Content uploaded by Carmen Marcuello
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Carmen Marcuello on Feb 08, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
Teresa Torres-Coronas
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain
Maria-Arantzazu Vidal-Blasco
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Spain
Social E-Enterprise:
Value Creation through ICT
Social e-enterprise: value creation through ICT / Teresa Torres-Coronas and Maria-Arantzazu Vidal-Blasco, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “This book provides research on the understanding of ICT in the social enterprise field as it emerges as a major
component of both business models and developed economy”--Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-4666-2667-6 (hbk.) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-2698-0 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4666-2729-1 (print & perpetual
access) 1. Social entrepreneurship. 2. Social responsibility of business. 3. Nonprofit organizations--Information technol-
ogy. 4. Information technology--Social aspects. I. Torres-Coronas, Teresa, 1966- II. Vidal-Blasco, Maria-Arantzazu, 1970-
HD60.S5846 2013
658.4’038--dc23
2012029181
British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book is available from the British Library.
All work contributed to this book is new, previously-unpublished material. The views expressed in this book are those of the
authors, but not necessarily of the publisher.
Managing Director: Lindsay Johnston
Editorial Director: Joel Gamon
Book Production Manager: Jennifer Yoder
Publishing Systems Analyst: Adrienne Freeland
Development Editor: Myla Merkel
Assistant Acquisitions Editor: Kayla Wolfe
Typesetter: Henry Ulrich
Cover Design: Nick Newcomer
Published in the United States of America by
Information Science Reference (an imprint of IGI Global)
701 E. Chocolate Avenue
Hershey PA 17033
Tel: 717-533-8845
Fax: 717-533-8661
E-mail: cust@igi-global.com
Web site: http://www.igi-global.com
Copyright © 2013 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or distributed in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without written permission from the publisher.
Product or company names used in this set are for identification purposes only. Inclusion of the names of the products or
companies does not indicate a claim of ownership by IGI Global of the trademark or registered trademark.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
221
Copyright © 2013, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Chapter 13
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2667-6.ch013
INTRODUCTION
ICT are an essential tool for the development
of Social Enterprises. An analysis of the experi-
ences is needed in order to examine how these
organizations use them in the business reality,
and what possibilities ICT have in order to spread
the activities of these organizations. This chapter
presents the experience of the company Innova-
tion in Information and Documentation Systems
Ltd. (ANOBIUM), a Social Enterprise that uses
the legal form of Special Employment Centre,
Millán Díaz-Foncea
Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
Carmen Marcuello
Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
ANOBIUM, SL:
The Use of the ICT as Niche of
Employment and as Tool for
Developing the Social Market
ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the experience of the company Innovation in Information and Documentation
Systems Ltd. (ANOBIUM). It is a nonprot Special Employment Centre focused on the social integra-
tion through employment of physical, sensory, intellectual, and mentally disabled persons. Its activity
is based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), offering services such as the digitiza-
tion, the destruction or the custody of documents, the dynamization of website and website positioning
in search engines, as well as the consulting in both elds the documental archives, and the production
and the spreading of analyses in specic elds as CSR and business policies for work integration. The
ANOBIUM case shows that ICT can be used as a niche of employment in order to develop the activity
of Social Enterprises, and that ICT incorporates multiple benets that can be used to achieve the so-
cial objective pursued by Social Enterprises. Also, ANOBIUM uses ICT to increase the impact and the
spreading of the activities of other Social Enterprises.
222
ANOBIUM, SL
which employs people with disabilities, and that
is dedicated to the ICT field. The objective of the
chapter is to show a real implementation of the
Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) from the Social Enterprise and their benefits.
Data for elaborating the case study come from
several sources:
1. A semi-structured interview to the
ANOBIUM’s general manager
2. The financial statements contained in the
Spanish Official Register of Enterprises
3. The review of both public documents avail-
able on the ANOBIUM website and private
documents (as the ANOBIUM memory of
activities of 2010), both provided by the
firm. With all these, we want to convey an
overall picture of the organization as well
as the most relevant aspects related to the
theme of the chapter.
The rest of the chapter is structured as follows:
Next, we present the general context of the Special
Employment Centers as Social Enterprises; in
Section 3, we explain briefly the methodology of
study, and Section 4 and 5 analyze the ANOBIUM
business model and its relation to ICT, deepening
the one hand, in specific cases that show how ICT
are useful in achieving their social objectives,
and secondly, in spreading the activity of other
social organizations. Finally, Section 6 concludes
the chapter.
Special Employment
Centers in Spain
The main characteristic of Special Employment
Centers (SEC) in Spain is that their creation as
social enterprises has an objective to satisfy the
needs of people with disabilities through the
obtaining of reserved areas of employment. The
goals of Special Employment Centers (SEC) are
specified in the article 42 of the Law 13/2982,
of April 7, of the Social Integration of Disabled
people (LISMI in Spanish capitals): “they ex-
ecute a productive work, participating regularly
in market operations and having as objective the
ensuring both the wage-paid employment and
the provision of personal and social services re-
quired by their disabled workers. Also, SEC are
a means of integration of the highest number of
disabled people to the normalized regime of labor
market”. Personal and social services required by
their disabled workers are mentioned in the law
as “the rehabilitation, therapeutic services, the
social integration, cultural and sport services, etc.”
Other of the core organizational characteristic
of these entities is that the formation of the work-
force of the SCE has to be 70% of disable people
at least. So, the ultimate purpose of SEC is always
the creation of reserved areas of employment for
disabled people, bearing in mind that the process
should result with the work integration in produc-
tion structures of normalized enterprises.
From different experiences of Social Enterpris-
es, the academic literature has identified various
social enterprises’ models coming from both the
European tradition and the Anglo-Saxon tradition
(Fayolle & Matlay, 2010; Hulgard, 2010; Kerlin,
2006; Quintao, 2007). The case of SEC in Spain
can be related to the European tradition, follow-
ing to Spear and Bidet (2005). According to these
authors, social enterprises are those focused on
the social and labor integration, created by groups
of citizen or nonprofit organizations in order to
provide temporary/permanent employment to
certain population groups at risk of exclusion,
and whose activities are related to activities in
the production and commercial fields adapted
to the capacities of the target population group.
SEC, especially those non-for-profit, are social
economy’s entities which combine 1) the economic
viability and their participation in the market with
2) their commitment to social groups with less
opportunities in the labor market, following the
structure and organizational rules of the ordinary
enterprises (CEPES, 2011). Advancing more on
223
ANOBIUM, SL
the characteristics of these organizations, SEC
have three main purposes:
• First, to ensure wage-paid employment to
workers with physical, sensory, intellec-
tual and mental disabilities, ofcially rec-
ognized in a grade equal to or greater than
33%. The percentage of this type of worker
over the total workforce of the enterprise
will never be less than 70% (the remaining
30% corresponds mainly to employees of
the support staff related to work integration
tasks).
• Second, SEC must provide personal and
social services to disable workers. These
services are related to the rehabilitation,
therapeutic services, the social integration,
cultural and sport services provided indi-
vidually, in order to achieve both a greater
personal develop and a better adaptation of
social relationship.
• Finally, it aims to facilitate the integration
of workers with disabilities into the regular
labor market, either through direct integra-
tion of the disabled person in the rms as
a normalized employee, either through the
integration into a protected market formed
by the SEC, whose services are hired by
ordinary companies.1
SEC compete in the market like any other
company and have become a key source of em-
ployment for people with disabilities in Spain
(CEPES, 2011). In 2010, the total number of
SCEs was 1,871 centers, with a total employment
of 62,709 people, of which 59,185 were disabled
people (Figure 1).
According FEACEM (SEC Spanish Federa-
tion), their most common economic activities are
cleaning, telemarketing, industrial handling, data
processing, textile, printing, gardening ... as well
as the hospital waste management, the consulting
and business management, the development of
project of accessibility, the technological develop-
ment, the insurance brokerage, and logistics
services. In this sense, ANOBIUM is an innova-
tion among these organizations, since engage in
the technology sector of Information and Com-
munication (see situation of ICT sector in the
section of definitions).
Following the CEPES (2011) report, the
management of these organizations is supported
by high qualified working teams and base on the
technology in order to overcome the difficulties
arising from disability and to ensure the competi-
tiveness in the market. In the case of ANOBIUM,
this technology has served as a niche of employ-
ment to develop the activity of work integration.
Methodology
As previously stated, the objective of this chapter
is to present a concrete experience of the role of
ICT in social enterprises through a Special Em-
ployment Center. This goal is achieved with the
analysis of ANOBIUM regarding the following
questions: 1) the governance structure; 2) the
business model, regarding the services offered in
the market for goods and services; 3) the model
of the process of work integration in the orga-
nization of people with disabilities; and 4) the
role of ANOBIUM as supporter of other Social
Enterprises and social organizations.
The analysis of the ANOBIUM experience is
performed from the content analysis of public and
private documents of the company: the financial
statements contained in the Spanish Official
Register of Enterprises, the review of existing
documents in the ANOBIUM website and of the
ANOBIUM’s memory of activities in 2010, and
other primary documents. This analysis is com-
pleted with a semi-structured interview conducted
in the ANOBIUM facilities to the general manager
of this SEC in December 2011 (see interview
guide in Annexes).
224
ANOBIUM, SL
Description of ANOBIUM
ANOBIUM is part of a holding of Social En-
terprises promoted by the Picarral Foundation,
together with the Integration and Employment
Foundation,2 in order to satisfy the needs for the
socio-labor integration of people with more diffi-
culties (especially young people and other persons
with borderline intellectual abilities or mental
disabilities) through the development of different
industrial and service activities. This socio-labor
integration is done through various job-protected
mechanism (several social enterprises) that comes
from the first business experience promoted by
Picarral Foundation, named MAPISER, from
which other four business activities have emerged:
Division of Industrial Handling and Division
of Public Highway and Graffiti (done inside of
the first firm created: MAPISER); Division of
manufacturing of wooden packing (in the firm
EMFATEC); Division of Logistics and Distribu-
tion (in MTI); Division of Information Services
and Documentation (in ANOBIUM); and Division
of Packaging (in ARAPACK).
ANOBIUM was born officially on May 30,
2007, although its development has had several
stages (Figure 2), becoming recently the flagship
of the group of firms promoted by the Picarral
Foundation (Diaz-Foncea & Marcuello, 2011).
The seed of ANOBIUM was born in 2002:
When the Government of Aragon [the Spanish
region in which this SEC is located] contacted
the Picarral Foundation to know if we could col-
laborate on a project in the General Department
for Children [about the consulting and the imple-
Figure 1. Geographical distribution of special employment centers, 2009-2010 (Source: SEC Spanish
Federation)
225
ANOBIUM, SL
mentation of information systems], ANOBIUM
did not exist yet. [...] As we saw that it [the ser-
vices of consultancy and information system] was
a success, we decided in 2007 to split the section
of the data and information management from
MAPISER and to create a Special Employment
Center in order to generate specific projects re-
lated to the ICT. And so, ANOBIUM was born.
This agreement is still in force and is going
to made by a team of 10 people whose primary
function is the file management, the keeping of
documents and data protection. The Picarral
Foundation began working ICT as a niche of
employment for people at risk of exclusion.
In 2007 and 2008, some adjustments were
made in the organizational structure of the Picar-
ral Foundation and its industrial divisions (Diaz-
Foncea & Marcuello, 2011). Evidence of this
improvement process is the obtaining in 2008 of
the ISO 2001:2008 for both the production process
and the process of social integration. Also, there
was a relocation of the personnel, and there was
a change of the ANOBIUM’s general manager,
which causes a longer period of adaptation of
the activity.
The arrival of the new general manager also
causes a change in ANOBIUM’s business lines. At
that moment, ANOBIUM had focused on physical
services for the document management, which
had an important development in the first stages,
but from the entry of the new general manager,
ANOBIUM began to look for new lines of busi-
ness activities and to specialize in Digital services
related to a greater extent with the ICT, exploiting
the potential that Internet has, and beginning a race
to discover and create new employment niches:
At the beginning, the management of contents only
stayed in the scanning of documents, in dealing
with calls from all internal staff of the General
Department of Children, in the typing data, etc.
But, we did not focus on the field related to Internet
and to social networks. [...] [However,] with the
emergence and the growth of Internet and social
network have 2-3 years ago, we are continually
searching niches of employment [...]: from the
updating of websites, to the working on the organic
positioning in online search engines of websites
(SEO), the pay per click in advertisements and
Marketing online (SEM), the use of social net-
works, the dynamization of a certain experience
in the political sphere, the broadcasting of events
by Twitter, etc.
The development of these new business ac-
tivities has also led to closer relations with other
ANOBIUM’s industrial divisions. A notable ex-
ample is the synergies obtained with ARAPACK,
the industrial divisions focused on the manufacture
Figure 2. Life line of ANOBIUM (Source: Own elaboration)
226
ANOBIUM, SL
of plastic products and the packaging and which
was also created by the Picarral Foundation (in
the next sections develops results of this col-
laboration).
Governance Structure
ANOBIUM, as a company belonging to the hold-
ing promoted by the Picarral Foundation, has a
common general administrative services with all
industrial divisions. The goal of these General
Services is to coordinate the decisions that affect
all social enterprises, mainly those related to the
process of the work integration and the search of
niches of employment, maintaining the coherence
of the industrial division with the foundational
objective of the Picarral Foundation (Figure 3).
Above these General Services is the Board of
Directors, composed by members of the two
founding organizations: Picarral Foundation and
Integration and Employment Foundation. Among
the virtues of the Board of Directors are the free-
dom and the confidence that they have with the
working team that manages the industrial divi-
sions, as well as the support and the participatory
monitoring of the decisions that are made by the
General Services. According to Diaz-Foncea and
Marcuello (2011), both are two of the most valued
aspects by the managers of the organization, in-
creasing the feeling of closeness that exists in the
organization.
Likewise, ANOBIUM defined along two
areas: the productive activity, developed by the
ANOBIUM’s technical manager, and activity of
work integration, which depends on the manager
of Human Resources’ Department.3 These people,
mainly the technical manager, make the opera-
tional decisions (the entry into specific project, the
search of clients, the allocation of resources to each
project in the short term...); while ANOBIUM’s
strategic decisions are coordinated between the
General Manager of the group of Social Enterprise
(Manager’s office in the Figure 3), the manager
of work integration and the technical manager of
ANOBIUM in order to think of all areas of the
organization: the work integration process, the
production process and the needs of all Social
Enterprises promoted by the Picarral Foundation.
There is a kind of decisions that could be consid-
ered as strategic or management-related which are
made like a team, mainly between the holding’s
general manager, the manager in work integration
and me [the ANOBIUM’s technical manager]. I
Figure 3. Organization chart of ANOBIUM (Source: ANOBIUM)
227
ANOBIUM, SL
make decisions that are purely technical: What to
do with this project? How to allocate personnel
or other resources? How to contact suppliers?
How to try to go outside?
On the other hand, ANOBIUM attempts all
personnel know the reasons for decisions made
in order that they can contribute with ideas or
suggestions for improving the functioning of the
SEC, although the final decision rests on the man-
agement team, and the ultimately decision is made
by the ANOBIUM’s general manager (Figure 3).
We try to involve workers, not in the decision-
making, but yes in the knowledge of everything
that happens in the organization. We have a team
meeting, that we try to be monthly, [in which, added
to] talking about specific projects, in order to a
worker knows what the other is doing; we try that
workers know the real situation of ANOBIUM.
Core Business Model of ANOBIUM
The ANOBIUM activity can be divided in two
main lines:
1. The supply to the market of ICT services.
2. The work integration of persons with disabili-
ties, which is the essence of the ANOBIUM’s
business model.
In this section, we explain processes used by
ANOBIUM in each of two lines. First, we present
ANOBIUM market services and the most impor-
tant aspects of this activity. Second, we present
maps of the work integration processes, paying
special attention on its relationship with ICT.
Market Services of ANOBIUM
ANOBIUM classifies its business activity in three
main areas: Physical services, Digital services and
Services of Research and Consultancy (Figure 4).
The first area [refers to] information and docu-
ments in a physical format, which includes all
type of projects requiring management and treat-
ment of information on paper. The information
may be located in individual files, in gigantic
shelves of historical archives, in a small com-
pany which only wants to scan its bills, etc. [...];
although the most common customer used to be
the Government.
The field of digital is the other main ANOBIUM
business line, i.e. the working in the content
Figure 4. Business areas of ANOBIUM (Source: Semi-structured interview to the ANOBIUM’s general
manager)
228
ANOBIUM, SL
management of websites mainly, but also the po-
sitioning and the dynamization of social networks,
the payment in Add-Works (SEM), in Facebook,
in Twitter…
A third business line, not so important, is the “work
on the street”, i.e. the distribution of certain com-
munications to buildings or owners, the analysis
of a specific environment through the data col-
lection with GPS, photographs or surveys... This
area is not encompass [in previous business lines,
although it is related], but it recently is increasing
significantly.
The area of Physical services has been histori-
cally the most important area and represents 60%
of turnover (Figure 5). At a second level, Digital
services have historically represented around
30%, although recently this area are obtaining
more relevance (in 2011 it was more than 80%
of the ANOBIUM’s turnover). Thirdly, there are
Research and Data Services, which represents
close to 10% of the ANOBIUM’s turnover, al-
though they are more sporadic and dependent of
the entries of specific projects in the organization.
Next, we explain specific services that each
business line encompasses, according to the in-
formation contained in its report of activities
(ANOBIUM, 2011) and the information available
on the ANOBIUM website (http://www.ANO-
BIUM.es/).
Physical Services
Physical services include the file management,
the transport, the custody and the destruction of
documents, the scanning and the recording, and
the digitalization of historical documents, among
others.
File management is aimed at businesses, or-
ganizations and institutions which observe that
their documentation files increase progressively
and which require therefore a special focus on the
management of them. For each client, ANOBIUM
develops a personalized plan of the file manage-
ment for the client, which consist of a set of prior
actions that strengthen several essential areas: the
distribution, the classification and the location of
documents, registering correctly through a code
systems, documenting all with tools that preserve
Figure 5. Importance of each business area according to the total turnover, 2007- 2010
229
ANOBIUM, SL
the effectiveness of their management: protocols
of entry of new documentation, the procedures of
records location, projects, invoices...
The progressive implementation of informa-
tion systems and the document management in
companies is driving to the increase of the con-
sultation and electronic document management,
relegating the paper aside.
We were not offering consultancy and advice on
management of documents and archives at that mo-
ment; we offered support services to these people
[archives’ professionals]. But now, however, we
work more often in this area with a private en-
terprise, because the Government has stopped to
require these services due to economic difficulties.
[...] We obtain private clients who need to scan
documents mainly. [...] Once we digitalize their
documents, they are delivered on storage media
and the client decides whether he/she wants to
destroy or custody [the original document].
Also, the Service of File Management is
closely related to other services as 1) the Service
of Transport and Custody of documentation, and
2) the Service of Digitalization and Destruction
of these documents.
Regarding the former, the Service of Trans-
port and Custody of documentation, according
to ANOBIUM website (http://www.ANOBIUM.
es/rdr.php?cat=19), ANOBIUM has developed
a system that provides the transport of files, the
labeling, the custody and scanning and, if neces-
sary, the destruction of confidential documents,
within the same package of services.
The documental custody ensures the correct
distribution, the accessibility, the security and
the confidentiality of the documents of clients by
means of protection mechanisms as alarms and
detection systems, the video surveillance and other
more complex mechanisms. In addition, based on
ICT, ANOBIUM offers an easy and quick access
to this documentation via an extranet4 connected
to a secure net server and via the sending of docu-
ments through the scanned image. Thus, the system
of ANOBIUM prevents that the documentation
leave the ANOBIUM’s facilities, having a higher
level of security.
Moreover, ANOBIUM offers the service of
certified document destruction for the confidential
document destruction according to the Spanish
Law of Data Protection (LOPD are the Spanish
capitals). This service provides for the collection
and the transport of documents in order to be
destroyed by ANOBIUM’s certified personnel,
with specific machineries, obtaining an Official
Certificate of Destruction.
The digitization of documents pursues the
conversion of documents into digital format,
ensuring the preservation of the original docu-
ment. Furthermore, ANOBIUM has some aspects
added to the pure document digitalization as the
definition of scanning criteria specific to each
project, the indexing of metadata related to the
capture, the quality control of the digitalization
process and the monitoring system in order to
ensure the complete traceability of the process
and permanent backups.
Finally, through the service of digitization of
historical documentation, ANOBIUM provides
a personalized study of the best technologies of
digitalization for the files of clients, ensuring the
integrity of documentation and the reach of high
levels of quality. Knowing the importance of the
conservation of the original document, these ser-
vices of digitalization of historical documentation
ensure the management of large volumes of docu-
ments without damaging the original and an easy
access thanks to the computer tools. ANOBIUM
complements these services with experience in
ICT and Internet in order to provide copies to
generate optimized for viewing on the Internet,
leveraging storage resources and bandwidth of
the net servers.
230
ANOBIUM, SL
Digital Services
The digital services offered by ANOBIUM include
various areas such as the Content Management,
Services of Web Positioning, the Internet Adver-
tising and the Social Networking.
The content management is one of the core
services of the ANOBIUM’s portfolio, with
experience over ten years in the development of
projects in virtual spaces. This service includes
various items: a) the generation of online content
(i.e., links, posts, news, comments, reviews, im-
ages, videos, interviews...) for different channels:
Digital Television (TDT), mobile, Internet, and
different virtual spaces (thematic websites, corpo-
rate websites, blogs, video-blogs, mobile-blogs,
communities, groups, forums...); b) the content
management itself, through the process of im-
age, as well as the process of virtual documents,
videos, the content indexing in web forms, the
mass recording of information, the management
of catalogue, or the maintenance of websites and
web content, and finally, c) the services of web
accessibility, and others.
On the other hand, the services of dinamization
of virtual spaces focus on three areas: 1) the man-
agement, the maintenance and the positioning of
websites, 2) the management of online advertising,
and 3) the management of the communication in
social networks, thematic websites, forums, com-
munities, etc., which is especially useful currently:
According to the ANOBIUM’s website (http://
www.ANOBIUM.es), “ANOBIUM offers the
elaboration of a strategy related to the objective
of the client, presenting a coherent and logical
image, and making a study of main competitors
in order to obtain an efficient management of the
web presented.”
The positioning and maintenance of website is
intended to position the client’s website on main
search engines, communities... For these ser-
vices, ANOBIUM use alliances with other groups
(mainly, web developers). On the other hand, the
SEM Internet advertising (Pay per click) refers to
the investment in Google Adwords advertising,
i.e. the search of keywords that users use to locate
the client services in the Google search engine.
ANOBIUM understands that services must be
implemented together with the client company,
adapting the plan of internet marketing to its goals
in sales and the advertising strategy established by
the client company. This spirit of collaboration is
observed in the training received by the client in
order to it will be able to manage a similar media
campaign independently in the future.
Finally, the management of the presence in
social network completes to the services of the
web positioning, maintaining the public interest in
a particular product or company, bringing it closer
to the target customer with the desired image, and
spreading its web content correctly.
Research and Data Services
The third business line includes the consulting
services in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
and the services of surveying and market research.
The consulting and training in Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) and the integration
of management systems in enterprises, social
organizations and Government is performed in
collaboration with the consulting firm “Taller de
Recursos” (http://www.tallerderecursos.com).
Using a simple and effective methodology, ANO-
BIUM helps to reflect the reality of the client, to
value the good practices in the field of CSR and
to move towards an ethical management, includ-
ing the reporting of CSR and other sustainability
reports.
This service is complemented by other ANO-
BIUM lines of business, offering “the possibility
of giving the widest possible spreading of the
results of CSR or any other report of the client
need, using tools of SEO and the spreading in
social networks” (htpp://www.ANOBIUM.es/)”,
in which ANOBIUM is a specialist as we show
in previous paragraphs.
231
ANOBIUM, SL
The services of surveying and market analysis
focus on specific projects of reporting and analy-
sis of the field. This service has historically been
focused to specific requests from the Govern-
ment and it has not an important weight on the
portfolio of ANOBIUM. However, the training of
ANOBIUM in the management of digital content
and the reporting allows to complete the data col-
lection typical of these services.
Likewise, other activities included in this
third line of business is the geo-positioning of
urban furniture, the performance of telephone
surveys with added value, the development of
public opinion polls for research projects, or the
implementation of contact center integrated on
e-commerce solutions.
In sum, in the previous presentation, we can
observe ANOBIUM focuses on some specific
issues in the development of its activity:
Firstly, on the professional personnel work-
ing in ICT services, although it may control the
services prices.
[We must] set prices correctly in the provision of
services. If these prices are complemented with
a good professional offer of services, it causes
to become better.” “[If] we sell the document
destruction, we spread the service of document
destruction [without focusing on they are a SEC
or Social Enterprise]. We do not need to say who
ANOBIUM is; we are a company that destroys
documents. And usually, the client who hires these
services is all he/she knows about ANOBIUM.
Also, ANOBIUM maintains a close collabora-
tion with other businesses and organizations which
can support its business lines and to generate a
greater value for customers.
For example, in “the management of contents,
we work with web development companies: they
make websites and then they hire the upload
of web contents as catalog, photos, an online
store, to post certain information, reports... [To
ANOBIUM]”. Likewise, ANOBIUM also has
agreements with the consultancy “Taller de Re-
cursos” for the development of Corporate Social
Responsibility activities (http://www.ANOBIUM.
es/rdr.php?cat=49).
This collaboration extends to other companies
of the holding, with which ANOBIUM seeks
synergies to offer new services such as the trans-
portation of document, managed with MTI, one
of the SEC promoted by the Picarral Foundation.
This search of synergies is also observed be-
tween the ANOBIUM business lines, seeking new
niches of employment and combining the strengths
that exist in each one of them: for example, the
spreading service of sustainability reports or the
added services of the custody or the destruction
of documents for their digitization.
Currently, ANOBIUM is focusing on the train-
ing of its personnel, mainly on the development
of smartphone applications.
In a short term, we’re going to get fully into
projects with iPhones, Android ... since Internet
is going there. [...] The industry is already telling
us that everything will change. And in two years
probably, the industry will change again, and will
change again, and that’s ANOBIUM: adapting to
the changes that are emerging in the use of ICT for
trying to create jobs for disable people adapted
to these trends.
Work Integration Process
ANOBIUM complements the previous production
process with the service of work integration, which
is its raison d’être as a Social Enterprise. So, it is
explained in the main objective of ANOBIUM:
to locate the person in the center of their activity,
providing a means of his/her socio-labor integra-
tion through decent work, good work environment,
labor security and stability, and supporting the
personal development of people who form the
company (ANOBIUM, 2011).
The professional team is one of key elements
in the services provided by ANOBIUM. So, one
232
ANOBIUM, SL
of the most important departments of ANOBIUM
is the Department of Human Resources (in the
organizational chart is located at the level of the
managerial staff). From the Department of Hu-
man Resources, the process of work integration
of the disabled are managed, as shown in Figure
6. The service of work integration plans the work
patterns and routines of workers in order to ensure
the stability of their jobs. It allows to adequate
the labor time with the time for training in order
to facilitate the inclusion of disable workers in
the regular labor market. Thus, both social and
labor integration of workers becomes the essence
of ANOBIUM, and the development of services
in the ICT industry is seen as an opportunity to
continue expanding this work of integration into
new niches of employment.
Due to the nature of the ANOBIUM’s activity,
it requires that candidates have high professional
skills in the computer area:
[ANOBIUM] observed the necessity to have spe-
cific job profiles, within the field of disability, in
order to have a highly training level and highly
specialized training for developing the process
of consulting and advisory, as well as the imple-
mentation of this information system.
This work integration process is developed
following protocols that have been perfected
over time (Figure 7) in a comprehensive way
for industrial divisions dependent on Picarral
Foundation, complementing each other to serve
the largest possible number of disabled people.
Figure 6. Stages of the work integration process of ANOBIUM. (Source: ANOBIUM Social Report, 2010)
233
ANOBIUM, SL
[The Department of Human Resources] tries to
make costumes for each disabled person derived
from the Picarral Foundation. So, we look for a
job that fits perfectly with what the disable person
has studied or the job in which worked this person.
[...] [If he/she] has an “ANOBIUM profile”, the
Department of HR derived him/her here, we make
an interview, and if there is a vacancy for a proj-
ect, he/she is incorporated. If, by the contrary,
the profile is more oriented to the industrial han-
dling, or the transport…, then he/she is derived
to MAPISER, ARAPACK, EMFATEC...
The objective of systematizing and profession-
alizing the process of fostering and supporting in
the acquisition and development of personal and
social skills and work skills that will enable the
person a better access and the maintenance of a job.
ANOBIUM’s Support to
Other Social Enterprises
ANOBIUM’s core services are targeted at pri-
vate firms and public administrations. However,
ANOBIUM also serves as a support in the spread-
ing and the exploitation of the activity of other
social enterprises and organizations, located both
within the group of Social Enterprises and outside
this field. This section aims to provide practical
examples of how ICT allow social enterprises to
spread their activities in an affordable manner and
with greater impact.
This work of spreading is one of the main tasks
that ANOBIUM offers to other social organiza-
tions with their services.
Specifically, ICT contribute to Social Enter-
prises “more spreading [and] cheaper. [Also,]
Figure 7. The planification of work integration in ANOBIUM (Source: ANOBIUM Social Report, 2010)
234
ANOBIUM, SL
more collaboration [and] more association... are
the two main advantages.”
Next, we show some of the experiences
selected by the ANOBIUM’s general manager
on this support and the impact that this activity
of spreading causes on these social initiatives.
First, we present the campaign of spreading of
a traditional product, rooted in a local environ-
ment: the Agreda’s Red Thistle (in the region of
Soria); second, the building of a video website
on YouTube channel which provides a stimulus
for users of the Picarral Foundation; and thirdly,
an example of the impact of the actions of web
dynamization in the business field through the
specific case of ARAPACK.
Impact of the ANOBIUM’s Activity in
the Social Spreading: “Campaign of
Promotion of the Agreda’s Red Thistle”
ANOBIUM participated in the campaign of
promotion of the Red Thistle of Agreda (in the
region of Soria); a traditional product of the
Southwest of Aragon is being used as a hallmark
of that environment in order to attract tourists
and to develop the local economy. The aim was
to show that agricultural product, following the
next process: 1) the development of a website, 2)
the content generation, and 3) the spreading and
the web positioning.
1. The development of an attractive, fast
loading, accessible, with high usability
and scalability, and participatory website
(http://www.elcardorojodeagreda.com) that
would allow to optimize the positioning
in Internet. The objective was to show the
properties of the Red Thistle of Agreda, his
way of growing and of cooking. In order to
increase the visibility and website visits and
the economic development of the town of
Agreda, ANOBIUM included information
on the offer about the hospitality in the town,
as well as festivals and other activities in
the environment.
2. The content generation for giving relevance
to the website and make the positioning on
the Internet easier. Among these contents
include the connection with related news, the
elaboration of videos about the cultivation
of the thistle and the activities of the people
related to this product, etc.
3. The spreading and the web positioning of
the website creating profiles of Ágreda’s
Red Thistle on social networks (Twitter,
Facebook ...) and video channels on YouTube
and Picasa, boosting these settings in Internet
in order to remain the main keywords (red
thistle, red thistle’s recipes, Ágreda, Ágreda’s
bars, etc.) at the top of search engines.
The impact of these activities has been very
important to the town of Ágreda and the dissemi-
nation of its flagship product, the Red Thistle.
According to Google Analytics (statistics tool
on the visits in Internet), the website received
between October 2010 and December 2011 over
13,200 visits from 50 countries and over 120 cit-
ies in Spain, visiting 398 entries incorporating the
portal around 52,000 times. Also, thanks to the
work of spreading in social networks and other
virtual platforms, the 89.4% of the traffic that the
webpage recorded comes from other websites or
through internet search engines.5
This example of the collaboration between
ANOBIUM and a social initiative can offer a
first approximation to the impact that ICT should
causes on any social activity. This small initiative
has acquired a new dimension thanks to its ap-
pearance on the Internet and has a diffusion that
otherwise would have been impossible to achieve.
235
ANOBIUM, SL
Impact of the ANOBIUM’s Activity
in a Social Organization: “Video
Channel for the Picarral Foundation”
ANOBIUM developed in 2010 a video website on
the YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/
user/HosteleriaTOPI/) for the area of job training
of people at risk of exclusion for the Picarral
Foundation. The objective of this activity was to
increase motivation and interest of the users of
educational processes, enabling the real interaction
between users through comments and a spread
of activities conducted in these training projects.
The project on which ANOBIUM worked
was the TOPI Hospitality School in order to
broadcast the content about gastronomy and,
as the Picarral Foundation explains in its
website (http://www.fundacionpicarral.org/rdr.
php?cat=98&id=307&id_alone=307), “to open to
the world through ICT using a suitable and widely
accepted in the community-wide educational
tool [as the YouTube website is]”. According to
the content of the YouTube channel, ANOBIUM
recorded different recipes, cocktails, coffee and
other contents related to the job training provided
at the TOPI Hospitality School and which are
useful for the general public.
Thus, “[Picarral Foundation] decided to do a
video serial for the users of the learning processes
in order to users see themselves, which they were
motivated, and it had a good effect. [...] Users
comment videos, leave comments on the social
networks, and the website of the Foundation is
also managed from ANOBIUM.”
This case allows to demonstrate that ICT are
an area in which to develop a social activity with
users of social organizations, increasing their mo-
tivation and their loyalty. The activity of the TOPI
Hospitality School has obtained a new meaning in
the training of users in order to show their skills
through the Internet, with the external spreading
of their activities that was impossible previously.
Impact of the ANOBIUM’s
Activity on the Business Reality:
“The ARAPACK Case”
ANOBIUM collaborates with other companies
for spreading their business lines. One of the
most important is the impact of ANOBIUM has
had on the activity of the ARAPACK Special
Employment Center.
ANOBIUM has campaigned timely for the
spreading of the services offered by ARAPACK
among which there are activities as direct market-
ing, online ads, etc. and more stable campaigns as
the web dynamization of the company’s website,
the Google positioning, the management of the
Twitter profile of the company, among others.
These activities get that a very high percentage of
job entry is made via the form of the ARAPACK
website (http://www.arapack.com/). There are
many loyal customers due to the professionalism
and services provided ARAPACK, but thanks to
the management of the website that ANOBIUM
makes, there are also daily contacts from new
companies such from Spain as around the world
(see Figure 8). For example, in the last year, the
ARAPACK website received over 31,098 world-
wide visits, of which around 28,000 visits were
from Spain, being a ratio of new visitors to the web
around 81.13%. The main source of international
visitors were Latin American countries (Argentina,
Colombia and Mexico, mostly), and of Spain
visitors were large cities as Madrid, Barcelona,
Zaragoza, Valencia and Seville.
The ANOBIUM’s impact on the ARAPACK
activity can be better understood through Figure
9. It is noted that until the end of January 2010,
when ARAPACK was autonomous in the search
of customers, the number of visits to the website
were no more than 50 visits per day. It changed
with the entry of ANOBIUM in the dynamization
and the positioning in search engine rankings of
the ARAPACK website, getting close to 100
visits per day, and coming to 140 visits in August
2010.
236
ANOBIUM, SL
Figure 9 shows that the ANOBIUM’s impact
is much higher in the second stage of its participa-
tion, once incorporated social networks (Twitter,
mainly) to activities of spreading on the ARA-
PACK website. Thus, in the second half of 2011,
visits to the ARAPACK website have exceeded
the 150 daily visits.
The importance of the activity of spreading
should not be measured in number of visits, but
must be understood that these contacts cause new
projects for ARAPACK and, therefore, increase
more customers and turnover, and, finally, the
possibility to integrate more workers at risk of
exclusion through packaging services offered by
ARAPACK, which is the final goal of this SEC.
CONCLUSION
From a global view of Social Enterprises in Ara-
gon and in Spain, we can perceive that the use
of ICT in these organizations is that there are a
lot of rooms for their full use. Social Businesses
and Social Organizations are not in Internet, and
if they are, their web positioning is not well:
they are not visible in Internet. This behavior has
important consequences for spreading and on the
impact of the activity of these Social Businesses:
for example, the loss of a significant volume of
sales which social businesses would have if they
develop the business via the Internet.
Figure 8. Geographical distribution of visitors to ARAPACK website (Source: ANOBIUM)
Figure 9. ARAPACK website’s statistics (Source: ANOBIUM)
237
ANOBIUM, SL
ANOBIUM shows the need to be going for ICT
in order to provide greater visibility and impact
to businesses of Social Enterprises. ICT provide
opportunities to find new niches of employment
for Social Enterprises. In the ANOBIUM case,
ICT are used as a tool to develop spaces where
users can develop professionally and personally,
and this personal development is the true purpose
of the organization. ICT are the mean of generat-
ing reserved, skilled and dignified employment
for people with special difficulties integrating on
the labor market.
[ICT are] are the means by which we create
reserved, qualified and, in our view, a decent
employment. There is not a necessity of working
on social networks (or other platform) or because
everyone does, but the work on social networks
is because we believe it is a good way, and it is
also a way of articulating quick and easy tools for
the work integration. Thus, that is the essence of
ANOBIUM: to use new technologies to achieve
the work integration of this type of users.
In addition, ICT represent a boost for Social
Enterprises’ activity according to two main areas:
1. First, ICT allow to spread services offered
by Social Enterprises in a greater degree and
much more affordable: ICT represent a sav-
ings of spreading cost. The ICT development
has meant that those expenses previously
dedicated to printed media (print catalogs,
leaflets, brochures ...), radio or television,
were more than enough to make a campaign
in three areas related to Internet (SEO, SEM
and Social Media) with greater impact (as
we present in previous sections).
2. Second, ICT facilitate better communication
through different tools such as intranets or
other platforms for video conferencing be-
tween different internal staff of the organiza-
tion or between different Social Enterprises,
being able to develop a more collaborative
or associative work easily.
There are possible entry barriers due to the
ignorance about these ICT and the initial cost of
learning their use. However, these entry barri-
ers should be overcome with the understanding
that ICT represent an opportunity for the self-
development and the expansion of both social or-
ganizations and Social Enterprises. ICT (Internet,
social networks...) should not be perceived as a
fashion (“to do it because everybody does it”),
but ICT should be considered as an adequate,
quick and easy tool to articulate the objective of
the organization (in the case of ANOBIUM: the
employment of people with disabilities).
Before concluding the chapter, it is worthy to
note that if the ANOBIUM’s experience can be
performed in a different context to the region of
Aragon, as well as the necessary conditions for
doing this. Regarding comment of the ANOBIUM
general manager and the highlighted issues in
this chapter, we can affirm that the replication is
possible without an undue hardship:
On the one hand, customers and the demand of
documental custody services and the digitization
of documents are increasing. Likewise, issues
related to Internet (the spreading and the SEO)
are a broad field in which to develop a business.
Furthermore, the cost structure of ICT ac-
tivities is particularly suitable to start a business
similar to ANOBIUM without a high outlay. The
main item refers to personnel costs, but it is not
referred to investments in fixed assets or liquidity
to perform the activity. In this sense, ANOBIUM
projects consist mainly of the coordination of
workers, of the management of the valley time
without working.
The two previous issues, the cost structure
and the working with people allow to have a
flexibility that facilitates the rapid adaptation to
environmental circumstances.
Finally, ANOBIUM is a SEC and, therefore,
it is not focus on the economic performance, but
238
ANOBIUM, SL
on the employment, and it can offer prices 60%
less than those offered by capitalist enterprises in
the ICT sector, since the ANOBIUM’s prices do
not include the margin of profit. It supposes the
obtaining of a competitive advantage for ANO-
BIUM. In addition, to be a SEC is an advantage
for capitalist firms due to a legal obligation to hire
a percentage of disabled personal (see endnote ii).
However, there are also some issues that we
must pay special attention:
An important aspect is to find people able to
lead this or other similar experiences (according to
the ANOBIUM technical manager, it is one of the
key factors of the project in order to go forward
at the beginning and now continue resisting in the
current economic context).
Moreover, the importance of having competent
and trained workers is extended to all personnel.
The professionalism of the team that develops
the activity must become one of the principal
aspects of the organization. It is essential for a
proper positioning in the ICT sector in order to
expand the project beyond the “social” aspect of
Social organizations.
Thus, the ANOBIUM experience has broad
potential to be replicated in other areas and regions,
although it is important to have a team of trained
and skilled workers in order to face to challenges
of the activity. This issue is not unique to the ICT
sector, although the weight that the human factor
in this activity is very relevant, especially in the
case of a Social Enterprise dedicated to the employ-
ment of disabled people, as the case ANOBIUM.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors really appreciate the financial supports
from Social Funds of the European Commission
and from the Regional Government of Aragon
(Spain). The authors also want to thank to all
personnel of ANOBIUM for their kindness and
availability for the elaboration of this chapter.
REFERENCES
Boughton, S. B. (2005). Search engine marketing.
Perspectives in Business, 2(1), 29–33.
CEE Innovación en Sistemas de Información y
Documentación. (2010). Memoria de Funciona-
miento Año 2010. Zaragoza, Spain: ANOBIUM.
Confederación Empresarial Española de la
Economía Social. (2011). La economía social en
España. Madrid, SPain: CEPES.
Defourny, J. (2001). From third sector to social
enterprise. In Borzaga, C., & Defourny, J. (Eds.),
The emergence of social enterprise (pp. 1–28).
London, UK: Routledge.
Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2008). Social enter-
prise in Europe: Recent trends and developments.
Brussels, Belgium: EMES European Research
Network Working Paper.
Díaz-Foncea, M., & Marcuello, C. (2011). MAPIS-
ER, Manipulados y Servicios Picarral, S.L. Liege,
Belgium: EURICSE-EMES Case studies Series.
Dorado, J. M. (2009). Entrevista a Euclides Andre
Mance. Revista La Calle de Todos. Asociación
de Vecinos de Zaragoza, 82, 24–25.
Evans, M. P. (2007). Analyzing Google rank-
ings through search engine optimization
data. Internet Research, 17(1), 21–37. doi:d
oi:10.1108/10662240710730470
Fayolle, A., & Matlay, H. (2010). Handbook of
research on social entrepreneurship. London,
UK: Edward Elgar Ed.
Hulgard, L. (2010). Discourses of social entrepre-
neurship - Variations of the same theme? EMES
Working Papers no. 10/01, Brussels, Belgium.
Kerlin, J. A. (2006). Social enterprise in the United
States and Europe: Understanding and learning
from the differences. Voluntas, 17, 247–263.
doi:doi:10.1007/s11266-006-9016-2
239
ANOBIUM, SL
Ley 13/1982, de 7 de abril, de Integración Social
de los Minusválidos (LISMI). (1982).
Orgánica, L. (1999). 15/1999, de 13 de diciembre,
de Protección de Datos de Carácter Personal.
LOPD.
Quintao, C. (2007). Empresas de inserción y
empresas sociales en Europa. CIRIEC-España.
Revista de Economía Pública. Social y Coop-
erativa, 59, 33–59.
Spear, R., & Bidet, E. (2005). Social enterprise
for work integration in 12 European coun-
tries: A descriptive analysis. Annals of Public
and Cooperative Economics, 76(2), 195–231.
doi:doi:10.1111/j.1370-4788.2005.00276.x
KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS
Information and Communication Tech-
nologies (ICT): The ICT sector was made up of
manufacturing and service industries whose main
activity is linked to the development, production,
commercialization and intensive use of ICT (Span-
ish National Institute of Statistics). The sub-sector
of programming, consulting and services related
to Information Technology (6209 Spanish activ-
ity code and similar) is made in Aragon for more
than 398 companies and 3,645 workers, with a
turnover of 253 million of euros (2010).
Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Search
engine marketing (SEM) allows firms to target
consumers by placing ads on search engines and
proven to be an effective audience acquisition
strategy. Unlike traditional online advertising,
advertisers pay only when users actually click on
an ad. When successfully implemented, SEM can
generate steady traffic levels (Boughton, 2005).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO
involves creating or modifying a Website in a
way that makes it ‘easier for search engines to
both crawl and index its content, i.e. it is the
process of trying to rank highly a given web page
or domain for specific keywords. Evans (2007)
explains factors that most likely exert the great-
est influence on a page’s rank: number of web
pages in a site indexed, PageRank of a Website,
number of in-links to a web site, age of the web
site’s domain name, etc.
Social Economy: Social Economy entities
spring from the economic and social needs of
their members. There are certain common char-
acteristics shared by Social Economy entities: 1)
Their primary purpose is not to obtain a return on
capital. They are, by nature, part of a stakeholder
economy, whose enterprises are created by and
for those with common needs, and accountable to
those they are meant to serve; 2) They are gener-
ally managed in accordance with the principle of
“one member, one vote”; 3) They are flexible and
innovative - Social Economy enterprises are being
created to meet changing social and economic
circumstances; 4) Most are based on voluntary
participation, membership and commitment.
Social Enterprises: Social Enterprises are not-
for-profit private organizations providing goods
or services directly related to their explicit aim to
benefit the community. They rely on a collective
dynamics involving various types of stakehold-
ers in their governing bodies, they place a high
value on their autonomy and they bear economic
risks linked to their activity”. The economic di-
mensions are: a) a continuous activity producing
goods and/or selling services; b) a high degree of
autonomy; c) a significant level of economic risk;
d) a minimum amount of paid work. The social
dimensions are: e) An explicit aim to benefit the
community; f) an initiative launched by a group
of citizens; g) A decision-making power not based
on capital ownership; h) a participatory nature,
which involves various parties affected by the
activity; i) a limited profit distribution. Defourny
and Nyssens (2008, p.5) and Defourny (2001).
Special Employment Centers: These com-
panies combine economic feasibility and market
participation with a social commitment to groups
with less Access to the job market. Their staff
240
ANOBIUM, SL
includes people with disabilities (it has to be over
70% of total employees). They develop produc-
tive and competitive capacity to introduce their
products into the market.
Work Integration Social Enteprises: Article
4 of Law 44/2007 provides that only organizations
legally constituted as commercial companies and,
particularly, those linked to the Social Economy
may be deemed integration enterprises: Coopera-
tives and Worker-owned companies, legally incor-
porated and covering social integration, training
and employment of socially excluded persons in
transition to normal standard employment within
their aims and objectives and only if they have
been classified as such by the autonomous body
with legal powers in that regard.
ENDNOTES
1 Law of Social Integration of Disable People
tells that enterprises with 50 or more work-
ers have to establish reserve quotas of 2%
of the personnel for the disable workers.
2 More information about these entities can
be found in Internet (http://fundacionpicar-
ral.org and http://www.ANOBIUM.es/
fundacion-integracion-y-empleo/) or in
Díaz-Foncea and Marcuello (2011).
3 The technical manager’s activity focuses
on the coordination of human and techni-
cal resources for projects of ANOBIUM’s
customers. On the other hand, the technical
manager of integration focus on her activ-
ity on the management of human resources
of the organizational and the development
Work Integration Maps presented in previ-
ous sections.
4 From a business perspective, an extranet is a
collaborative network that can link our busi-
ness with suppliers, employees, customers
and other companies with shared interests. A
very common practical application is to offer
our customers a system of orders, tracking
of invoices and payments, etc. Technologi-
cally, it is a virtual private network that uses
Internet technology to deliver information
and services to a closed group, previously
authorized (Source: CECARM – electronic
business of the Region of Murcia. Access on
December 30, 2011).
5 Data provided by ANOBIUM.
241
ANOBIUM, SL
APPENDIX 1: WEBSITES
• http://www.ANOBIUM.es/
◦ Website of the SCE Innovation in Information and Documentation Systems Ltd. - ANOBIUM.
• http://www.ANOBIUM.es/fundacion-integracion-y-empleo/
◦ Website of the Integration and Employment Foundation, founder member of ANOBIUM.
• http://www.arapack.com/
◦ Website of SCE ARAPACK, one of the business initiatives of the Picarral Foundation.
• http://www.elcardorojodeagreda.org/
◦ Website of the project on the Agreda’s Red Thistle presented in this chapter.
• http://www.fundacionpicarral.org/
◦ Website of the Picarral Foundation, founder member of ANOBIUM.
• http://www.mapiser.com/
◦ Website of MAPISER, Work Integration Social Enterprise promoted by the Picarral
Foundation.
• http://www.youtube.com/user/HosteleriaTOPI/
◦ YOUTUBE Channel of the education and employment workshop in TOPI catering trade,
created by ANOBIUM.
242
ANOBIUM, SL
APPENDIX 2: GUIDE FOR THE INTERVIEW WITH
THE ANOBIUM’S GENERAL MANAGER
Table 1. Guide for the Interview
GUIDE OF THE INTERVIEW
Subject: ANOBIUM 2011
Topic: ICT as niche of employment and as tool for developing the social market
TOPICS RELATED ISSUES
ANOBIUM’s History Tell me a little, how ANOBIUM was born? Which is its evolution? ¿Where does it come from?
ANOBIUM’s life cycle What are the ANOBIUM’s milestones? What will be the next ones?
Institutional relations What support has had ANOBIUM along its history? Being a Special Employment Centre, what impact
has had on the evolution of ANOBIUM?
Government structure
What is the government structure of ANOBIUM? Who hold the decision-making power? How are deci-
sions made? Is there participation of employees, customers or suppliers? The comments from MAPISER
or Picarral Foundation, has a great influences on ANOBIUM?
Economic Data What has been the economic development of ANOBIUM (in turnover, in profit employees...)?
The essence of the ANO-
BIUM business model
What exactly do ANOBIUM? What services do you provide? How would you explain your business
model?
ANOBIUM Process Maps What are process maps of your activity?
Customers, Users and Sup-
pliers Who are your main customers? What supplier ANOBIUM haves?
ICT and ANOBIUM Why ANOBIUM choose the ICT sector and which have been the impact of these ICT on ANOBIUM?
Support to other Social
Enterprises
I am particularly interested in supporting your work that ANOBIUM gives to other companies in the
Business Group and other Social Enterprises outside your holding. What is your position on this work?
In what ways do you think your support can be more important?
Support experiences Please, explain me in more detail any examples in which your support has been fruitful.
Search Engine Optimizer
(SEO)
Upon reviewing ANOBIUM’s website, I pay attention on the Virtual Dynamization of Spaces. Is this
one of the main tools that ANOBIUM uses to support the Enterprises of the Holding?
Other Web tools What other web tools you develop and use to Social Enterprises?
Data about the effects of the
support Do you have any proof of these results? (Did you could share?)
How is the relation between
Social Enterprises and ITC
How do you think that ICT can help to the development of Social Enterprises? What is the potential of
ICT for Social Enterprises? What business niches are feasible for Social Enterprises, using ICT?
Extensions about the previous
sections
Do you think that Social Enterprises are responding to the need of use ICT? Do you think they used
them correctly? Which are the main problems?
ICT as mechanism for the co-
operation among Social En-
terprises: the Social Market
Could ICT be a way to increase the inter-cooperation between entities of Social Economy (Social
Enterprises and others)? Do you think that ICT would help to create their exchange networks for Social
Enterprises and other entities of ES?
Impact of the Society Please, let me know your feelings about the impact that ANOBIUM has had on Society? How the world
has changed with the emergence of ANOBIUM?
Impact on MAPISER What has ANOBIUM meant for the business group?
Learnt lessons What do you think ANOBIUM teach us? What teaching export to society?
ANOBIUM’s future What is the future of ANOBIUM?
Extension of the experience
to other fields
Would it be feasible to move ANOBIUM experience to other contexts? In what would have a greater
impact?
ANOBIUM’s data Could you provide some data of the ANOBIUM activity and its impact on the rest of MAPISER and on
other companies, or a report on what you have done in the field of insertion or in society in general?
