Social Entrepreneurship in China: Driving Institutional Change

Abstract:

In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the concern with exclusionary and unethical business practices has led to the growing popularity of social entrepreneurship, which focuses on the creation of social value, not wealth. In this article, I reflect on social entrepreneurship in China, a unique context given the strong communist party leadership and the transition to a market economy. To begin, I discuss the legal and political framework for social entrepreneurship in China, followed by an overview of the sector’s characteristics, including age, size, social issues emphasized, leader characteristics, and the role of women. Next, I provide examples of three social enterprises in China that illustrate the diverse possibilities for this sector as a force for social and institutional change. I conclude with some suggestions for strengthening China’s social enterprise ecosystem.

Keywords::

• change
• China
• development
• entrepreneurship
• gender
• institutions
• policy
• social change
• social enterprise
• social entrepreneurship
• sustainable development
• women

JEL Classification Codes::

• B52
• L26
• O35

Notes

¹ See www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/for more detail.

² In China, NGOs often take the specific legal form of private non-enterprise organizations.

³ Some Chinese social enterprises divide their work and register two types of organizations – business and NGO – to achieve the benefits of each (Chen, Yin and Kohlbacher 2016).

⁴ Yak fiber is “30% warmer than wool” and “130% more breathable than cashmere” (Shokay 2017).

⁵ A social and solidarity economy (SSE) is a holistic, rights-based approach to development that includes “a broad range of organizations and enterprises that have explicit social and often environmental objectives, and are guided by principles and practices of cooperation, solidarity, ethics and democratic self-management” (UNTFSSE 2014, iv).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tonia Warnecke

Tonia Warnecke is the George D. and Harriet W. Cornell chair of social entrepreneurship, an associate professor, and a department director (social entrepreneurship) at Rollins College.