I have been in many meetings over the past week where the definition of Social Enterprise was discussed at length. These meetings varied from informal discussions with parties of similar interests (at a pub) to formal bid production meetings.
The only common thing between all the definitions was: they contained the word social.
That’s right, the definitions ranged from the classic definition of a social firm to ltd companies trading in highly ethically. Does this matter? Yes. and No.
Yes. It matters because the sector seems to be pre-occupied with what is and what is not a social enterprise.
No. It does not matter because at the end of the day any of the companies described in the complete spectrum are a step forward from classic private enterprise.
US Definition from Social Enterprise Alliance:
so·cial en·ter·prise (n.)
An organization or venture that advances its social mission through entrepreneurial, earned income strategies.
UK Definition from Social Enterprise Coalition:
The simplest definition of social enterprise – as business trading for a social purpose.
*The UK body does go on about the complexity of the sector and to its credit provides a broad spectrum of social enterprise examples.
Well, you probably are saying, “Yes, Todd, that’s fine…but we must care for the legal structure to ensure it is a social enterprise”. Do we? Does it matter if a company trading to achieve a social mission is a ltd company? Or even goes so far as to distribute profits to its stake/shareholders?
I guess this boils down to whether you value the outcome of such a venture versus its particular compensation methods. I would rather see the box of social enterprise dismantled in favor of a system that encourages all types of companies to trade for a social gain. Go ahead distribute profits. Go ahead, register as a company limited by guarantee and sell t-shirts. Just have some sort of social mission tied to your operations.
I suppose it does matter that your operation is driven towards a social mission v. simply fulfilling CSR. But, wouldn’t we be better off if more companies tried to increase their CSR so that they may be considered a Social Enterprise?
Bottom line: We need to start injecting more enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit into social enterprise and let others worry about definitions. If we get caught up in the semantics of defining our sector, we will end up waisting alot of energy drawing fine lines around blue sky paradigms.
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