Abstract
As a critical contribution to the literature on social entrepreneurship, this paper provides structure and clarity to this concept, situating it within the context of charity and philanthropy as sources of social value creation. Identifying social entrepreneurship as creating both social and economic value, we discuss productive, unproductive, and destructive entrepreneurship in terms of social value creation. To illustrate these issues comparative case studies are presented on Microsoft Corporation and Grameen Bank. Even if their successes have been derived from different motivations, these highly innovative ventures have created significant economic and social value.
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Notes
Unless, of course, that is the specific analytical concern.
Barring social critique and philosophical challenges.
Thus, philanthropists are only minimally accountable to outsiders and can pursue social objectives as they choose or define.
See the website (www.grameen-info.org) for a delineation of the Sixteen Decisions.
In the Microcredit Summit Report (2007).
E.g., studies conducted in 2000 by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society, the National Public Radio, Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Kennedy School of Government; and by the PEW Internet and American Life Project.
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Acknowledgment
The authors thank Philip Auerswald, Alex Acs, Sameeksha Desai, Siri Terjesen, Henry Etzkowitz, Joseph Sani, Catherine Rudder, seminar participants in the School of Public Policy at George Mason University, the Stern School of Business at New York University, and the Colloquium for Measuring the Social Value of Innovation at the University of Arizona, and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, insights, and contributions to this paper.
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Acs, Z.J., Boardman, M.C. & McNeely, C.L. The social value of productive entrepreneurship. Small Bus Econ 40, 785–796 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-011-9396-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-011-9396-6