordinary families took their seats and congratulated the kitchen. I never shook so many hands. Everyone from the potwashers to the front-of-house staff loved working there. Most of critics reviews were great, like this one from Victor Lewis-Smith of the Guardian From first to last, it was exceptional, he wrote in the Guardian.

Creating a new equilibrium Experiencing a loss in their first years of activity is something that should be expected by cook entrepreneurs. However, the press pointed out that Sweet as Candy, the management company behind Jamie Oliver the brand at that time26, had to bail Fifteen out after losses were becoming unmanageable Accounts published in 2005 showed that the total figure of losses to be set against future tax was 1.23 m. But by the end of 2005 profits were finally made and used to finance the charity, with figures as high as 600,000. The fifteen concept had proven successful, it was now time to get it scalable around the globe with restaurants opening in Amsterdam in 2004, and26

It would become JamieOliverLtd

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Melbourne as well as another in Britain (Cornwall) in 2006. It was a triumph in Social Politics. Jo Bates who works with young offenders in Brighton gives has an interesting explanation for the Fifteen miracle. Its about seeing real results.27Its about young people having something to hold that theyve achieved. I think structure is great for guiding young people once theyve realised that they can gain something from this. For many of them, theyve just never had any experience with structural environments like school, family or youth clubs. They often dont have the mentality. So if you could offer them something with boundaries and outcomes, and high expectations as well, why not? Some of the amazing people Ive ever met have been the kids in the youth justice system very creative, very inspirational young people. Trevor CLAWSON explains in the book The Unauthorized guide of doing business the Jamie Oliver way the link between Fifteen and Jamie Oliver: Bringing all this together requires a huge amount of energy and commitment and, while the driving force behind Fifteen appears to have been a genuine desire to make a difference, the idea would not have got off the ground without Jamie Olivers ability to organize and motivate. For the truth is, ideas are worth very little unless followed up by action. Fifteen wasnt established to make Jamie Oliver rich in fact it was a drain on his resources for some years but the story of how the project was implemented provides a neat illustration of how the entrepreneurial mind works.

Before discussing why Fifteen is a genuine example of Social Entrepreneurship, let us have a view on the social campaigns Jamie Oliver launched after Fifteen to understand why they differ by nature of the Fifteen venture.

Jamies School Dinners The School Dinners program was a second step in Jamie Olivers fight against the junk food industry. Jamies School Dinners was about drawing attention on the standard of food served in school canteens all over Britain, with the believe that improving

27

She was quoted in Gilly Smiths book The Jamie Oliver effect

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the quality of the food served would enhance the lives of pupils, improve behaviour and learning ability. The project was centred on one idea: the unquestioned focus on cutting catering costs had resulted in a lunchtime diet of processed food with little or no nutritional value. At that time, Junk food was a natural dish on the menu of English pupils and almost no opportunity given to them to pick fresh vegetables or fruits. Obesity had been rising in England over years and Jamie was determined to draw public and political attention on this issue. Again through the magic of TV, Jamie Oliver eventually managed to persuade the government to tackle this issue. How did he do so? Trevor Clawson puts it that way: Oliver changed the nature of the debate with a mixture of passionate enthusiasm for good food, the facts and figures necessary to swing the argument in his direction and costed solutions that could be put to ministers. Studiedly apolitical, he emerged as a consummate politician.28 The UK Education Secretary pledged to finance the project and the government ultimately agreed to 280m over three years. Throughout the Jamie School Dinners campaign Jamie Oliver was not simply a campaigner, he was a real player. His role was more the one of an activist than a Social Entrepreneur though and we will discuss this further.

Jamies Food Revolution This Food Revolution is about changing the way we eat. We need to start cooking again, to make sure our children dont grow up on a diet of processed food, at school or at home, and so they wont have to battle obesity and diet-related illnesses when they grow up. Cooking is one of the most important skills a person can have and it has been proven that families who cook together eat better. A small change in your kitchen in could save the life of someone you love. America needs to do something now, before its too late.29 Jamie Oliver The Food Revolution started in 2010 with a show on the American channel ABC. Just like Jamies School Dinners, it is an educational show whose aim is to tackle the obesity epidemic in America. In 2009, Jamie Oliver spent three months with the people of Huntington30 WV, filming the TV series, trying to28 29

The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Jamie Oliver way, 2009 http://www.jamieoliver.com/jfr-beta/pdf/Jamie-Oliver_Platform-for-change.pdf 30 Sadly known as the city with highest obesity rate in the country with the highest obesity rate, the USA.A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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tackle three challenges: replace the processed school food with meals that were cooked from fresh ingredients, show families that cooking at from scratch is better for them, get the whole town cooking again.31 The program has been called Revolution because it turned out to be more than a mere show. A whole community has been generated around the idea, Americans were asked to sign a petition in favour of the movement. More than 620,000 people have signed it so far32, including personalities such as P. Diddy, Eva Longoria, Larry King or Jennifer Aniston. This enabled Jamie Oliver to receive funds from people from all over the states to help financing the movement. Jamie Oliver also won the 2010 TED award after his speech33 which has now been seen by more than 250,000 people so far. The campaign also relies on new Social Media such as Facebook34, Twitter35, Youtube36, Bebo37 or Myspace38. The Food Revolution has been about pressurizing the American government to take actions to tackle the obesity issue. Seven measures have been suggested: Put meals cooked from fresh food at the heart of the school lunch program. Find more money for better food Make radical improvements to school nutrition standards Love your lunch ladies Put professional cooks in charge. Teach every child in America to cook.

Thanks to Michelle Obamas support, some measures have already been taken like the introducing of 6,000 salad bars in U.S. schools in the next three years.3931 32

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jfr-beta/pdf/Jamie-Oliver_Platform-for-change.pdf http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution 33 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY&feature=player_embedded 34 http://www.facebook.com/FoodRevolutionCommunity?ref=ts 35 http://twitter.com/jamie_oliver 36 http://www.youtube.com/jamieoliver 37 http://www.bebo.com/OfficialJamieOliver 38 http://www.myspace.com/jamieoliver 39 http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/food-safety/130399-michelle-obama-inspires-schoolsalad-bar-initiativeA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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Jamie is now launching the same kind of campaign in Australia.40 In the case of the American Revolution, Jamie Oliver has been trying to push government into action and also to set a new connected community of people from different horizons (NGOs, Corporations, Local Government, Cooks, Activists) to tackle the obesity issue. For this reason, his role shares some characteristics of the activist (drawing public attention on a particular issue to force government to take actions) but also others of the Social Entrepreneur (inventing a hopefully sustainable equilibrium).

Discussing Jamie Olivers social venturesFollowing the definition introduced in the first part, we will comment on Jamie Olivers actions, explain why only Fifteen should be tagged as a Social Venture and discuss the impact of all his initiatives.

An Entrepreneur taking on various social roles What is interesting when analyzing Jamie Olivers achievments is that he happened to be famous before undertaking social ventures. His aim was to give something back: all he did was not perfectly planned, at least not as a Social Entrepreneur might do. As we explained in the case of fifteen, he had the idea during a talk with a good friend of his. Of course, Jamie Oliver had a beginning of a plan; of course he hired social business experts41 and food researchers42 to help him through his campaigns and legitimate his fight. But his first aim was to have a positive social impact in general and contribute to make the world a place where people eat better food, in particular. Lets try to step into Jamie Olivers shoes back in 2001 before he launched fifteen. As a friend of his said once, he knows what hes got, so Jamie Oliver was aware of the cards in his hands: great communication skills, great knowledge of the food industry and the TV world, growing celebrity. You40 41

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/jamie-s-ministry-of-food-australia-launc As a trustee of Fifteen, he built an experienced management team. Among the key players was Fifteens director Liam Black, founder of the Furniture Resource Centre, one of Britains pioneering social enterprises. 42 Some of the information he used during the making of Jamies School dinners was drawn from earlier work on school meals carried out by the Soil Association and campaigner Jeanette Oray.A.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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know you have these assets and you want have a positive impact, what would you do? As we said before, every move Jamie Oliver made was not necessarily planned but for sure, everything was under control. As the path of his career proved, Jamie Oliver has always remained close to his comfort zone. He knows what hes got but he also knows what he is not. Back in 2001, before the launch of Fifteen, Jamie Oliver wanted to do something good. He did something like a strategic overview of his assets that push him to take advantage of the magic of TV using his celebrity and knowledge of the catering industry to set up a restaurant aimed at offering a second chance to young people, and he made it. Having acquired an even greater celebrity and the legitimacy of a Social Activist, he could tackle another issue: School meals in UK. With the success of this fight, he then moved to an even bigger country and an even more dramatic issue: the epidemic of obesity in the USA and now in Australia. Our first point is that Jamie Oliver did what he did (social venture, social campaign, and revolution) first and foremost because he had the mean to prove successful in every venture he undertook at the time he undertook them. Back in 2001, if he had started a revolution in the USA, he would certainly have failed. Our second point is that Jamie Oliver, strategically speaking, took alternatively the role of a Social Entrepreneur, social activist and campaigner with a strong sense of which one could make the greater impact. Being a TV star with good intentions, he has taken advantage of the magic of TV to undertake social actions. He might have wondered the best way to use his fame for a good purpose. Back in 2001, being still very young and with no legitimacy, he could not undertake a public campaign or if he could, odds are he would have failed. At that time he wanted to prove the catering industry he could set up a restaurant with high standard being focused on a social purpose at the same time. He needed to prove the industry he was a cook and a manager on his own before taking the form of the activist, what he did after that.

The difference between Fifteen and the other campaigns As explained in the first part, a social Entrepreneur is not an activist because he is looking to create a new, sustainable equilibrium abiding by the rules of capitalism. Fifteen can be tagged as a social venture because it generatesA.LEONARD M.BARRAUD

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income and pays wages whereas Jamies School Dinners and Jamies Food Revolution rely on donations and the work of volunteers. As the names of these initiatives illustrate, Fifteen is a venture in its own right whereas Jamies School Dinners and JamieFood Revolution mainly relied on Jamies involvement. Counting less on Jamie was and remains a big challenge for Fifteen. As Fifteens 2009 Report acknowledged: As Fifteen became stronger, [Jamie] moved from hands-on operational involvement to a more strategic role as a board member of the foundation. Penny Newman, formerly of The Body Shop and Fairtrade coffee company Caffdirect, has been Fifteens chief executive since 2008. Talking to The Guardian in 2009, she spoke of her plans to step up the scope of Fifteens training operations: The nucleus of my vision for Fifteen is that we can become a training hub for the whole hotel industry, offering young people skills in every aspect of the restaurant, such as sourcing and procurement or front-of-house. So you dont need to want to become a chef in order to come through our program.43 Newman admitted she was facing challenges: among those challenges, raising revenues and profits and rejuvenating the Fifteen brand were the highest. She felt that people may not even be aware that the Social side -the apprenticeship- still existed. As Trevor Clawson puts it the continuing association between Oliver and the venture he created represents something of a double-edged sword. On the plus side is the indisputable fact that without his energy and enthusiasm (and his financial backing) there would be no Fifteen. On the other hand, with Oliver no longer around, the restaurant business must now establish itself as an attractive destination in its own right.44

Now we have discussed the forms of Jamie Olivers social involvement, lets comment on the qualities of a great Social Entrepreneur.

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Kelly, Anne, The numbers game, The Guardian, March 4 2009 The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Jamie Oliver way, 2009

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A true Social EntrepreneurAccording to Charles LEADBEATER in The rise of the social entrepreneur (1997), successful social entrepreneurs are also: leaders, storytellers, people managers, visionary opportunists and alliance builders. We explained in the first part what these qualities mean to M. LEADBEATER. It seems to us interesting to reuse these qualities to justify that, according to us, Jamie Oliver should be considered as a Social Entrepreneur.

Leadership: Social entrepreneurs are good at setting a mission for an organization and mobilizing people around it. The mission statement of Jamie Oliver Ltd and Jamie Oliver Foundation leaves no room for ambiguity. Jamie Oliver and his companies aim to help as many people as possible eat better food and live a better life.45 This statement is a way to give coherence to the company message but also a commitment which embraces all activities from TV programmes through recipe books to branded kitchenware. Secondary goals are also very clear. According to the official guide to his business activities, Olivers companies operate according to three guiding principles: creativity, sustainability, big social heart. Oliver wants his companies to demonstrate big social heart whenever its possible. Even though the expression big social heart remains quite vague, it definitely shows Olivers commitment towards social improvement, inside or outside the company.

Storytelling: Social entrepreneurs have to be good at communicating the mission. They communicate their values and motives through stories and parables rather than analytically which encourages other staff to think imaginatively. Communication was at the heart of every social initiative Jamie undertook, which is not surprising for a TV program maker. Jamie Oliver has taken advantage of both traditional media (TV programs, books) and new, social media. His website is real platform introducing both his companies and foundation, where people can post a recipe comment on his actions, or even45

Olivers primer on his organization http://jamieoliver.me.uk/var/docs/jo_bb_about018.pdf

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find a date46. Jamie Oliver is famous for directly expressing to his fans through videos. He posts one video per week on Youtube, where he has a dedicated channel47 (more than 3,500,000 views since the launch in 2006).

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http://www.jamieoliver.com/dating http://www.youtube.com/jamieoliver

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People management: The main resource of these ventures being the people the knowledge and ideas of staff, helpers and users social entrepreneurs must show strong relational and people management skills. As Trevor CLAWSON puts it, Jamie Olivers approach to recruitment mirrors his own work ethic and commitment. He likes to surround himself with talented and inspiring people who do a good job and are ready to try new things.48 Im not interested in people getting pissed on a Sunday night and coming to me on Monday when Im paying their wage Jamie Oliver told the Guardian in 2005. If you want doors to open, then Ill open them for you, buy youve gotta be consistent, every day, day in, day out.

Visionary opportunism: Social entrepreneurs are visionary; they communicate their aims in moral terms. They are also realistic, pragmatic and opportunistic. How Jamie Oliver took advantage of the magic of TV to draw attention on social issues like the obesity epidemic in the USA is a good way to illustrate his opportunism. He has been very criticized for it but has always proved more focused on the social impact than on the audience impact.

Alliance building: Social entrepreneurs are good at networking in order to maximize their resources and assure their survival via networks of support. Their leadership is collaborative in order to bring diverse parties to the table, identify common ground and take joint action. Throughout all his fights, Jamie Oliver was careful to welcome any government investment and help while continuing to push for more. The Food Revolution in the USA was the result of an alliance with Michelle Obama, who is also known for her fight against the obesity issue.

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The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Jamie Oliver way, 2009

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To conclude this part and before starting a discussion on how to integrate social consciousness into the corporate world, it is useful to remind that the social impact is truly at the heart of both Jamie Olivers foundation and corporate empire. What is interesting in Jamie Olivers case is that his social Involvement and the brands image feed each other: it is because Jamie Oliver was famous that he could undertake such social initiatives. On the counterpart the benefits of social involvement for the brand were immeasurable. The social campaigns he undertook opened the door to new food programs that focused on hot topics rather than recipes while still attracting mass audience. Who knows how long Oliver would have remained a TV star otherwise? Like for any other famous figure, the public could have got bored. Instead, Jamie Oliver continues to develop his career, developing an image which combines altruism, campaigning zeal and self-interest.

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The reasons why a more social company model would benefit business:After discussing Jamie Olivers social achievements we can ask ourselves how to promote these values and skills across the business world in order to integrate social consciousness in every company. Unfortunately a lot of business analysts and businessmen still expose a sceptical view of corporate benevolence. A couple of years ago, two broadly sold newspapers gave a lot of voice to these positions. In The Miami Herald, Henry MILLER wrote an article entitled: Businesses do not have social responsibilities, only people do, whilst The Economist made a harsh criticism about companies financially contributing to the 2004 tsunami relief effort as they were spending other peoples money. Now this position towards social consciousness in business is far from being new. In the 1970s, Michael FRIEDMAN then declared: There is one and only social responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities