HKS Affiliated Authors

Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation, HKS; Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration, HBS

Excerpt

2018, Paper: "While in recent decades the social and business sectors have evolved on fairly separate tracks, today companies are increasingly expected to generate social value in addition to profit. As a result, they also increasingly face the distinct challenge of pursuing social and financial goals at the same time. Social enterprises have a great deal of experience dealing with this challenge, as hybrid organizations that combine aspects of typical businesses (undertaking commercial activity) and not-for-profit organizations (pursuing a social mission). In this essay, I discuss my research, as well as that of others, on social enterprises, with the objective of tracing my perspective on the current state of knowledge regarding social enterprises and their capacity to pursue joint social and financial goals over time."