Social Entrepreneurship

Social Entrepreneurship Last draft version before publication, please cite as: Hockerts, Kai. "Social Entrepreneurship," in: W. Visser and D. Matten (eds): A-Z in Corporate Social Responsibility, ICCA, Frankfurt, 2007: p. 422.

Social Entrepreneurship (S-ENT) describes the discovery and sustainable exploitation of opportunities to create public goods. This is usually done through the generation of disequilibria in market and non-market environments. The S-ENT process can in some cases lead to the creation of social enterprises. These social ventures are hybrid organizations exhibiting characteristics of both the for-profit and not-for profit sector. Individuals engaging in S-ENT are usually referred to as social entrepreneurs, a term that describes resourceful individuals working to create social innovation. They do not only have to identify (or create) opportunities for social change (that so far have been unexploited), they must also muster the resources necessary to turn these opportunities into reality. A typical example is Prof. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh) and recipient of the Nobel Peace price in recognition of his contribution to poverty alleviation through the invention and popularization of Microfinance. Today many foundations aim to identify and promote social entrepreneurs. Two prominent examples are Ashoka and the Skoll Foundation. These so called venture philanthropists adopt methods from the domain of venture capital, for example, encouraging social entrepreneurs to provide detailed business plans and to measure and report systematically on their social performance. Social Return on Investment (S-ROI) analysis is an example, for an emerging tool aiming to describe the social impact of S-ENT in dollar terms, relative to the philanthropic investment made.