Abstract
This article compares the emerging concept, practice, and context of social enterprise across seven regions and countries of the world. Broadly defined as the use of market-based approaches to address social issues, social enterprise provides a “business” source of revenue for civil society organizations. However, within these broad parameters, world regions have come to identify different concepts and contexts with the social enterprise movement in their areas. Largely lacking in the social enterprise literature are explanations of what these regional differences are, and whether and how socioeconomic context may play a role in these variations. Drawing on social origins theory, recent social enterprise comparative research, and socioeconomic data, this article examines the different factors shaping social enterprise in seven regions and countries. It finds that variations in socioeconomic contexts appear to account for international differences in social enterprise. These findings have practical implications for the development and transfer of social enterprise internationally.
Résumé
Cet article compare la notion émergente, la pratique et le contexte de l’entreprise sociale à travers sept régions et pays du monde. Généralement définie comme l’utilisation de méthodes basées sur le marché pour régler les problèmes sociaux, l’entreprise sociale procure une source de revenus «commerciaux» aux organisations de la société civile. Cependant, à l’intérieur de ces paramètres, les régions du monde en viennent à identifier des conditions et des contextes différents en ce qui concerne le mouvement de l’entreprise sociale dans leurs pays. Les explications sur ces différences régionales, et dans quelle mesure le contexte socio-économique peut jouer un rôle dans ces disparités, manquent cruellement dans les publications sur l’entreprise sociale. S’appuyant sur la théorie des origines sociales, les recherches comparatives récentes en matière d’entreprise sociale, ainsi que les données socio-économiques, cet article examine les différents facteurs qui façonnent l’entreprise sociale dans sept régions et pays. D’après ses conclusions, il apparaît que les différences dans les contextes socio-économiques semblent expliquer les différences au niveau international en matière d’entreprise sociale. Ces conclusions ont des répercussions pratiques pour le développement et la cession des entreprises sociales au niveau international.
Zusammenfassung
Dieser Artikel vergleicht das sich entwickelnde Konzept, Praxis und Kontext von sozialen Unternehmen in sieben Regionen und Ländern der Welt. Grob definiert als auf dem Markt basierende Ansätzen nutzend, um sich sozialen Problemen zu widmen, soziale Unternehmen bieten zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen eine “geschäftliche” Einkommensquelle. Innerhalb dieser breit angelegten Parameter haben verschiedene Regionen der Welt jedoch verschiedene Konzepte und Kontexte für soziale Unternehmen in ihren Gebieten identifiziert. In der Literatur über soziale Unternehmen fehlen weitgehend Erklärungen, was diese regionalen Unterschiede sind, und ob und welche Rolle sozialökonomischer Kontext in diesen Variationen spielen könnte. Basierend auf der Theorie der sozialen Herkunft, jüngster vergleichender Forschung zu sozialen Unternehmen und sozialökonomischen Daten untersucht dieser Artikel die verschiedenen Faktoren, die soziale Unternehmen in sieben Regionen und Ländern prägen. Er findet, dass Variationen in sozialökonomischen Kontexten für Unterschiede in sozialen Unternehmen weltweit verantwortlich zu sein scheinen. Diese Ergebnisse haben praktische Folgen für die Entwicklung und Transfer von sozialen Unternehmen weltweit.
Resumen
En este artículo se compara el concepto, la práctica emergente y el contexto de la empresa social en siete regiones y países del mundo. Generalmente definida como el uso de enfoques de mercado para abordar las cuestiones sociales, la empresa social ofrece a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil una fuente «empresarial» de ganancias. No obstante, dentro de estos amplios parámetros, las regiones del mundo han llegado a identificar en sus zonas distintos conceptos y contextos con el movimiento de la empresa social. En la literatura sobre empresas sociales brillan por su ausencia las explicaciones sobre qué son estas diferencias regionales, si el contexto socioeconómico desempeña un papel en estas variaciones y cómo es este papel. Basado en la teoría de los orígenes sociales, el reciente estudio comparativo de empresas sociales y los datos socioeconómicos, este artículo analiza los distintos factores que conforman la empresa social en siete regiones y países. Descubre que los cambios en los contextos socioeconómicos parecen ser la causa de las diferencias sociales en la empresa social. Estos descubrimientos tienen implicaciones prácticas para el desarrollo y la distribución de la empresa social internacionalmente.
摘要
本文比较了世界七个国家和地区中社会企业的新兴概念、实践和发生背景。从广义上,社会企业被定义为利用基于市场为方式以设法解决社会问题,为公民社会组织(又称”民间组织”)提供一种”商业性”收入来源。然而,在这些广义参数内,世界各地区已确认他们当地社会企业行动的不同概念和发生背景。在社会企业的文献中主要缺乏的是对这些地区性区别是什么,以及社会经济背景能否与如何在这些变异中发挥作用的解释。利用社会起源理论、最近的社会企业比较研究以及社会经济数据,本文研究了七个国家和地区中形成社会企业的不同因素。本文认为社会经济背景的变异看来是社会企业具有国际性不同的原因。这些研究结果在社会企业的国际性开发与转移方面具有实际意义。
ملخص
يقارن هذا المقال المفهوم المنبثق، الممارسة، و حالة المشروع الإجتماعي عبر سبع مناطق و بلدان العالم. تعريفاً واسعاً من حيث إستخدام النهج القائم على السوق التجاري لمعالجة القضايا الإجتماعية، المشروع الإجتماعي يزود “الأعمال التجارية” بمصدر دخل لمنظمات المجتمع المدني. ومع ذلك، ضمن حدود العوامل الواسعة المدى، مناطق العالم قامت بتحديد المفاهيم المختلفة والسياقات مع حركة المشاريع الإجتماعية في مناطقهم. أدب المشاريع الإجتماعية يفتقر إلى حد كبير إلى توضيحات عن هذه الاختلافات الإقليمية وإذا وكيفية أن السياق الاجتماعي الاقتصادي قد يلعب دوراً في هذه الاختلافات. بالإعتماد على نظرية النشأة الإجتماعية، البحوث المقارنة للمشاريع الإجتماعية الحديثة، و البيانات الإجتماعية الإقتصادية، يدرس هذا المقال العوامل المختلفة التي تصيغ المشاريع الإجتماعية في سبعة من المناطق والبلدان. فإنه يرى أن الإختلافات في السياقات الاجتماعية والاقتصادية تمثل السبب للإختلافات الدولية في المشاريع الاجتماعية. هذه النتائج لها آثار عملية في تطوير ونقل المشاريع الاجتماعية دولياً.
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Notes
For example, though cooperatives exist in both the United States and Western Europe, only in Western Europe are social cooperatives included in the social enterprise discourse.
Interestingly, more recent assessments of civil society in Argentina indicate that it is much stronger than in 1995 when Salamon et al. (2004) collected the civil society data cited earlier in this article. Heinrich (2007, p. 15) states: “In the past few years, Argentina has recovered from the dramatic socioeconomic crisis of 2001 that impoverished the population and discredited the political classes of the day. During and after this crisis, civil society played a major role in assisting the population and responding to the social needs that the state failed to address, making civil society organizations a widely respected group of actors in Argentinean society.”
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An earlier version of this paper appeared in chapter 9, “A Comparison of Social Enterprise Models and Contexts,” in J. A. Kerlin (Ed.). (2009). Social Enterprise: A Global Comparison. Lebanon, NH: Tufts University Press.
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Kerlin, J.A. A Comparative Analysis of the Global Emergence of Social Enterprise. Voluntas 21, 162–179 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-010-9126-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-010-9126-8