RESPONSIBLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP VISION DEVELOPMENT AND ETHICS

Networked social enterprises 211
Literature review
Social enterprises are private organizations dedicated to solving social problems, serving
the disadvantaged and providing socially important goods that were not, in their judgment,
adequately provided by public agencies or private markets. These organizations have pursued
goals that could not be measured simply by profit generation, market penetration, or
voter support (Dees, 1994 apud Mair & Martí, 2004, p. 4).
Social enterprises are organized as businesses that trade for a social purpose. Their legal
status could be a business, a NGO or could be a productive venture of a NGO. They combine
innovation, entrepreneurship and social purpose and seek to be financially sustainable
by generating revenue from trading. Their social mission prioritizes social benefit above financial
profit, and if and when a surplus is made, this is used to further the social aims of the
beneficiary group or community, and not distributed to those with a controlling interest in
the enterprise (Haugh & Tracey, 2004 apud Mair & Martí, 2004, p. 4).
A social enterprise is a specific piece of the market economy, placing its goals and missions
outside the market. A social enterprise is the glue that connects attributes of the social
economy with free-market principles (Hausner, Laurisz & Mazur, 2007 apud Wronka, 2013,
p. 596). Social enterprises, by means of the activities performed, bring added value to the
economy, but also to society in general (Cornelius & Wallace, 2013).
Social innovation should be vital for social enterprises’ development (Praszkier & Nowak,
2012, pp. 17-18). It is one of the major dimensions that characterizes such a venture, together
with social value creation, market orientation or entrepreneurial spirit (Choi and Majundar,
2010, p. 372).
Social enterprises find, most times, solutions for social problems, especially through their
social innovation capacity. These solutions, as well as the forms of social economy developed
by them could be more visible and with a greater impact, if they would be part of social
economy networks capable of influencing policies at local, regional, national and/or European
level.
Largely, a social network refers to a set of actors and to the connections between them
(Wasserman & Faust, 1994, p. 9 apud Hâncean, 2014, p. 20). Marin and Wellman (2012, p.
11 apud Hâncean, 2014, p. 20) define the concept of social network as a set of socially relevant
intersection points, connected through one or several relations (the intersection points
may include actors, organizations, departments, computers, web pages, articles, countries, communities,
vicinities, social positions etc.).
The network activity is considered an essential method for exchanging relevant information,
for mutual learning, for working with competent staff, as well as for fighting for common
causes (Frank & Thompson, 2010, pp. 102-103). Networks could be either informal, or
formal. The dimensions associated with a social network are density of connections, distance
between participants, and structural cohesion (Praszkier & Nowak, 2012, pp. 90-94).
The network activity is that activity of development and maintenance of relations with
other organizations, which have the potential to offer work or career assistance (Wong & Tse,
2015, p. 29). It is important that social enterprises develop a network management strategy
(Forret & Dougherty, 2004).
Networks help social enterprises, but also other actors involved – companies, universities,
individuals etc. – to develop connections and collaboration partnerships which may offer