Janice Yeung’s blog post commenting on tradition versus social enterprises caught my attention. I recently blogged about a similar topic regarding the key features of social enterprises and how it is different from traditional enterprises or NGOs. However, Janice’s blog post brought up the question: can a social enterprise always stay as a social enterprise? Body Shop was used as an example in her blog because it was purchased by L’Oreal, a company that is more profitmaking based.
I would like to add on to her blog by saying that it is difficult for a company to stay as a social enterprise because unlike NGOs, social enterprises still need to make profit. Hence, Body Shop could have merged with L’Oreal due to overriding financial benefits. It is important to magnify their importance since a lot of social enterprises merge into traditional enterprises. Social enterprises help improve the well-being of society in general.
Video: Committee for Democracy in Information Technology
CDI is a social enterprise started by Rodrigo Baggio that encourages poor people to learn how to use computers. This will aid in an increase in employment and social well being in poor countries. It can also impact future generations and the economy.
Works Cited:
powerpoint: class 20, Social enterprise and non profit management, Nov 20th 2011