The duality of social enterprise: a framework for social action

Social enterprises are organizations intent on using the power of the marketplace to solve social and environmental problems. Although their popularity as an approach to business is growing, they are beginning to face a variety of challenges. To help ensure their survival, the paper argues that key business and ethical criteria need to be considered at key stages of the social-action selection process. The Social Action Framework (SAF) is introduced as mechanism to help managers make more effective social-action choices. It is explained using anecdotal evidence from a variety of organizations. In addition, the criteria of the SAF are used to generate an action-based definition of social enterprise and differentiate it from other organizational approaches to social-welfare enhancement.