Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) is ‘a way of doing business’ so that all staff in any given organisation (public, private or third sector) are fully aware of their role, responsibility, and contribution to the sustainable socioeconomic enhancement of their organisations and the communities in which they live and work. The CSE process includes creating an enabling entrepreneurial environment, fostering corporate social intrapreneurship, amplifying corporate purpose and values as well as building strategic alliances to solve economic and social problems and to promote the success of emerging innovative business strategies.
Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) has its origins in the seminal work conducted by Austin and Reficco (2009) who describe CSE as “a process aimed at enabling business to develop more advanced and powerful forms of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).” CSE builds on the concepts of entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, and social entrepreneurship.
Social entrepreneurship recognises how social problems can provide potential opportunities for the development of products and services that create social value, (Zahra et al., 2008).
The growth and complexity of social problems in today’s world has meant that more comprehensive solutions are needed and typically more resources are required than nation states can provide. As a result, corporate social responsibility and entrepreneurship has been targeted at corporations who have the resources and capacity to engage and make a difference in line with their economic objectives.
As today’s business landscape is increasingly influenced by the evolving pressures and preferences of consumers, regulators, and stakeholder groups, not to mention the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, CSE plays an integral role in helping organisations remain competitive and find new growth opportunities. In this sense, we can argue CSE is the new CSR, a step forward for the post pandemic re-launch of local and global economies. THE FUTURE IS SOCIAL.
