The Benefits Of Social Entrepreneurship

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Social entrepreneurship as a phenomenon has gained increasing attention from mass media and the commercial and academic worlds over the last couple of decades, according to Nicholls (2008). However, it still lacks a universal compilation of current thinking on the topic (Nicholls, 2008). Indeed, Mair and Marti (2006), for example, identify the need for more empirical studies exploring opportunities for social entrepreneurs and how these opportunities affect the entrepreneurial process. Nicholls (2008) suggests that more studies that look into policy, praxis and other academic research in social entrepreneurship are needed. The definition of social entrepreneurship lacks clarity and is often challenged (Nicholls, 2008). This is mainly because …show more content…

Although conventional entrepreneurship opportunities also derive from various shortages or inefficiencies, they have significant differences. Social entrepreneurship’s main goal is to create social change and unlike traditional entrepreneurship, it does not focus on maximising stakeholder economic value (Murphy and Coombes, 2009). Essentially, according to Murphy and Coombes (2009), social enterprises use different kinds of resources (economic, social and environmental) to achieve their mission.
The difference between business sector entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship is not the for-profit or not-for-profit orientation, but rather in the priority that is given to creating social wealth in social entrepreneurship as opposed to economic wealth in business sector, where social value is just a by-product (Mair and Marti, 2006). In other words, economic and social aspects are both embedded in the “value creation” in social enterprises: the main focus is given to social value while the necessary economic value ensures financial viability (Mair and Marti,

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