REISER, D. / / DEAN, S. / / LIDEIKYTE-HUBER, G.
The concept of the social enterprise has gained considerable attention in a limited number of jurisdictions. In the United States, hybrid social enterprise forms, including Delawares public benefit corporation, the benefit corporation in over three dozen states, and the private B Corp certification offered by the nonprofit B Lab, have become prominent challenges to the long tradition of shareholder capitalism. In the United Kingdom, Community Interest Companies can benefit from public subsidies in the form of tax preferences. In others, like Germany, a robust welfare state has caused social enterprise to spread much less quickly.
This volume looks beyond well-known examples of social enterprise to find thatto paraphrase Shakespearethere are more forms of business enterprise than are dreamt of in our theory of the firm. Cooperatives, for example, play an important role in jurisdictions ranging from Colombiawhere one of the countrys largest drugstores is owned by a cooperativeto Singapore, which introduced cooperatives in 1925 under British rule. Drawing on the rich cooperative traditions in Europe, jurisdictions across the EU now offer specialised social cooperative forms.
