SOS Group: Scaling a Social Enterprise Conglomerate

By: Julie Battilana and Vincent Dessain and Jerome Lenhardt

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Synopsis: "Jean-Marc Borello, founder and chairman of SOS Group, the largest social enterprise group in France, was preparing to meet with the rest of the executive board to discuss strategy. He recalled all the work done since the inception of SOS Group in 1984, when the organization focused on helping drug users with AIDS cope with the disease. Over the years, SOS Group had expanded its activities across five different sectors: health, employment, solidarity, youth, and seniors. In doing so, the group had grown substantially, acquiring over 100 organizations, 95% of which were not-for-profit, and by the end of 2015, reported revenuesa of 699 million euros (hereafter €), employed 13,000 people, and had served over 1.5 million beneficiaries since inception, according to SOS Group’s estimations (see Exhibit 1 for SOS Group main indicators from 2008 to 2015).b As SOS Group grew and diversified, Borello felt, “The group had successfully maintained its core set of values and principles: constant innovation to meet new needs, constant re-assessment of organizational processes, nimbleness, and social impact as the overarching goal of the organization.”