Social entrepreneurship: the foundation of tomorrow's commercial business models?

Abstract

Social and commercial entrepreneurship are often said to be two contrasting disciplines that are, at best, only tenuously related. Even though there is a lack of consensus on how to define both social and commercial entrepreneurship, most definitions of social entrepreneurship commonly state that solving social problems demands a narrow, specialised focus, whilst commercial entrepreneurship is often seen as a more conventionally 'business'-like activity. In this article, we put forward our arguments using theoretical discussion backed up by practical case studies to show that many of today's commercial business models are based on ideas with a social intention. Our findings on the economic importance of innovative social business ideas highlight the importance of social entrepreneurship, and the importance of encouraging social aspects in teaching, practical entrepreneurship support and research. In fact, we even find that social and commercial entrepreneurship are highly interrelated phenomena, which should not be treated as separate disciplines.