En kvalitativ studie av Social Enterprise som fenomen - Motsättningar i Social Enterprise bolag bottnar i marknadens bild av socialt företagande

Sammanfattning: A Social Enterprise is a business that features a mixture of characteristics that originates from the third and private sector. A general conception of Social Enterprises is that they aim to improve social welfare by the use of sustainable business models. The mixture of social and business features has created ambiguity about how to define Social Enterprises. The purpose of this study is to clarify Swedish Social Enterprises as a phenomenon and to examine antagonism that arises from mixing the two different sets of organisational characteristics. This is achieved by conducting a qualitative study of ten Swedish companies that the market considers to be Social Enterprises. The empirical material is interpreted with the use of theories about hybrid tensions that arise between the private and third sector. The observations from this section are later interpreted in the light of current research about Social Enterprises. The study suggests that the most fundamental reason to the antagonism in Social Enterprises is rooted in the market's perception and expectations of these organisations. It further suggests that the antagonism is most easily solved through the introduction of a new set of sub-definitions to Social Enterprise. The sub-definitions should be derived from the character of the fundamental motivation of different Social Enterprises. The study recommends that future research should focus on how to communicate the type of sub-definitions that are recommended in this study.