Socioconomers: New Organizational Actors in Hybrid Corporations

Abstract

Not every actor for social good in structured organizations is seeking to break systems or patterns to create social good. Much of the work of social good has been accepted and institutionalized in the study of social entrepreneurship and microfinance, corporations have incorporated social responsibility as a key component of valve for the firm. In fact, recent scholarship has considered corporate social responsibility, “firms of endearment ”, firms which enjoy both social and financial profits (Sisodia et al., Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, 2003). These organizational forms have led to the conceptualization of private firms with a social benefit overlay. Hybrid organizations will meet the dual needs of profit maximization and social good. Perhaps then there is a need to distinguish these organizational actors from social entrepreneurs. In this article, I consider who are the socially minded business people working and co-creating financial and social returns in today’s economy. They may not be social entrepreneurs. They are not necessarily seeking large-scale social change; agents instead they seek to drive the economic engine while co-producing social good and revenue. We might call these organizational actors “socioconomers ” rather than social entrepreneurs. The term “socioconomer” derives from social and economics. It is a hybrid term just like the actors own, operate and work in social enterprise firms. The paper first discusses who is a “socioconomer ” and where he or she might work. Specifically, the paper posits that a socioconomer might own, operate or work in a U.S. hybrid corporation (such as a Benefit Corporation or a Low Profit Limited Liability (L3C) company in order to maximize profit as well as personal and societal purpose in the workplace.

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