Charting new territories: Typology of Social Enterprises in Croatian context

Social entrepreneurship as a developing area and social enterprise as a specific form have no universally accepted definitions. It is difficult to reach such consensus because social enterprises, , their structure and... [ view full abstract ]

Social entrepreneurship as a developing area and social enterprise as a specific form have no universally accepted definitions. It is difficult to reach such consensus because social enterprises, , their structure and modalities of action are largely contextual. They are under influence of specific factors related to the historical, political and socio-economic development of the contexts in which they operate.
This paper will present a proposal of a typology of social enterprises (SE) in Croatia. Social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in the Croatian context are still in its infancy and in partly marginalized situation by the side of the government agencies and the public. The concepts of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises are "imported" from abroad with particularly important role of international organizations. Till present, social enterprises primarily emerged as initiatives of non-profit organizations.
Social entrepreneurship and social enterprises are not widely recognized in Croatia. Lack of information and poor understanding of their role and potential benefits for local communities and society further deepen their invisibility- Sector of social enterprises is under researched with critical a lack of empirical data, Therefore, this first systemic attempt to map and classify social enterprises intends to fill that gap. Identified types of social enterprises should be understood as ideal-types which aim to serve as a compass for policy makers, researchers, practitioners and other stakeholders interested in development of SE sector.
Typology is developed as a part of of ICSEM International project on Social Enterprise Models that we are conducting in Croatia. The intention was to recognize how various SE models are shaped by internal factors - such as the social mission, the field of activity or the type of governance, but also by external driving forces - such as public policies, scope of the third sector, socio-cultural factors, etc. However, the primary dimension used in typology was general motive, goals or driving force behind the SE initiative.

Key words: social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, typology, Croatia, comparative