PHENOMENON OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ESSENCE AND CRITERIA

The article discusses various approaches to the interpretation of the concept of social entrepreneurship. In Ukraine, social entrepreneurship is at the beginning of its development. The first attempts at implementation of social entrepreneurship in our country took place in the early 2000s, but they were not at all effective. Today the relevance of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine is aggravated in the context of the administrative-territorial reform. Newly established municipalities need new tools to solve existing social and economic problems and their funding mechanisms. The absence in Ukraine legislated determination and clearly defined criteria for social entrepreneurship creates a significant obstacle in the development of this sphere. The analysis of scientific literature on the study indicate that currently there is no clear distinction between social entrepreneurship, socially responsible business and social partnership of NGOs with business. This terminological confusion causes uncertainty in scientific researches, expanding or narrowing their objects, and slows down implementation of effective policies for social entrepreneurship and development of practice in the field. Despite the fact that today social entrepreneurship turned into a movement with its ideology and mission, there is no single definition of the term. There are two approaches to the interpretation of the essence of social entrepreneurship, innovative and entrepreneurial. The differences between them relates to the degree of innovation and financial profitability of a social enterprise. Representatives of innovative approach believe that the main purpose of social enterprise is to solve social problems through social change, financial gain is not a priority. Supporters of entrepreneurial approach believe that profit through business activities is a compulsory criteria of social entrepreneurship. The authors suggest that the first approach to the understanding of social entrepreneurship is more typical of European countries, including Britain, the second − for the US and Latin America. Within the entrepreneurial approach the Western and the Asian social entrepreneurship schools are distinguished. Significant differences between them lie in issues such as profitability, replicability, scalability and geographic location of the business. Different approaches to the concept of social entrepreneurship exists due to specific socioeconomic, political and cultural environment of its functioning. This should be considered at least in two aspects. First, the investigation and understanding of the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship, unlike traditional business principles which are universal, are impossible without taking into account national and local circumstances. Second, supporting social entrepreneurship we can not rely only on the European or American experience. Therefore, in the development of a national strategy of social entrepreneurship it is important not only to rely on the gains of foreign countries, but to focus primarily on the realities and needs of Ukrainian society