Report for SEED Initiative Research Programme: Scale up and Replication for social and environmental enterprises

This 2008 report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) for the SEED Initiative examines the challenges and processes of scaling up and replicating social and environmental enterprises. It contrasts the 'large scale' ambitions of international development donors with the modest, viability-focused growth goals of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs), suggesting that recognition and reward programs should provide more tailored, long-term support and help create enabling environments rather than expecting entrepreneurs to drive systemic societal transformation alone.

• The report distinguishes between 'replication' and 'scale up': replication (or 'scale out') involves transferring a tested concept or pilot to a different location to repeat success, while scale up involves expanding a tested concept in terms of targets, revenues, or people served.
• A taxonomy of scaling up processes identifies four primary types: quantitative (expanding size, budget, or geography), functional (increasing activity types), political (increasing power and policy influence), and organizational (improving management and financial viability).
• Successful scale-up requires an 'enabling environment' which includes access to financial, technical, and political support, as well as supportive legal and regulatory frameworks. The report notes that creating such an environment is often beyond the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs).
• Interviews with ten recognition and reward programs similar to SEED revealed that while these programs value scalability, there is little evidence of concerted strategies for identifying or reporting on scale-up success, often leaving the onus on the winning enterprise to define and demonstrate its own growth.
• Research into SEED award winners shows a gap between donor expectations and entrepreneur goals: 60% of winners (including those in Nepal, Sierra Leone, Ecuador, Vietnam, Madagascar, and Brazil) viewed 'scale' narrowly as modest growth sufficient to provide livelihoods and modest income diversification, rather than the large-scale transformation sought in development literature.
• Certain SEED winners demonstrated higher growth ambitions, though often dependent on external support: Nigeria's 'Cows to Kilowatts' expanded into six cities with government and UNDP support, while the SRI initiative in Cambodia and Madagascar focused on large-scale export contracts, though the latter faced risks due to the end of USAID funding.
• The report warns that pushing for scale-up can lead to unintended negative consequences, such as over-extending an enterprise's capacity or endangering ecosystems, as seen in Nepal where the push for expansion risked the overharvesting of wild seabuckthorn.
• The report suggests that recognition and reward programs should move from being mere catalysts to proactive agents by offering tailored business planning, supporting feasibility and impact assessments, and fostering peer learning to mitigate the risks of replication.

APA

Creech, H. (2008). Report for SEED Initiative Research Programme: Scale up and Replication for social and environmental enterprises. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_scale_enterprises.pdf

Chicago

Creech, Heather. Report for SEED Initiative Research Programme: Scale up and Replication for social and environmental enterprises. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2008. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_scale_enterprises.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Creech |first1=Heather |title=Report for SEED Initiative Research Programme: Scale up and Replication for social and environmental enterprises |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2008 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_scale_enterprises.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{creech2008report, author = {Creech, Heather}, title = {{Report for SEED Initiative Research Programme: Scale up and Replication for social and environmental enterprises}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2008}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/seed_scale_enterprises.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }