Conceptualisation of social enterprise in the UK: a contemporary perspective

Abstract

CONCEPTUALIZAÇÃO DO EMPREENDIMENTO SOCIAL NO REINO UNIDO: UMA PERSPECTIVA CONTEMPORÂNEA RESUMOO conceito de empresa social é cada vez mais de interesse acadêmico em todo o mundo e é cada vez mais um componente integral das economias tradicionais de vários países, incluindo o Reino Unido. Apesar do interesse persistente de acadêmicos, o conceito é relativamente subdesenvolvido e inerentemente complexo e há vários aspectos da empresa social que permanecem em grande parte em pesquisa quanto à comparação com as empresas convencionais. Dado o advento da globalização e o aumento da concorrência, empresas sociais estão "sob pressão" para fornecer soluções mais inovadoras para problemas sociais que a sociedade no Reino Unido enfrenta. Por meio de uma ampla revisão da literatura de empresas sociais, o presente trabalho analisa a evolução destas organizações, como essas se adaptaram às mudanças no ambiente em que operam. As discussões mostram uma mudança cultural na conceitualização e prática das empresas sociais no país. Palavras-chave:Privação; Empreendimentos Sociais; Sustentabilidade; Reino Unido. CONCEPTUALISATION OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN THE UK: A CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE ABSTRACTThe concept of social enterprise is gaining academic interest worldwide and is increasingly becoming an integral component of the mainstream economies of many countries, including the Unite Kingdom. Despite persistent interest from academics, the concept is relatively underdeveloped inherently complex and there are various aspects of social enterprise that remain largely under researched compared to conventional businesses. Given the advent of globalization and increased competition social enterprises are under pressure to provide more innovative solutions to social problems that society in the UK faces. Through a comprehensive literature review of social enterprises, this paper scrutinizes the evolution of these organizations as they adapt to changes in the environment in which they operates. The discussions show a cultural shift in the conceptualization and practice of social enterprises in the UK.Keywords: Deprivation; Social Enterprise; Sustainability; United Kingdom. RESUMENEl concepto de empresa social está cada vez más del interés académico en todo el mundo y es cada vez más un componente integral de las economías tradicionales de muchos países, incluyendo el Reino Unido. A pesar del interés persistente de los estudiosos, el concepto es relativamente subdesarrollada e inherentemente complejo y hay varios aspectos de la empresa social que siguen siendo en gran medida poco investigado en comparación con las empresas convencionales. Ante la llegada de la globalización y el aumento de la competencia, las empresas sociales están bajo presión para proporcionar soluciones más innovadoras a los problemas que enfrenta la sociedad en el Reino Unido. A través de una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura de las empresas sociales, este trabajo analiza la evolución de estas organizaciones ya que se adaptan a los cambios en el entorno en el que oper...

Social Entrepreneurship as a Form of Cross-Border Cooperation: Complementarity in EU Border Regions

“…Because of entrepreneurships' contribution to regional development, issues like mutual cooperation, building relations, and growth of labor productivity are important long-term aspects and entrepreneurship should be supported by local institutional organizations [14,28]. Given the context of cross-border cooperation, we argue that the contribution of social entrepreneurship comes from the capacity to build new economic and social cooperation with local communities, businesses, and/or organizations [46]. Thereby, commercial activities cannot be separated from the social mission.…”

“…The role of social capital is also endorsed in cross-border entrepreneurship, where bilateral relations rely on elements like trust, reciprocity, interdependency, and neighborliness [23,24,28,40]. However, all these studies have a focus on commercial enterprises, whereas social capital for social enterprises has an extra dimension: the hybrid organization pursues a social mission by making use of market-based strategies [46,47]. Spear and Bidet (2005) [48] mention social capital as a permanent source of resources for social enterprises.…”

“…However, we do not exclude the other types of entities which sometimes can be found in local initiatives and in combination with social enterprises. Just like commercial enterprises, social enterprises are genuine businesses with a market-oriented approach [2,43,46,49]. In favor of sustainable cross-border cooperation is their cooperative-oriented approach [2], and the economic outcomes which are always subordinate to mission-driven social goals [3,19,30,31,43,55].…”