In doing some research for an event I’m facilitating in Traverse City this week on social entrepreneurship, I came across two articles on the topic:

• The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship by J. Gregory Dees, a faculty member of the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.  Dees makes the connection between the roots of the meaning of entrepreneurship and the social part of social entrepreneurship. Written in 1998 and revised in 2001, it gives a starting point for defining social entrepreneurship.
• Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition by Roger L. Martin and Sally Osberg. Written in 2007 for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, this paper gives numerous examples of well-known social enterpreneurs. More importantly, it makes the distinction between social entrepreneurship, social activism, and social service provision. The paper covers a lot of ground and I’ve only scanned it. One area that I take a different view of is the three components of social entrepreneurship provided in the paper. The authors talk about social enterpreneurship as creating a new equilibrium that improves a human condition, thus leading to transformative and lasting change. What I take exception to is the idea that the old equilibrium is "inherently unjust." Can’t we improve a human condition without creating an "us" vs."them" attitude? What does the victim packaging really do for the cause? Well, those are my first thoughts. The paper deserves a closer look, maybe on the plane….

As with most topics these days, there’s more information on the Internet than can be digested . One more source of ideas on the topic is on a blog sponsored by the Skoll Foundation, where there’s a lively conversation on a posting, Defining Social Entrepreneurship.

Enjoy!