Abstract
This chapter addresses the governance of for-profit social enterprises, which are organizations with the primary objective of providing social benefits, rather than shareholder profits, that conduct business in the for-profit corporate form. Although many social enterprises are nonprofits, some have adopted the for-profit form in order to pursue their social mission more effectively. For-profit social enterprises, which are alternatives to both traditional nonprofits and standard for-profit corporations, offer novel opportunities for ethics and virtues to play a prominent role in a modern economy. Given the formidable challenges of competing in markets with nonprofits and other for-profit businesses, as well as government welfare services, it is difficult to understand how for-profit social enterprises can exist, much less prosper. Successful for-profit social enterprises require governance structures which allow them to be profitable while effectively realizing their social mission. This inquiry employs economic analysis to identify the aspects of the governance for social enterprises which can enable them to succeed in a highly competitive marketplace.
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Boatright, J.R. (2017). Ethics and Virtue in the Governance of For-Profit Social Enterprise. In: Sison, A., Beabout, G., Ferrero, I. (eds) Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management. International Handbooks in Business Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_102
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6510-8_102
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