Introducing social enterprises and this book

Twenty years ago, if you had asked most people what a social enterprise was, they would have had no idea what you were talking about. Maybe, after some thought, they would have had a vague notion that it is a business that does ‘good things’. That is probably as far as you would have got. While it is still not a term that is used in general conversation, we have at least reached the stage where social enterprises can be mentioned on Radio 4 or the broadsheet newspapers in the UK without the need for detailed explanation.

Yet, as we shall explore in this book, there are still many different interpretations and strong opinions about what is, and what is not, a social enterprise. Political views, international cultural and economic contexts, personal beliefs and values and exposure to one particular type of social enterprise above others can undoubtedly influence these opinions. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify a range of ‘good things’ these diverse organisations have the potential to deliver. There is broad consensus on a list including some or all of the following:

• • earning money through trading in order to generate money for good causes;

• • creating jobs for people who might not get work in the mainstream labour market;

• • helping local communities to take more control over what happens in their areas;

• • enabling employees to own their own company and to participate in running it;

• • enabling businesses to generate benefits for staff, customers and communities as well as investors.

While this list shows us what social enterprises might do, it also prompts further questions: in what ways are they similar and dissimilar to ‘conventional’ businesses? What kind of businesses can and can't be social enterprises? Who runs them? Who owns them? Who works for them? How many of them are there? And crucially – why should we be interested in them?

This book offers insight into how people who run, support, research and create policy around social enterprises currently set about answering these questions. It presents to readers who are either new to social enterprises, or who want to think about them more, the opportunity to hear directly from people who have thought deeply about social enterprises over a number of years.