Release:
2019, Vol. 5. №1About the author:
Anna Waligóra, Ph. D. in Economics, Department of Sociology and Business Ethics, Poznań University of Economics and Business; anna.waligora@ue.poznan.plAbstract:
Social enterprises (i. e. entities of the social economy) are currently perceived as auxiliary tools of social policy aimed at solving social problems, using economic mechanisms. Their quantity, size, and importance for the economy determines their rather minor significance to the economic functions of the open market. Which, in turn, is recreated in relation to the conditions of the capitalist economy that grants small weight to non-economic motivations for running a business. As a result, the main players of the open market (entrepreneurs) need social justification for their economic decisions, which, in addition to a strategy leading to profit, should include social responsibility. Nowadays, the range of economic entities has exceeded social enterprises, which initiate changes in the rules of the free market. This is not only a trend, but also a need, the fulfillment of which is to increase the quantitative and qualitative involvement of citizens in the labor market.
This article aims to answer the following questions: what place should social enterprises take on the free market; what are the consequences; and whether it is possible to talk about the “ideal model” of building relationships on the open market between social and classic enterprises. It is also worth re-asking the question about who (especially from the perspective of current social needs) should determine the rules of the free market? This question is worth expanding in relation to which rules should regulate the freedom of the market.
Conducting this research required both primary quantitative (analysis of existing statistical data) and secondary qualitative research methods (among others, literature research, participant observation, case studies). That resulted in the creation of “Typology (of lack) of relations between social economy entities and enterprises”. English and Polish-language literature in the field of economics and other social sciences was used to prepare the article.
The results show that both social enterprises and enterprises in general have a small mutual awareness of their existence, and when they obtain it, they find optimal formulas of effective cooperation. In addition, dividing social responsibility between cooperating social enterprises and enterprises in general can be a target and optimal model of cooperation within the free market.
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