Details
Cited as: Kromminga, L. (n.d.). How to define a Social Enterprise.
Subject
How to define a Social Enterprise
Abstract
The differentiation and identification of social enterprises has occupied companies, support organizations and academia for many years. Efforts have been made to differentiate between social enterprises and “traditional business” on the one hand and donation-based organizations on the other. Other terms that are also used in this context and often mean the same or something similar are: Social Business, Purpose Enterprise, Impact Enterprise, Impact Start-Up, Solidarity Organization, Solidarity Enterprise, Social Enterprise and the social media handle SocEnt.
For the sake of simplicity, this document uses the term Social Enterprise.
A very closely related area is social innovation. This deals more deeply with the demand for innovative solutions to societal challenges and subordinates profitability or does not consider it at all. In order to facilitate the use of the list of criteria for those who only focus on social innovation, the term “organizations” is used more frequently than “companies”. The term “company” is only used in criteria where economic activities are necessary. The many attempts in solving the struggle for one coherent definition have not yet produced a result that is or can be used on a broad scale. One major challenge with existing definitions is that the social economy is very heterogeneous. Different focuses have therefore emerged
that cannot be captured by a single definition. This is particularly evident in the topic of innovation. For some, it is essential that the organization in question is innovative. Others see innovation more as an additional feature and instead consider economic activity as necessary.
