From social enterprises to impact businesses: Examining the theoretical debate toward social innovation

Abstract

Objective: provide a critical examination of existing theoretical models and their disagreements that arise from divergent political views, imbued with value about what the social is, what is good and what is bad. Methodology/Approach: theoretical essay that examines, on the one hand, the theoretical discussion that encompasses models with different logics and organizational formats, with an emphasis on prescriptive approaches that romanticize this type of enterprise and, on the other hand, critical approaches that interpret the debate not as a rupture, but as a legitimizing and reproducing character of the established social order. Main results: the visions about social enterprises, divergent in many of the existing theoretical models, shift attention from socio-environmental problems by focusing on heroic individuals and miraculous “solutions”. Social innovation would be the way to solve the impasse of how social transformations are generated in practice, involving different actors that go beyond the discussion in question, directing the debate to the notion of social innovation ecosystems. Theoretical/methodological contributions: propose an inclusive framework that involves the acceptance of diversity and pluralism, and that goes beyond the dispute between models, in order to allow greater focus on socio-environmental issues, recognizing the importance of collective approaches, socio-historical, cultural and territorial differences, in addition to hosting multiscale and multisectoral studies in the direction of social innovation as a transforming process. Relevance/originality: The article expands the understanding of the characteristics and typologies of social enterprises and their different interpretations, leading to reflection on their practices and advancing in the study of the real consequences that these organizations promote, bringing to the fore the debate on social innovation as focus. Social contributions: by discussing the practical consequences of social enterprises and bringing to light the social innovations that these actors co-produce in their specific realities, the article sheds light on this broader dimension directed to the serious problems experienced today.