Title: Commercial benefits of social entrepreneurship

Authors: John Meewella; Maqsood Sandhu

Addresses: Oulu Business School, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 90014, Oulu, Finland. ' Faculty of Business and Economics, United Arab Emirates University, P.O. Box 17555, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: Research within social entrepreneurship traditionally operates in the social domain and lacks direct commercial attributes. The aim of this paper is to highlight that social entrepreneurship can be utilised within commercial context. Article attempts to clarify social entrepreneurship relative to charities, social ventures, and community led ventures and intend to incorporate sustainable development as a means of integrating entrepreneurship. A framework is developed to capture the attitudes and mindset of sustainable development within commercial and social entrepreneurial setting. The construction of the concepts and their applications were based on extensive literature review and several case examples. It highlights sustainable development within both social and community spheres through an interplay of social attitudes and individual behaviours. Finding indicates that social and commercial aspects of entrepreneurship seems to be complimentary to each other. Implications of our analysis can be useful for both practitioners as well as researchers.

Keywords: commercial entrepreneurship; social entrepreneurship; commercial benefits; commercial attributes; charities; social ventures; community ventures; social spheres; community spheres; social attitudes; individual behaviours; Ashoka Foundation; India; Skoll Foundation; Jeff Skoll; Social Edge; USA; United States; Grameen Bank; Muhammad Yunus; Bangladesh; Bunker Roy; Barefoot College; Campaign for Female Education; CAMFED; Ann Cotton; Africa; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Microsoft; entrepreneurs; entrepreneurialism; management; sustainable development; sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2012.049394

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2012 Vol.8 No.3, pp.340 - 357

Published online: 18 Sep 2014 *

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