Social enterprises and innovation

Research on the contribution of social enterprises to inclusive economic growth is gaining momentum. The topic has caught the interest of scholars from various disciplines, including organisational studies and development economics. Defined as “organizations that use a business logic in a novel and entrepreneurial way to improve the situation of segments of the population that are excluded, marginalized, or suffering…” (Saebi et al.: 70), social enterprises have been a platform for new business and distribution models, processes, products and services. While the potential for social enterprises to tackle socio-economic challenges has been acknowledged, practitioners and researchers in the field have pointed at the need for robust, integrative frameworks to facilitate knowledge accumulation. If social enterprises are to fulfil their promise of offering solutions where markets and governments fail, it is critical that cases are systematically documented and analysed and that we strive for consensus about definitions and impact measures. Social enterprises are part of broader innovation ecosystems through which there is the potential to bring about systemic transformation. This project is designed to achieve the following objectives:

• Investigate how social enterprise decision makers in South Africa measure financial and social performance (2020);
• Understand how social enterprise revenue models affect these enterprises’ financial and social performance (2020);
• Map social enterprise ecosystems in South Africa: actors, relations, outcomes (2021);
• Compare and contrast social enterprise practices and performance in South Africa with that of social enterprises in other regions in the Global South (2021);
• Contribute to South Africa’s theoretical and empirical contribution to the global academic discourse around social enterprises as potential vehicles for socio-economic development (2020-2021).