Social Enterprises, Mission Drift, and Mitigation Strategies

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bhattacharjya, Souvik^a

Affiliations: [a] Senior Fellow and Associate Director, Resource Efficiency and Governance Division, TERI, New Delhi, India

Abstract: The paper has attempted to bring out the importance of social enterprises (SEs) and the role they play in accelerating the 2030 development agenda. SEs are primarily hybrid organizations emanating from the area of social entrepreneurship. There are, nonetheless, challenges that these organizations encounter. The paper presents key challenges confronting the sector. These include operational issues, management conflicts and governance, inadequate regulations for raising resources, and operational transparency. In a complex socio-economic environment system with SEs certain to be an enabler towards sustainability, it is important that negative outcomes be addressed based on appropriate strategies and interventions. An enabling environment would support SEs and related actors work together in improving institutional capabilities and bringing sustainable innovation and transformation across the complete spectrum.

Keywords: Social enterprises, Social stock exchange, Socially responsible investments, Impact investing, Sustainable development

DOI: 10.3233/RED-191204

Journal: Journal of Resources, Energy and Development, vol. 19, no. 1-2, pp. 63-72, 2022