From the editor: The social side of international business policy – mapping social entrepreneurship in South Africa

Abstract

A project on social enterprises in South Africa yielded two key insights for international business. First, partnering with policymakers can strengthen both the relevance and the rigor of research. Second, both the (relatively few) large, multinational social enterprises that obtain funding and operate across multiple countries (whether global or intra-African), and the myriad single-location, informal micro social enterprises are globally connected. Micro social enterprises are linked to the formal and often multinational sector through their main source of funding: corporate social investment. This suggests that the social implications of cross-border businesses are more complex than previously understood.