From Jean Baptise Say’s definition of entrepreneur as someone shifting resources to an area of higher yield; to Joseph Schumpeter’s concept of entrepreneur as driver of creative destruction, to Peter Ducker’s description of entrepreneur as innovator creating an exploiting opportunity, the concept of entrepreneurship has evolved into a well-defined area in management science and other disciplines of social sciences.
Social Entrepreneurship, on the other hand, is vaguely defined as “a concept that bridges an important gap between business and benevolence”. Social entrepreneurs, in the words of J.G. Dees, “are one species in the genus entrepreneur”. Such generous and all-inclusive definitions do not bring conceptual clarity to the idea of Social Entrepreneurship. Dennis Young made an early attempt to build theoretical foundations of Social Entrepreneurship, by creating “hybrids” and differentiating between non-profit and for-profit entrepreneurs. There still, however, exists research gap in conceptual clarity of Social Entrepreneurship, and determination of its place and status.
For Social Entrepreneurship to be regarded as a genuine, distinctive discipline or movement, its concept must move from “emerging excitement” to a valid and reliable field. Since the evolution of Social Entrepreneurship as an independent discipline has not been linear or straightforward, there is a need to analyse its concept and historical evolution by exploring emergence and growth of Social Entrepreneurship both within the developed worldand the developing societies.
Social Entrepreneurship is apparently making positive contribution to social change. However, proponents of Social Entrepreneurship must answer criticisms about its validity, impact, and relevance. They have to explain, to what extent, efforts to conceptualize Social Entrepreneurship as a positive force for social change have gained fruition? How Social Entrepreneurship contributed towards economic growth and competitiveness? Is there enough evidence to establish positive relationship between Social Entrepreneurship and value creation for communities? Can we assess impact of Social Entrepreneurship on female entrepreneurship and agency? And finally, they need to respond to critique of Social Entrepreneurship as a social movement of neo-liberalism that undermines democratic ways of problem solving through political work in communities.
The writer is an MBAfrom the Schulich School of Business, Canada, specializing in the field of strategic management.
Can be reached at LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/wijdannisar/
