I recently read Kella Chan’s blog article “Let’s Go for Lunch,” where she argues that social enterprises doesn’t focus primarily on maximizing profits. I assume she looked at the Triple Bottom Line model, a model that I strongly disagree with for several reasons.

Social Enterprises certainly care about giving back to society, but how can they not focus on profit maximization? I strongly believe that people who care more about society than profits would create or join non-profit/ not for profit organizations. Social enterprises exist because people have realized that there is strong marketing and public relations opportunity. These opportunities benefit the business model and leads to increase in profitability. After top-tier management realizes the profitability potential of social programs, they will then give the green light to their team. Because the team will feel “good” that they’re contributing positively to society, there is going to be an increase in employee satisfaction and possibly productivity. If however, a social program is deemed unprofitable with too many risks involved, top tier management will most definitely cease such program, regardless of how much positive benefits it will bring to society. The reality of the model is that profit overshadows all other aspects.

Source: https://blogs.ubc.ca/kellawchan/2013/11/16/lets-go-for-lunch/