Top

Published in:

2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

The Fourth Sector: The Future of Business, for a Better Future

Authors : María Isabel Sánchez-Hernández, Luisa Carvalho, Conceiçao Rego, María Raquel Lucas, Adriana Noronha

Published in: Entrepreneurship in the Fourth Sector

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

We are facing a new trend in doing business moving beyond corporate social responsibility where new hybrid business models are formed to address a variety of societal and environmental challenges. The fourth sector can be defined as the group of organizations, models, and practices whose objective is to solve the great problems of the twenty-first century, combining elements from the three traditional sectors: the public, the private, and the nongovernmental. The fourth sector is rising in different forms in this new entrepreneurial landscape such as social enterprises, business-owned enterprises, cross-sector collaborations, and B corporations. Businesses within the fourth sector are blended value organizations because they pursue social and environmental goals at the same time that they use business methods. This chapter disentangles the meaning of the fourth sector shedding light on the new entrepreneurial ecosystems for new sustainable business models.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Introduction

next chapter Cultivating the Fourth Sector: Active Citizenship and Governance in the Urban Change Process

Aguinis, H., & Glavas, A. (2013). Embedded versus peripheral corporate social responsibility: Psychological foundations. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 6(4), 314–332. https://doi.org/10.1111/iops.12059.CrossRef

Albright, M. (2020). About B Lab. Accessed Nov 11, 2020, from https://bcorporation.eu/about-b-lab

Alessandrini, M. (2002). A fourth sector: The impact of neo-liberalism on non-profit organisations. In Australasian Political Studies Association Jubilee Conference, Canberra, Australia. Accessed Nov 3, 2020, from file:///Users/raquellucas/Downloads/A_fourth_sector_The_impact_of_neo-liberalism_on_no.pdf.

Alessandrini, M. (2010). Towards a fourth sector? Australian community organisations and the market. Third Sector Review, 16(1), 125–143.

André, R. (2012). Assessing the accountability of the benefit corporation: Will this new gray sector organization enhance corporate social responsibility? Journal of Business Ethics, 110(1), 133–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1254-1.CrossRef

André, R. (2015). Benefit corporations at a crossroads: As lawyers weigh in, companies weigh their options. Business Horizons, 58(3), 243–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2014.12.002.CrossRef

Austin, J. E., & Seitanidi, M. M. (2012). Collaborative value creation: A review of partnering between nonprofits and businesses: Part 1. Value creation spectrum and collaboration stages. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(5), 726–758. https://doi.org/10.1177/0899764012450777.CrossRef

Baker, S., Chaskin, R., & Wynn, J. (1996). The role of the sponsor. In R. Stone (Ed.), Core issues in comprehensive community-building initiatives. The Chapin Hall Center for Children: Chicago, IL.

Benefit Corporation Network. (2020). Benefit corporation. Accessed Nov 3, 2020, from https://benefitcorp.net

Bhattacharjee, A., & Jahanshah, A. (2020). The COVID – 19 Crisis brings spring season for translucent activity. Does it result exogenous uncertainty for the entrepreneurs and bound-less commodity pricing! (April). Accessed May 18, 2020, from https://ssrn.com/abstract=3568972 or doi:https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3568972.

Bignetti, L. P. (2011). As inovações sociais: uma incursão por ideias, tendências e focos de pesquisa. Ciências Sociais Unisinos, 47(1), 3–14. Available at: http://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/ciencias_sociais/article/view/1040.CrossRef

Borzaga, C. (2001). Introduction: From third sector to social enterprise. In C. Borzaga & J. Defourny (Eds.), The emergence of social Enterprise (pp. 1–28). New York: Routledge, Taylor & Frances.CrossRef

Brinkerhoff, D. W., & Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2011). Public–private partnerships: Perspectives on purposes, publicness, and good governance. Public Administration and Development, 31(1), 2–14. https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.584.CrossRef

Clarke, A., & Crane, A. (2018). Cross-sector partnerships for systemic change: Systematized literature review and agenda for further research. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(2), 303–313.

Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2017). Fundamentals for an international typology of social enterprise models. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 28(6), 2469–2497. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-017-9884-7.CrossRef

Edgeman, R., Neely, A., & Eskildsen, J. (2016). Paths to sustainable enterprise excellence. Journal of Modelling in Management, 11(4), 858–868. https://doi.org/10.1108/JM2-12-2014-0097.CrossRef

Elkington, J. (1998). Cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st century business. Gabriola Island: BC: New Society Publishers.

Evans, O. (2020). Socio-economic impacts of novel coronavirus: The policy solutions. BizEcons Quarterly, 7, 3–12. https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:buecqu:0013.

Fernandez-Guadano, J. (2015). Employee-owned firms: A business model of social economy with potential. Transformations in Business & Economics, 14, No 2 (35): 191–203. Accessed May 21, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282269069_Employee-owned_firms_A_business_model_of_Social_Economy_with_potential

Fernández-Guadaño, J., & López-Millán, M. (2019). Assessing employee-owned firms: An examination of the Spanish economic model. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 32(1), 1994–2008. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1642781.CrossRef

Fobbe, L. (2020). Analysing Organisational collaboration practices for sustainability. Sustainability, 12, 2466. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12062466.CrossRef

Gazzola, P., Sepashvili, E., & Pezzetti, R. (2018). How sustainable enterprises can drive the sustainable development. European Scientific Journal, 14(6), 26–36. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2018.c3p3.CrossRef

Gehman, J., Ferraro, F., & Etzion, D. (2018). Robust action strategies for tackling the world’s grand challenges. In Jordan, B., & Kinder, M. S. (eds) Resilient Systems, Resilient Communities, Chapter: 8:180–204. Publisher: Intersections of Sustainability, Editors. https://doi.org/10.7939/R30R9MJ5W.

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6), 1880–1895. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.4007.CrossRef

Glikman, N., & Servan, L. (1998). More than bricks and sticks. Five components of CDC capacity. A report to the Ford Foundation. Accessed May 10, 2020, from http://cupr.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Report1.pdf

Hansmannt, H. (1980). The role of nonprofit Enterprise. The Yale Law Journal, 89(5), 835–902. Accessed May 10, 2020, from https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/5048/

Hiller, J. S. (2013). The benefit corporation and corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(2), 287–301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1580-3.CrossRef

Jamali, D., & Carroll, A. (2017). Capturing advances in CSR: Developed versus developing country perspectives. Business Ethics: A European Review, 26(4), 321–325. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12157.CrossRef

Jiménez Escobar, J., & Morales Gutierrez, A. C. (2011). Social economy and the fourth sector, base and protagonist of social innovation. CIRIEC-España, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, 73, 33–70.

Kleine, A., & Von Hauff, M. (2009). Sustainability-driven implementation of corporate social responsibility: Application of the integrative sustainability triangle. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(3), 517–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0212-z.CrossRef

Kokkinis, A., & Sergakis, K. (2020). A flexible model for efficient employee participation in UK companies (pp. 1–41). March: Journal of Corporate Law Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2020.1735161.CrossRef

Koschmann, M. A., Kuhn, T. R., & Pfarrer, M. D. (2012). A communicative framework of value in cross-sector partnerships. Academy of Management Review, 37(3), 332–354. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2010.0314.CrossRef

Kumar, R. (2019a). Moving beyond CSR: The rise of the fourth sector in Business. Accessed Jan 15, 2020, from www.brinknews.com

Kumar, R. (2019b). The business of changing the world: How billionaires, tech disrupters, and social entrepreneurs are transforming the global aid industry. Boston: Beacon Press.

Kuoppakangas, P. (2014). Adopting a municipal Enterprise form: Expectations and outcomes–Three cases and dilemmas. Journal of Change Management, 14(1), 126–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2013.778895.CrossRef

Kurland, N. B. (2017). Accountability and the public benefit corporation. Business Horizons, 60(4), 519–528. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.03.009.CrossRef

Lashitew, A. A., Bals, L., & van Tulder, R. (2020). Inclusive business at the base of the pyramid: The role of Embeddedness for enabling social innovations. Journal of Business Ethics, 162, 421–448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3995-y.CrossRef

Park, J., & Chung, E. (2020). Learning from past pandemic governance: Early response and public-private partnerships in testing of COVID-19 in South Korea. World Development, 137, 105198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105198.CrossRef

Paula, J. (2002). Do non-profit enterprises pay more for their labor inputs? An examination of hospital behavior. NYU working paper no. EC-02-07. Accessed May 10, 2020, from https://ssrn.com/abstract=1292653

Peirce, N., & Steinbach, C. (1987). Corrective capitalism: The rise of America’s community development corporations. New York: The Ford Foundation.

Reficco, E., Gutiérrez, R., & Trujillo, D. (2006). Empresas sociais: espécie em busca de reconhecimento? Revista De Administração, 41(4), 404–418. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0080-21072006000400005.CrossRef

Rubio-Mozos, E., García-Muiña, F. E., & Fuentes-Moraleda, L. (2019). Rethinking 21st-century businesses: An approach to fourth sector SMEs in their transition to a sustainable model committed to SDGs. Sustainability, 11(20), 5569.CrossRef

Sabeti, H. (2009). The emerging fourth sector, executive summary. The Aspen Institute and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Washington DC. Accessed Jun 16, 2019, from https://assets.aspeninstitute.org

Sabeti, H. (2011). The for-benefit enterprise. A fourth sector of the economy is emerging, with the power to transform the course of capitalism. Accessed Jun 16, 2019, from www.prohumana.cl

Sabeti, H. & Ponting, R. (2017). Fourth sector development initiative. World economic forum. Accessed Jan 8, 2020, from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_FSDI_Overview_2017.pdf

Sánchez-Hernández, M. I. (2015). The one for one movement: The new social business model. In W. Wymer (Ed.), Innovations in social marketing and public health communication (pp. 321–333). Cham: Springer.CrossRef

Schweizer, L. (2005). Concept and evolution of business models. Journal of General Management, 31(2), 37–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/030630700503100203.CrossRef

Shiffman, R., & Motley, S. (1990). Comprehensive and integrative planning for community development. New York: Community Development Research Center, The New School for Social Research.

Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA). (2020). What is social enterprise? Accessed Jan 8, 2020, from https://socialenterprise.us

Souleles, D. (2020). Another workplace is possible: Learning to own and changing subjectivities in American employee owned companies. Critique of Anthropology, 40(1), 28–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X19840416.CrossRef

Stone, R. (Ed.). (1996). Core issues in comprehensive community-building initiatives. Chicago: Chapin Hall Center for Children.

Stumm, T. J. (1997). Revenue generation and expenditure implications of municipal non-utility enterprises. Public Budgeting and Financial Management, 8(4), 498–515. Winter, Fort Lauderdale. https://doi.org/10.1177/027507409602600406.CrossRef

Thorpe, J. (2020). Democratising business: Towards meaningful participation in business, finance, and value chain governance, Brighton: IDS. Accessed May 8, 2020, from https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/15282

United Nations (UN). (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Accessed Jan 8, 2020, from https://www.un.org

Velter, M. G. E., Bitzer, V., Bocken, N. M. P., & Kemp, R. (2019). Sustainable business model innovation: The role of boundary work for multi-stakeholder alignment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, 119497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119497.CrossRef

Wagenaar, H., Healey, P., Laino, G., Healey, P., Vigar, G., Isern, S. R., Honeck, T., Beunderman, J., Heijden, J., & Wagenaar, H. (2015). The transformative potential of civic enterprise. Planning Theory & Practice, 16(4), 557–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2015.1083153.CrossRef

Wilburn, K., & Wilburn, R. (2014). The double bottom line: Profit and social benefit. Business Horizons, 57(1), 11–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2013.10.001.CrossRef

Wren, D. (2020). The culture of UK employee-owned worker cooperatives. Employee Relations, 42(3), 761–776. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-12-2018-0327.CrossRef

Title: The Fourth Sector: The Future of Business, for a Better Future
Authors: María Isabel Sánchez-Hernández
Luisa Carvalho
Conceiçao Rego
María Raquel Lucas
Adriana Noronha
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: Entrepreneurship in the Fourth Sector
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68389-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-68390-0

Copyright Year: 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68390-0_2

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"