social enterprise dissertation ideas

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PhD THESIS - SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: SOCIALITY, ETHICS AND POLITICS

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carolina bandinelli

This article adds to contemporary studies of neoliberalism by offering an empirical investigation of the production of subjectivity in the context of coworking spaces' sociality. Coworking spaces are exemplary milieux where to explore the organisation and significance of work. Drawing on the life history of a creative worker and member of a leading coworking space, I unveil the ethical labour that is required to access coworking's sociality. Using a Foucauldian framework, I conceptualise this process as a process of subjectivation and concentrate on its ambivalent character, signalling the inherent intertwinement of self-commodification and self-improvement. This article contributes to the scholarly debates on the organisation and significance of work in two key ways. Firstly, it expands our understanding of how the production of subjectivity is experienced at the level of the self. Secondly, it argues that coworking spaces function as apparatuses for the production of subjectivities in neoliberal culture industries.

Alberto Cossu

Freelancers, social entrepreneurs and artists have intervened in the social fabric by operating in peculiar, but somewhat analogous ways, blending collaboration, entrepreneurship and creative practice in an original manner. Each from their own standpoint, they now reclaim a central role in an urban collaborative scene that they commonly consider the space for the enactment of their creative, (self)entrepreneurial endeavours. Their subjectivity, as we are about to observe, is similarly characterised by a political attitude towards change and an ideological disposition to ‘newness’, that is made explicit in the attempt to combine economic with what may be seen as forms of ‘aest-ethical’ action – and is nonetheless frustrated in the capacity to coalesce as a collective subject within and beyond the fragmented scene they inhabit. By operating in a milieu largely determined by a market economy, yet nonetheless experimenting with forms of commons-based peer production, we argue that freelancers, social entrepreneurs and artists are manifestations, in their own peculiar ways, of that process of ‘re-embeddedness’ of the economic into the social (Pais and Provasi, 2015) that seems to characterise the current socio-economic conjuncture.

carolina bandinelli , Alberto Cossu

More than a decade after the enthusiastic call for the rise of a 'creative class' (Florida, 2002), the conditions of today's creative economy appear to be quite different from the expectations that accompanied its acclaimed surge as a propeller of economic development in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The frenzy around creativity that has characterised cultural economies as a whole since then has evolved into a context that is now largely animated by a casualisation and entrepreneurialisation of work, with project-based employment rising to an unprecedented scale (McRobbie, 2015).

Dissertation

Seung Cheol Lee

Etnološka tribina 41

Miha Kozorog

This paper is about the young entrepreneur as an emerging social agent in contemporary Slovenia. Young entrepreneurs are affected by both an ideal sociality of entrepreneurial ecosystems and the small scale of their environment. This paper argues that while the former is promoted as a tool for strengthening local communities and a means of moving toward a prosperous future, the later prevents its actualization but provides security for young people. Family and other established social relationships are of considerable importance for maintaining young entrepreneurs' careers.

This chapter reflects on the relationship between coworking spaces as a type of creative hub, and the practices of networking that are often described as typical of the creative economy. Elaborating on ethnographic research conducted by the authors in the UK and Italy, we argue that coworking spaces can be seen as heterotopic spaces (Foucault, 1986) in which a certain vision of the world is produced and reproduced. This vision acts as a symbolic dimension that expands the practices of 'network sociality' (Wittel, 2001) by adding to them an imaginary communitarian element. This is characterised by the enactment of a specific disposition that we call 'collaborative individualism'. With this term we want to capture the ambivalence of coworkers' sociality and point at the compresence of an entrepreneurialised and individualised conduct with an ethics of sharing and collaborating.

Pascal Dey , Chris Steyaert

This article identifies power, subjectivity, and practices of freedom as neglected but significant elements for understanding the ethics of social entrepreneurship. While the ethics of social entrepreneurship is typically conceptualized in conjunction with innate properties or moral commitments of the individual, we problematize this view based on its presupposition of an essentialist conception of the authentic subject. We offer, based on Foucault’s ethical oeuvre, a practice-based alternative which sees ethics as being exercised through a critical and creative dealing with the limits imposed by power, notably as they pertain to the conditioning of the neoliberal subject. To this end, we first draw on prior research which looks at how practitioners of social enterprises engage with government policies that demand that they should act and think more like prototypical entrepreneurs. Instead of simply endorsing the kind of entrepreneurial subjectivity implied in prevailing policies, our results indicate that practitioners are mostly reluctant to identify themselves with the invocation of governmental power, often rejecting the subjectivity offered to them by discourse. Conceiving these acts of resistance as emblematic of how social entrepreneurs practice ethics by retaining a skeptical attitude toward attempts that seek to determine who they should be and how they should live, we introduce three vignettes that illustrate how practices of freedom relate to critique, the care for others, and reflected choice. We conclude that a practice-based approach of ethics can advance our understanding of how social entrepreneurs actively produce conditions of freedom for themselves as well as for others without supposing a ‘true self’ or a utopian space of liberty beyond power.

Constellations

Niklas Angebauer

Understanding neoliberalism remains a crucial task for critical theories of the present. While Marxist approaches such as David Harvey's tend to underestimate its novelty and struggle to explain its pervasiveness, Foucauldian perspectives are better equipped to understand neoliberalism in its singularity. These perspectives culminate in the diagnosis of the emergence of a specifically neoliberal subject, the entrepreneurial self. One implication of this diagnosis that has not received nearly enough attention is neoliberal's implicit subscription to the doctrine of self-ownership: The entrepreneurial self is necessarily self-owning, even if that often remains implicit in neoliberal theory. Starting with a discussion of liberal self-ownership (Levellers, Locke), the article shows that neoliberal rationality is premised on self-ownership, discussing human capital theory and Income Share Agreements. The focus on neoliberal self-ownership and its consequences, it is argued, can be used for an immanent critique of neoliberal rationality.

Daniel G Cockayne

In this paper I examine entrepreneurial work in San Francisco's digital media sector to consider how affect and desire are invested in sites of neoliberal production. Drawing on recent writing on affect, I treat affect as ambivalent and coextensive with the mode of production, suggesting an approach that looks beyond the investment of value in commodities, to how desire is produced and directly located in economic infrastructures. Entrepreneurial affect functions through the embodiment of work as a site of personal ''satisfaction,'' the development of passionate attachments to that work, and the production of working subjectivities characterized by their ''compulsory sociality.'' I argue that affect functions through entrepreneurial forms of digital media work to produce and reproduce attachments to precarious working conditions. Drawing on recent debates on precariousness and precarity, I reflect on the possible consequences of affective attachments to entrepreneurial work as a primary site for the justification of precarious work practices and neoliberal modes of governance in general.

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Developing a Social Enterprise : An Investigation of Promoters and Barriers

• Artur Steinerowski
• Division of Rural Health and Wellbeing

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy (awarded by OU/Aberdeen)

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Type : Thesis

Social Enterprises: Conceptual Debates and Approaches

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• First Online: 30 December 2022

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• Millán Díaz-Foncea 4 &
• Carmen Marcuello 4  

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The concept of social enterprises spread globally in the early 1990s. The term social enterprise originated from different institutions, practices, and academic debates. This chapter aims to present and analyze the main debates and approaches to the concept of social enterprise. For this purpose, the different schools of thought and the characteristics of each of them were examined. This chapter also describes the most recent trends in the evolution of the concepts and experiences of social enterprises.

This publication is one of the R & D & I projects PID2020-119473GB-I00 funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain entitled “Social enterprises. Identity, recognition of their legal status in Europe and proposals for their regulation”

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The Role of Social Enterprises at European Level

Social Business: Defining and Situating the Concept

Diversity of social enterprise models in south korea, 1 introduction.

Social enterprise is a term recurrently used in the fields of social economy, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, and impact economy and has generated numerous debates. In Europe, the term “social enterprise” appeared at the beginning of the 1990s, when the Italian parliament passed a specific law for social cooperatives. Footnote 1 In the US, the first reference was in 1993, when the Harvard Business School launched the Social Enterprise Initiative. Footnote 2

Since then, the growth of social enterprises worldwide has been significant, as has the conceptual discussion on it. The aim of this chapter is to present and analyze the main debates and approaches to the concept of social enterprise, as well as to address the main recent trends. To this end, we carried out a review of the most relevant academic literature and institutional reports on the subject to present the concept of social enterprise from the different schools that have contributed to its characterization. We then describe and compare different social enterprise models based on their main characteristics. We also discuss the evolution and trends of the roles, characteristics, and activities of social enterprises.

2 Concept of Social Enterprises: Debates and Approaches

Since the 1990s, social enterprises have become an increasingly widespread and recognized business model. However, the definition of the concept of “social enterprise” remains ambiguous, with blurred boundaries, for which no consensus has been reached, both in academic research and in legal-regulatory spheres. Footnote 3 , Footnote 4 Similarly, the concepts of “social entrepreneur” and “social entrepreneurship,” which are commonly used in the literature, are poorly defined. Footnote 5

From a research perspective, several authors have put forth definitions of social enterprise that attempt to explain the phenomenon. Footnote 6 , Footnote 7 These definitions are, in many cases, controversial, Footnote 8 , Footnote 9 given the lack of a unifying understanding or paradigm. Footnote 10 The current literature offers a fragmented, eclectic picture that approximates the multidimensional nature of this concept. Aliaga-Isla and Huybrechts ( 2018 ) reviewed up to 45 articles published between 2000 and 2015 with definitions of social entrepreneurship that incorporate some relevant novel feature and have not been used by other authors before. These definitions addressed different dimensions, such as the specific profile and role of individual social entrepreneurs, place of innovation, pursuit of market revenues in nonprofit organizations, allocation of profits for the fulfillment of social missions, and governance for a sustainable balance between economic and social goals. Footnote 11 , Footnote 12 , Footnote 13

Teasdale ( 2012 , p. 99) highlighted that “social enterprise” is a fluid and contested concept affected by three variables: (1) it is constructed by diverse actors promoting different discourses, (2) it is connected to different organizational forms, and (3) it is based on different academic theories.

Regarding the first variable, actors and discourses, the literature has pointed to the shaping of definitions of competing discourses and interests, as well as divergent languages and narratives from a wide range of actors. Footnote 14 , Footnote 15 The ultimate relevance of each proposal to the criteria defining the concept of social enterprise has been linked, to a large extent, to the framework in which the different approaches and organizational models they include emerge and are applied. Footnote 16

In relation to organizational forms, the social enterprise is one of the organizational models that incorporate a hybrid nature combining features from social and commercial entrepreneurship. Footnote 17 , Footnote 18 Furthermore, the concept of social enterprise itself has been linked to a wide variety of legal structures and organizational forms, contingent on the national context in which it is observed. Footnote 19

Finally, the efforts of various authors to reach a broad conceptual agreement on social enterprises that serve as a basis and reference for the agents involved have come up against the existence of a traditional dichotomy between the Anglo-Saxon and continental European vision. These two perspectives propose different approaches to social enterprises and have led to the establishment of four general models. Footnote 20 , Footnote 21

The two perspectives have important differences. The continental European perspective identifies social enterprises as a means of solving substantive problems of vulnerable social groups through the development of economic activity. Therefore, both in the academic world and in continental European institutions, the concept of social enterprise is seen as an integral part of the social economy. The continental European perspective thus gives more importance to the external or operational features of the social enterprise than to the social objectives or mechanisms for achieving them, on which the Anglo-Saxon perspective is based. Footnote 22 For its part, the Anglo-Saxon perspective understands social enterprises from a one-dimensional approach (see Fig. 1 ), which tends to place social enterprises along a continuum from purely social to purely commercial and which assumes that the social and commercial dimensions are independent and involve a zero-sum relation—“more of one implies less of the other.” Footnote 23

Social enterprise within the social–commercial continuum of the Anglo-Saxon perspective [Source: Own elaboration, based on Alter ( 2007 , p. 15)]

Thus, the Anglo-Saxon perspective considers the social enterprise as a hybrid between traditional nonprofit organizations and conventional capital companies, understanding them either as financing tools, via the market, for nonprofit organizations or traditional companies (“income generation” approach) or as an entity with the capacity to put social innovation into practice (“social innovation” approach), which, in any case, have the achievement of benefits for their owners or shareholders as their main objective (social entrepreneurs or nonprofit organizations, among others). This social innovation is specified Footnote 24 as new ideas (products, services, and models) that simultaneously meet social needs more effectively and create new modes of social relations. Footnote 25 Such ideas are developed by individual social entrepreneurs, who thus become agents of change, following Schumpeter’s proposal ( 1942 ), by balancing the economic aspects of the project while addressing new needs and/or using new ways of responding to traditional social demands. Footnote 26 , Footnote 27

As for the continental European perspective, the international scientific association EMES Research Network for Social Enterprises has played a key role in the development of a common approach to the study of social enterprises in Europe. Footnote 28 , Footnote 29 Indeed, many authors speak of an “EMES approach” to social enterprises. Footnote 30 , Footnote 31 As outlined by Galera and Borzaga ( 2009 ), the conceptual framework proposed by EMES seeks to combine the two existing and widely used concepts for defining organizations that are neither public (state) nor for-profit (market) enterprises: the nonprofit sector and the social economy. However, the EMES concept of social enterprise seeks not to replace other existing concepts but rather to “enhance the concepts of the third sector by shedding light on the entrepreneurial dynamics focused on social objectives within the sector, while capturing the evolving trends affecting the social services sector” in Europe. Footnote 32 Thus, EMES defines social enterprises as private nonprofit organizations that provide goods and services directly related to their explicit objective of benefiting the community. Social enterprises are based on a collective dynamic in a way that involves the different stakeholders in their governing bodies, are autonomous entities, and bear the risks related to their economic activity. Footnote 33 An essential contribution of EMES is its proposal of nine indicators for defining entities that could be qualified as social enterprises, grouped into three blocks: the economic and business, social, and participatory dimensions (see Table 1 ).

Vargas ( 2020 , p. 66) pointed out that these indicators describe the ideal type of social enterprise, but they do not represent the conditions that an organization must necessarily meet, nor are they intended to provide a structured concept of social enterprises. Nevertheless, the EMES approach has had consequences for the legal system of both the European Union and many European countries. Footnote 34 Following the evolution of the recognition and reality of the term “solidarity economy,” the continental European perspective could be complemented by incorporating this approach into the conceptual map of social enterprise, which is identified as a means for economic democratization.

The solidarity economy emerged in a context of crisis around the 1980s, as a reaction to the institutionalization of the social economy and its tendency toward market isomorphism, offering an alleged political capacity for social transformation. As Laville ( 1994 ) pointed out, the solidarity economy is based on a return to the principles of associationism, a reflection on the dynamics of participation, and a theorization of exchange. The first two are linked to the participatory governance dimension proposed by the EMES approach, whereas the third calls for questioning the economic order. This is based on Polanyi’s ( 1983 ) denunciation of the “economistic fallacy,” which equates the economy with the market, and on the approach taken by Polanyi, for whom all economic activities can be conceived as a combination of several economic principles (redistribution, reciprocity, and the market), rather than referring solely to the market principle.

Although the term “social and solidarity economy” has been used in academic, political, and professional circles since the 2000s, solidarity economy organizations are considered to belong to the public sphere, in the sense that they are conceived not as private organizations (as conceptually established for social economy organizations) but as citizens’ initiatives that call for public action. Thus, the solidarity economy brings together all activities that contribute to the democratization of the economy through citizen participation, considering these activities not only in terms of the legal form under which they are carried out (association, cooperative, mutuality, etc.) but also through their double dimension of economic and political. Footnote 35

3 Social Enterprise Models: Main Characteristics

Beyond the search for a general concept of social enterprise that is accepted by the different actors involved in this field, many authors Footnote 36 , Footnote 37 have proposed following an alternative research strategy that seeks to accept the existence of different types and models of social enterprise that emerge from the specific socioeconomic reality of each environment. However, as Gordon ( 2015 ) pointed out, few authors have provided a list of definitive criteria and characteristics that allow their respective typologies to be used to classify a given set of social enterprises.

Young and Lecy ( 2014 ) proposed the metaphor of the “social enterprise zoo” based on the Anglo-Saxon perspective. The grouping of animals by species (groups of animals that maintain common characteristics) could be assimilated to the different models of organizations identified with social enterprise (a category of entities with common objectives, organizational behavior models, and those with competitive or cooperative interactions with other categories). Young and Lecy ( 2014 ) identified six social enterprise models in this “zoo”:

For-profit business enterprises that develop corporate social responsibility programs in which social objectives play a strategic role

Social businesses that seek an explicit balance between social impact and commercial success

Social cooperatives that maximize the welfare of their members while including a public benefit dimension

Nonprofit organizations that engage in commercial activity in the marketplace for the instrumental purpose of raising resources to further their social mission

Public–private partnerships that combine the commercial and social objectives of their partners (which may include a for-profit, a nonprofit, and/or a governmental entity) in an effort to achieve the social mission set out in the signed contractual agreement

Hybrid models that internalize the characteristics of other forms of social enterprise by explicitly combining the organizational components of both models (commercial enterprises promoted by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or NGOs that are subsidiaries of a commercial enterprise)

From this delimitation, different categories of social enterprises operate, at least in theory, with fundamental differences in their organizational rationale. They are also driven by different objectives or general success criteria, which justify the study of social enterprises by examining each “species” separately.

From a continental European perspective, Defourny and Nyssens ( 2017 ) proposed a categorization of social enterprises based on the “institutional trajectories” followed by the public, private, and social sector models (which have traditionally been based on the principles of general interest, the profit-making interest of capital, and reciprocal or mutual interest, respectively) by forming hybrids of the different types of resources on which social enterprises are based (market, nonmarket, and hybrid resources).

As shown in Fig. 2 , a traditional organizational model is located at each vertex: many associations and nonprofit organizations are close to the general interest, whereas cooperatives are a classic example of the pursuit of mutual interest, and capitalist enterprises are linked to the interest of capital. Social enterprises are situated at the crossroads of the three motivational principles and types of resources, representing a hybridization of traditional models of enterprises and social organizations, ultimately giving rise to four main models:

Entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations: all nonprofit organizations that develop any kind of income activity in support of their social mission

Public sector social enterprise: public service commercialization movement encompassing public sector spin-offs, sometimes in partnership with third-sector organizations

Social business: social enterprises that mix this logic with a “social enterprise” drive aimed at creating “blended value” (i.e., the value is created jointly with the client and other stakeholders, not only by the firm, considering its economic, social, and environmental performance)

Social cooperatives: organizations that combine the pursuit of the interests of their members (mutual interest) with the pursuit of the interests of the whole community or of a specific group targeted by the social mission (general interest)

Both classifications by Young and Lecy ( 2014 ) and Defourny and Nyssens ( 2017 ) are in line with the social enterprise models that emerged from the Anglo-Saxon and continental European approaches. These approaches (income generation and social innovation, in the case of the Anglo-Saxon perspective, and the EMES approach in the continental European perspective) take the form of four traditionally established social enterprise models.

Institutional trajectories and resulting social enterprise models [Source: Defourny and Nyssens ( 2017 , p. 2479)]

From the Anglo-Saxon perspective, the “commercial non-profit” model emerged in the 1980s, in the context of austerity and the reduction of public revenue, through the development of new market-based business strategies by nonprofit organizations in the United States for financing the social activities they had been carrying out (Table 2 ).

The “social-mission-oriented enterprise” model incorporates social responsibility and social issues into the objectives of the enterprise as a priority. In this way, it adds a social mission to the economic mission that has traditionally been linked to business enterprises, regardless of their legal form. A concrete example is the B-corp movement and the “companies with purpose,” which bring together companies that voluntarily agree to incorporate into their statutes the use of different standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal responsibility, as well as take into account their workers, their customers, the suppliers, their community, and the environment in which they are located when making decisions. Their mission is not only to maximize shareholder value but also to create value and have a positive impact on people and the planet.

These organizations carry, as Chaves and Monzón ( 2018 ) pointed out, the model of “social business” promoted by 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. This business assumes a more restrictive social mission by focusing on the poorest people, as a business for the bottom of the pyramid. Yunus ( 2011 ) defined social enterprise as “a non-loss, non-dividend enterprise designed to address a social purpose.” These two models, “commercial non-profit” and “social mission-oriented enterprise,” are included in the “income generation” approach, which emphasizes the balance between the commercial element and the social mission—based on the development of a commercial activity—with the aim of obtaining income to finance the social objectives (the social mission) of the enterprise.

The Anglo-Saxon perspective also includes the “social entrepreneur” model, which specifies the “social innovation” approach. The social entrepreneur model has been incorporated into several countries through the Ashoka Foundation, a nonprofit foundation founded in the United States in 1981, with a reach of more than 3600 social entrepreneurs in more than 90 countries, thus becoming the reference organization in social entrepreneurship.

The European perspective uses cooperative tradition as a starting point for the development of economic activity for achieving the objective of solving substantive problems in different social groups. Scholars Footnote 38 , Footnote 39 have acknowledged the recognition in 1990 of “social cooperatives” in Italy as the moment of the emergence of the social enterprise model in continental Europe. These organizations combine mutual and general interests to solve problems of structural unemployment and groups with employability difficulties, in addition to providing social services, such as education and health care. Footnote 40

Teasdale ( 2012 ) observed that the link between the cooperative model and the discourse of community enterprise has enabled the concept of social enterprise to position itself as a model for the third way in the UK. Young and Lecy ( 2014 ) highlighted the relevance of the social cooperative model—it has enabled the concept of social enterprise to be connected with the tradition of the social economy from the European perspective.

“Work integration social enterprises” (WISE) may be considered a separate model within this perspective. WISE follow their own development path, with roots in the associative (rather than cooperative) sector and a relatively strong dependence on public policies to support work integration. Footnote 41 , Footnote 42 Indeed, work integration is a broad and heterogeneous term. For example, in Spain, two types of organizations are recognized within this model and are included within the framework of the social economy: organizations that target socially excluded groups (such as “insertion enterprises”) and organizations that target people with disabilities (such as special employment centers).

Insertion enterprises must be incorporated as commercial companies (therefore, possible legal forms also include worker-owned companies or cooperatives). To be officially recognized as insertion enterprises, they must meet specific criteria: 51% of their share capital must be held by a social organization or a nonprofit entity, more than 30% of their staff—50% from the 4th year of existence onward—must be workers in the process of integration into the labor market, and they cannot distribute more than 20% of their profits). They must also develop an economic activity, and their main objective must be the integration and training of people at risk of social exclusion.

Regarding the other submodel of WISE, special employment centers in Spain were created by Law 13/1982 with the aim of pursuing the social integration of people with disabilities into the open labor market. These centers can take any legal form, and their owners can be any natural or legal person, public or private. They perform productive work, engage in commercial operations, and aim to provide paid jobs and appropriate personal and social services to workers with disabilities (who must constitute at least 70% of their workforce). Since 2017, a legal distinction has been made between social and business initiative special employment centers, the former being those that are promoted and more than 50% owned by nonprofit entities and are obliged to reinvest their profits in full in the social initiative special employment center itself or in others.

These models can traditionally be considered social enterprises in Spain, Footnote 43 , Footnote 44 which also include associations and foundations under both social economy (focused on the promotion of disability) and nonhegemonic cooperative models (e.g., health cooperativism, responsible consumer cooperatives and nonprofit entities with economic activity).

These models fall under the European Commission’s operationalization of the concept of social enterprise (Sect. 4.2 ). This operationalization makes it possible to apply a shared definition in multiple national contexts in a coherent manner using the three key dimensions proposed by the continental European approach to provide concrete guidelines (Table 3 ).

4 Evolution and Trends

4.1 context.

As mentioned in the previous sections, the first social enterprises to be recognized were the so-called social cooperatives in Italy in 1990. Footnote 45 , Footnote 46 These “new” cooperatives mainly offered services, such as “home help (including medical) for the disabled, children, and the elderly, are professional retraining, direct occupational placement or outplacement for disadvantaged and unemployed people, production of craftwork items, labour-intensive work in agriculture and fishing, ethical and solidarity-based trade.” Footnote 47 In other words, the phenomenon already indicated by Demoustier ( 1999 , p. 33) “due to the exacerbation of competition, as well as the growth of inequalities and social heterogeneity, is once again taking place: they have been asked to take charge of the population, activities and territories excluded from the major economic circuits.” Economic globalization and the financialization of the economy are the main causes of the increase in social exclusion, inequality, and poverty in the world. Moreover, the market did not meet people’s actual needs, especially the care needs of the most vulnerable population. Meanwhile, economic growth was occurring in sectors that were more “interesting” from the perspective of the benefits obtained from the investments made—that is, sectors linked to technology, energy, and transport.

The scenario in 2022 has not changed. Wealth inequality continues to widen, and the demands of the most vulnerable people have increased. According to the World Inequality Report 2022 Footnote 48 (p. 11), “income and wealth inequalities have increased almost everywhere in the world since the 1980s, following a series of deregulation and liberalization programmes that took different forms in different countries. The increase has not been uniform: some countries have experienced dramatic increases in inequality (including the United States, Russia and India), while others (European countries and China) have experienced relatively smaller increases. These differences among countries confirm that inequality is not inevitable, but a policy choice.” Figure 3 shows the extreme concentration of capital and global wealth inequality in 2021.

Extreme concentration of capital: global wealth inequality, 2021 (Source: World Inequality Report, 2022 )

Furthermore, the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the global population, and the consequences have been different across countries. Predictably, the most vulnerable population has suffered the most devastating consequences in terms of health, unemployment, and increased inequality. In some countries, the informal economy has become larger than the formal economy. The social economy has also suffered the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has also responded to multiple situations that have occurred in all countries.

The World Inequality Report 2022 shows that economic inequality has been growing for years and that it is a consequence of the different political decisions made by countries. In addition to wealth inequality, for more than 20 years, there has been an enormous concentration of economic power in large corporations and certain economic activities. This context generates several common and global phenomena: Footnote 49 (1) greater economic instability in all territories, which generates more frequent, intense, and globally recurrent crises; (2) greater socio-labor instability of territories being provoked owing to the increase in global labor precariousness, the privatization of public services, and the consequences of climate change; (3) enormous concentration of the population in large cities, generating enormous inequality between urban and rural areas; and, finally, (4) global democratic weakening, owing to the loss of decision-making capacity in territories, an increase in the power of large corporations, and an increase in individualism. This context indicates the need to establish policy measures in different areas, such as ensuring attention to the needs of the most vulnerable population and especially in the business model being promoted. In this sense, the role of social enterprises is increasingly necessary because of their configuration, management model, principles, and values.

4.2 Evolution

An interesting example of the development of social enterprises can be seen in Europe. In 2011, the European Commission launched a program to promote social enterprises, called the Social Business Initiative. Footnote 50 This program has been evolving, both in the definition of social enterprises and in the policies for their promotion. The latest published definition of the European Commission is as follows: “A social enterprise is an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion and uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives. It is managed in an open and responsible manner and, in particular, involves employees, consumers and stakeholders affected by its commercial activities.” Furthermore, the types of business of social enterprises, according to the European Commission, are “a) Those for who the social or societal objective of the common good is the reason for the commercial activity, often in the form of a high level of social innovation; b) Those whose profits are mainly reinvested to achieve this social objective; c) Those where the method of organization or the ownership system reflects the enterprise’s mission, using democratic or participatory principles or focusing on social justice.” Finally, the European Commission point out that “there is no single legal form for social enterprises.” That is, we can find social cooperatives, private companies limited by guarantee, mutual corporations, nonprofit organizations, associations, and charities of foundations. Footnote 51

This definition contains three important elements that configure an enterprise model, all of which will have a clear impact on the context described in the previous section. The European Commission recognizes three substantial elements of social enterprises: (1) the social or societal objective of the common good is the reason for the commercial activity; (2) profits are mainly reinvested to achieve this social objective; and (3) the method of organization or ownership system reflects the enterprise’s mission, using democratic or participatory principles or focusing on social justice. These three elements have a major impact on the above context. First, economic activity is subordinated to the fulfillment of social objectives or the common good, which will have a clear impact on the generation of economic activity with a long-term view, avoiding situations of risk and rapid growth to favor and create greater economic stability and contribute to the mitigation of climate change. Second, the reinvestment of profits will make it possible to generate more decent working conditions and avoid the incorporation of free riders, who only seek personal enrichment through economic activity without considering the rest of the stakeholders. Third, the democratic and participatory decision-making model of social enterprises will favor the democratic stability of territories and the co-responsibility of different stakeholders.

Finally, the European Commission has also been evolving in terms of what it considers to be the main areas of economic activity of social enterprises. The main sectors of economic activity are identified as work integration, personal social services, local development of disadvantaged areas, and more diverse activities, such as recycling, environmental protection, sports, arts, culture or historical preservation, science, research and innovation, consumer protection, and amateur sports. Footnote 52 Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights, stated in the report published by the European Commission ( 2020 , p. 5), that “Social enterprises contribute to important policy objectives, such as job creation, inclusion, equal opportunities, sustainability and social engagement. They are an excellent example of an ‘economy that works for people,’ which represents one of the main priorities of the European Commission (EC).”

Regarding trends in the field of social enterprises, we identified two issues to highlight: first, social enterprises are expanding their scope of economic activities; second, business models are being generated that more clearly incorporate the need to change the traditional business model based on the subordination of the company’s decisions to the remuneration of the company’s capital.

Regarding the first trend, in the 1st years in which the term social enterprise began to be used, it was mainly identified with business experiences directly linked to processes of socio-labor integration for people experiencing exclusion and people with disabilities. In Spain, WISE Footnote 53 and special employment centers Footnote 54 were the first legal figures recognized at the state level as social enterprises. Footnote 55 In Italy, social cooperatives Footnote 56 emerged “in response to the failure of policies for the employment of disadvantaged workers” and as an “expansion of the social economy.” Footnote 57

In 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the range of activities of social enterprises in general, as indicated by the European Commission (Table 2 ), has expanded, along with the territory where they are developed. Initially, the traditional spaces of generation and action of social enterprises tended to be in urban contexts, with some experiences in rural areas. Pinch and Sunley ( 2016 , p. 1290) observed that the urban context offered “key benefits of agglomeration” to social enterprises that enable access to demand for “goods and services together with institutional support, funding and commercial contracts, as well as access to both formal and informal networks that can provide a wide range of knowledge and mutual support.” However, social enterprises have also brought about a very interesting phenomenon of recovery of economic activities and through another model of local development. In this sense, Olmedo et al. ( 2021 , p. 1) indicated that “rural social enterprises are increasingly recognized as organizations that contribute to local development by providing goods and/or services to meet community needs and by fostering inclusive social and governance relations.”

The second trend is a paradigm shift in the concept of capitalist enterprises. This proposed change takes the form of different transformation levels in the capitalist model. Following the example of France in 2019, which enacted Law n° 2019 -486 on May 22, the category of “Entreprise solidaire d’utilité sociale (ESUS)” was created to monitor the growth and transformation of companies. It has allowed the identification of social entrepreneurs whose activity is oriented in a dominant way toward the search for a significant social impact. ESUS approval notably favors social entrepreneurs’ access to equity financing. This law is in line with the recognition of other types of companies, such as benefit corporations, public benefit corporations, and social purpose corporations introduced in the United States. Henderson ( 2021 , pp. 838, 849) indicated that “solving the great problems of our time will require reimagining capitalism by balancing the power of the free market with capable, democratically accountable government and strong civil society” and insisted on “firms to be committed to more than simple profit maximization.” In Spain, following the growth of the B-corp and “impact ecosystem,” campaigners have called for legislation on companies with a purpose and the creation of a new legal figure (“Sociedades de Beneficio e Interés Común”) following the French model. Footnote 58

However, a number of important issues need to be taken into account in this necessary transformation of the capitalist enterprise to bring about a paradigm shift. For one, company boards of directors should include workers and even representatives of civil society. Other issues are concerned about ensuring that the distribution of profits clearly leads to an improvement in working conditions and in the territories where the company operates, as well as penalizing undesirable behaviors, such as abuse of power, job insecurity, and economic activities that negatively impact the environment.

5 Conclusions

The concept of social enterprises has received wide attention from practitioners, policy makers, and academic researchers. Different ways of understanding enterprise models have emerged since the beginning of the 1990s, but two perspectives have dominated the discourse: the Anglo-Saxon and continental European models. Each highlights different structural features of social enterprises, which can be categorized into four general models. Footnote 59 , Footnote 60 The first is the “commercial non-profit” model that emerged in the 1980s within a context of austerity and reduction of public revenues, formed through the development of new market-based business strategies by nonprofit entities in the United States for financing the social activities they had been implementing. Second, the “social mission-oriented enterprise” model incorporates and prioritizes social responsibility and social issues within the objectives of the company. In this way, these enterprises add the social mission to the economic mission that has traditionally been linked to commercial enterprises, whatever their legal form is. The third is the “social entrepreneur” model, which concretizes the “social innovation” approach and which has been promoted especially through the Ashoka Foundation. The last is the European model defined by EMES—private nonprofit organizations that provide goods and services directly related to their explicit objective of benefiting the community. These are based on collective dynamics in a way that involves different stakeholders in their governing bodies, are autonomous entities, and bear risks related to their economic activity.

The term social enterprise remains an evolving concept and is influenced by the economic model from which it emerges. At present, these enterprises face the urgent need to address the problems generated by globalization. These problems can be seen in the dramatic increase in inequality, more intense and global-scale economic instability, socio-labor instability of territories, and the global weakening of democracy. Faced with this situation, companies are fundamental actors in both the generation of these problems and their solutions. In this sense, society has an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the conception and function of business. Thus, social enterprises are increasingly necessary in terms of the role they can play, owing to their characteristics, democratic management model, and principles and values, as pointed out by the European Commission. Meanwhile, the role and contribution of B-corps, or companies with a purpose, remain very relevant. Nonetheless, these new business models must incorporate elements that include worker participation and a change in the profit distribution model, not only in terms of capital ownership but also with the participation of stakeholders and the penalization of undesirable behavior in the labor, social, and environmental aspects.

Finally, social enterprises, especially those under the European-continental approach, can be promoted to democratize the economy. The inclusion of the governance and ownership dimensions points to the need to give people the ability to be the protagonists of their own economic decisions. This is a key issue that should be addressed by all other models and approaches to social enterprises.

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Díaz-Foncea, M., Marcuello, C. (2023). Social Enterprises: Conceptual Debates and Approaches. In: Peter, H., Vargas Vasserot, C., Alcalde Silva, J. (eds) The International Handbook of Social Enterprise Law . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14216-1_7

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Models of Social Enterprise? : Microfinance Organisations as Promoters of Decent Work in Central Asia

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Error message, social enterprise and community development: theory into practice in two cambodian villages.

Social enterprise (or business driven by social objectives) is a prominent focus of development. In higher income countries it is a strategy for regional development or regeneration by creating optimal levels of social value from under-utilised resources. In developing countries, social enterprise offers hope for sustainable development by reducing dependency on aid and by developing markets and improving economic growth. Social enterprise is widely linked to ‘business at the bottom of the pyramid’, there is particular attention to heroic 'social entrepreneurs'. But critical literature shows a tension between the top-down ‘development’ driven view of social enterprise and a bottom-upwards grassroots community development approach driven by wellbeing. This thesis explores the second agenda in the context of Cambodia, a post-colonial and post-conflict, aid dependent developing country that has undergone rapid economic transition since the late 1990s. The thesis asks – How are social enterprises likely to be understood at the grassroots community level in Cambodia? and What discourses of social enterprise are likely to yield sustainable effects at this level of society? This research is multi-disciplinary, drawing from economic geography and substantive economic anthropology as well as the social enterprise management and social entrepreneurship literature. It engages with and critiques some of the most widely held theoretical approaches concerning social value and economic value, social capital, collectivity and solidarity, the attributes and naturalised ethics of social entrepreneurs. Theoretically, I make the case for social value in pragmatic terms as an embodied process that is situated in context. This allows for an historicised analysis of reciprocity and mutual self-help oriented to contextualised outcomes vis-a-vis wellbeing. The actions of some socially entrepreneurial actors give hope for social economies at the grassroots but they also call ethics into the question. It has to be appreciated that economic solidarity is processed through a host of competing interests and obligations. This thesis was undertaken using an action research project in two adjacent peri-urban villages in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The project was undertaken in collaboration with ten villagers with different skills and a partially shared interest in community development. It began with activities to stimulate new economic subjectivities and to amplify latent subjectivities and moved onto opportunities for social enterprise development that could foster sustainable and democratic development pathways. Significant barriers to grassroots led, cooperatively managed social enterprises were encountered. But in the research process ‘little narratives’ were uncovered, embodied within everyday economic activities that underwrite villagers’ survival while also having stabilising effects within the villages. The findings court controversy, as far as past traumatic events are found to have an enduring impact on economic subjectivities and grassroots reciprocity which intermeshes with the more recent impact of development strategies including microfinance and ‘free trade zones.’ The research has implications for how projects to promote social enterprise development within village communities might be approached by Third Sector organisations in Cambodia.

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UK Social Enterprises for Sustainability

Info: 5408 words (22 pages) Dissertation Published: 12th Dec 2019

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Tagged: Economics Sustainability

Social enterprise is a dynamic and sustainable business model of choice which is able to bring social, economic and environmental benefits to the UK. It operates across all sectors of the economy, serving individuals in the private, public and third sectors. Through out this research will identify the increase levels of understanding of the role and value of Social Enterprise, given that a lack of understanding of the role and value of social enterprises was cited as a major barrier to the acceleration of the use of the business model. I will further state that social enterprises compete in the marketplace like any other business, but they use their business skills to achieve social aims. The purpose of this research will identify the key barriers faced by Social Enterprise and explore how these barriers have/could potentially be overcome to achieve sustainability. There is also a need to recognise that some social enterprise activity will need an element of finance through public funds, particularly because they are operating in areas of market failure or a non-commercial market such as providing services to vulnerable people, including supported employment in many cases. This paper is intended to create an environment which will lead to opportunities for social enterprise to grow successfully in the future.

Chapter 1: Introduction

A brief overview of social enterprise is introduced in the first chapter. Then, the purpose of the study will be next discussed which will end with a specific research question. In the end of this chapter the contribution of this research and limitation of the study are also presented.

1.1 A Brief Overview of Social Enterprise

Social enterprises are organisations that supply goods and services as part of the social economy sector; this group constitutes a collection of organisations that exist between the traditionally private and public sectors and has a stronger relationship with the Community and Non-profit sector. This sector has a key role to play in achieving many of its goals, including overcoming social injustice and exclusion

Today’s completive business world defining social enterprise is a challenging task, according to OECD (1999, p.10) “there is no universal, commonly accepted definition of Social Enterprise.” However, the OECD (1999, p.10) has defined social enterprise as:

“any private activity conducted in the public interest, organised with an entrepreneurial strategy but whose main purpose is not the maximisation of profit but the accomplishment of certain economic and social goals, and which has a capacity of bringing innovative solutions to the problems of social exclusion and unemployment”.

Social enterprises are becoming a recognised part of the local and national economy in the UK, and the organisations operating in this sector are aware that becoming sustainable businesses is the path to independence both financially and in mission. However, social enterprises, in common with many small businesses, find growth difficult, and this could impact negatively on their sustainability. These should be supported and encouraged to grow – both as a sector and as individual organizations – so as to become more sustainable organizations.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

My paper has been developed to explore how the term social enterprise has acquired meaning in England and to illustrate how practitioners, policymakers and academics influence each other in the development of new sustainable ideas, given that a lack of understanding of the role and significance of social enterprises was cited as a major barrier to the acceleration of the use of this business model.

These challenges come in many forms. Some are the same as those affecting any other business including access to business support and finance, a lack of affordable premises and finding skilled staff. However, social enterprises also face one huge barrier that seriously affects their ability to assume a position within the market. That barrier is a lack of understanding of how social enterprises work and of their potential value. This lack of understanding exists across the public, private and voluntary and community sectors. The confusion and conflict about what the model could or should be for results all too often in misrepresentation and exaggeration of its potential, fragmentation in the provision of support and real and perceived barriers to accessing contracts and mainstream funding opportunities.

So my dissertation will identify the key barriers faced by Social Enterprise and explore how these barriers have/could potentially be overcome in order to achieve sustainability. It examines critical incidents that have shaped the meaning of social enterprise in England and reflects on these incidents to draw conclusions about the future sustainable development of social enterprise practice. Through out this paper I will also examine the potential conditions for the growth of social enterprise through a set of outline scenarios. The aim is to inform both policy-making and the wider debate about social enterprise: what its potential might be and how that potential can be realised in different settings. So my research question is:

To explore how the social enterprise is potential for sustainability in the UK.

1.3 Limitations of the Study:

During conducting the research I came across certain limitations and among them the

foremost one is time constrain. The interviewed person could not provide all necessary

information due to lack of time. The research timeline also reveals that time constrain was actually a barrier as there was plenty to find about this research topic. A huge portion of the report is based on primary data collected through interviews which is very lengthy process.

The key point here is that social enterprise cannot be identified solely by legal form or pre-set categories. Social enterprises can often see themselves as belonging to more than one category, leading to problems of double counting. For example, a social enterprise may be a charity registered with the Charities Commission or an ‘exempt’ charity which is also an Industrial and Provident Society. There is also much variation in the categories which have been used in studies to date, making aggregation and comparison very difficult.

1.4 Structure of the Report:

This research is divided into five chapters: the first chapter is an introduction with purpose and limitation of the study. In the second chapter, literature based review of definitions of social enterprise, roots of social enterprise, discussion relevant to the sustainability of social enterprise, the nature of their contribution and their sponsors and sources of funding. The third summarises the background information of social enterprise in the UK and the fourth and fifth chapter contain the methodology and the summary of the main findings of the study with implications for policy.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter will give an overview of literature and models that are related to the research problem presented in the previous chapter. This chapter will introduce the roots and concepts of social enterprise in order to give a clear idea about the research area.

2.1 Roots of social enterprise

Scott specified (Market, Schmarket : Building the Post-Capitalist Society,2006, p50) “The roots of social enterprises and community enterprise overall can be found in the mutual, self help and co-operative sector which goes back, in the UK, at least to the Fenwick Weavers in Ayrshire 1769 and Dr William King of Brighton in the 1820s (Trimingham, 2007), with earlier antecedents.” Within the development of this movement there has always been an important strand which has focused on the local community-based nature of these organisations and also on the economic development of poorer communities including the need to maintain paid work. For example between the two world wars, local community activists such as Harry Cowley campaigned for housing and work for returning service people and support for small local businesses. He organised marches to demand public works ‘job creation’ programmes from the local council for unemployed people with some success.

2.3 General Discussion on Social Enterprise

Social Enterprises combine the need to be successful businesses with social aims. This is a competitive business, owned and trading for a social purpose. They seek to succeed as businesses by establishing a market share and making a profit and emphasise the long-term benefits for employees, consumers and the community.

Bob Doherty and John Thompson mentioned in the journal ‘The diverse world of social enterprise stories’ (p.362) that social enterprises are organizations which are seeking business solutions to social crisis. These are needed to be differentiated from other socially-oriented organizations. These also need to take initiatives that can promote to communities but which are not wanting or seeking to be “businesses”. In this esteem these latter organizations remain dependent on endowments and donations rather than build up true paying customers.

According to DTI report ‘A Progress Report on Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success’ (2003, p.6), social enterprise is such a business which reinvests its surpluses in the business or in the community rather than increases profit for shareholders or owners.

Peter Drucker argues that social entrepreneurs “…change the performance capacity of

society” (Gendron, 1996, p. 37) while Henton et al. (1997: p.1) speak of ‘civic entrepreneurs’ as “…a new generation of leaders who forge new, powerfully productive linkages at the intersection of business, government, education and community” .

Ali B. Somers (Shaping the balanced scorecard for use in UK social enterprises, p.46) stated “Social enterprise emphasise creating social and/or environmental value at all stages of their production process, as an intrinsic part of their identity”. Figure:1 describes the production process of social enterprise.

Production Process

Outputs: Goods and Services

Labour Employee/ Client

Raw Materials: from Environmental Sources

Can Include: Democratic Governance or training for employee/ client Base

Goods and services sold to market: Economic Profit, Social Profit and Environmental Profit

Economic Profit flows back to Social Enterprise and Ethical Investors

Social and Environmental profit flow to Community

Indicates environmental and social motives affect production

Figure: 1 Production of Social Enterprise

Source: Somers, A.B., 2005. Shaping the balanced scorecard for use in UK social enterprises. Social Enterprise Journal , 1(1), p.46

2.4 Discussion Relevant to the Sustainability of Social Enterprise

There has been an unprecedented wave of growth in Social Entrepreneurship globally over the last ten years (Bornstein 2004, pp.3-6). For Example, as part of the 2004 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report a survey was conducted of social entrepreneurship activity in the UK; these data suggested that new ‘social’ start-ups are emerging at a faster ate than more conventional, commercial ventures (Harding and Cowling, 2004, p.5)

There are three sides to sustainability in business activity: environment, economy and community. When aiming for sustainable practice all three factors must be given equal consideration from a local through to a global level.

Environment – Ensuring that business engages in the proper and careful use of finite resources and the management of waste so as to minimize the negative and maximize the positive impact of human activity.

Economy – Ensuring that business is financially viable, engages in good employment practice and is of benefit to the economy as a whole.

Community – Ensuring that business is overall of benefit to communities, their culture & heritage and does not endanger them.

Figure2: Sustainable Social Enterprise

Schulyer (1998: p.3) describes social entrepreneurs as “…individuals who have a vision for social change and who have the financial resources to support their ideas….who exhibit all the skills of successful business people as well as a powerful desire for social change”

Greater flexibility in the use of public resources to respond to innovative community proposals, and venture investments from foundations and the private sector could be used to stimulate innovation in areas thought to be too risky for government as the sole investor. As Catford (1998, p. 96) argues that “…social entrepreneurs…will only flourish if they are supported by the right environment, which will be created largely by governments together with the private sector”.

Social Enterprise seeks surplus generation in order to achieve financial sustainability. The need to financial sustainability is fundamental to social enterprises. Emphasizing financial sustainability in addition to profit distribution becomes a way to account for all activities the organization engages in, including advocacy and in support of bono work. Sacrificing one cause and effect chain for another can have significant implications for both the quality of work and social enterprise’s financial sustainability.

Profit Distribution

(Increase Income)

Increase Revenue

Use Resource Efficiently

Trading Revenue

Non Trading Revenue

Manage Cost

Track Advocacy

Financial: Promote Sustainability of organization

Social: Increase value to target community

Whilst many may rely on combination of grant and trading income, ultimately, if an organisation is not financially sustainable, it cannot deliver its social and environmental impact. Fig3. shows how the profit of social organisation is distributed to the organization itself and community.

Figure: 3 Financial Sustainability

Source: Somers, A.B., 2005. Shaping the balanced scorecard for use in UK social enterprises. Social Enterprise Journal , 1(1), p.50

2.5 Policy Reform and Good Governance

DTI report ‘ A Progress Report on Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success ‘ (2003, p.6) describes the three key goals for government as creating an enabling environment, making social enterprises better businesses and establishing the value of social enterprise.

The danger in not supporting social entrepreneurship is obvious to Reis (1999: p. 4) who calls for systematic intervention to accelerate and improve philanthropic efforts. Without this he argues that substantial numbers of potential donors and social entrepreneurs could be “…discouraged, turned-off, and lost from philanthropy and social change work”.

So, in recent years, the boundaries between the private sectors (in term of market thinking and managerial practices) have impacted the public and voluntary sectors and started to blur traditional distinctions between them (Bull, 2006, 2007). The emergence of radical business alternatives with a strong social orientation, democratic organisation, and positive attitude to ‘profitable’ trading has led to formal recognition and academic scrutiny (Seanor, Bull and Ridley-Duff, 2007).

Brown, H and Murphy, E (2003: p.57) mentioned on Bank of England report that “Social enterprises, like all businesses, need access to a range of financial products appropriate to their activity and stage of development”

An HM Treasury report on Enterpriseand Social Exclusion (1999, p 108) came to the

conclusion, arguing that social enterprise was “less understood and rarely promoted in a consistent way by the existing infrastructure for business support”.

Thompson et al. (2000: p. 328) describe “…people who realize where there is an opportunity to satisfy some unmet need that the state welfare system will not or cannot meet, and who gather together the necessary resources (generally people, often volunteers, money and premises) and use these to ‘make a difference’”.

It is more useful to consider and develop social enterprise capabilities rather than skills and capacity building. The fact that social enterprises need to combine commercial objectives with social mission as well as internal governance, means that a “capabilities approach” is more comprehensive. This is a useful way of recognising factors additional to individual skills that inter-play to determine the effectiveness and impact of a specific enterprise. It also moves away from limited considerations of a key person or group within the organisation, and their specific skills, towards a more holistic view of what the organisation is capable of doing, irrespective of the location of particular skills.

Laville and Nyssens (2001: p 325) argue that while the origins of social enterprises are based in reciprocity and thus form part of the third system, their strength is based in their ability to tap into all three economic principles and systems. They are different from private enterprise in that their goal is not the maximization of profit to benefit owners, although they do develop market activities and generate profits. They are also different from the public sector in that they are independent from direct control by public authorities. But they benefit to a greater or lesser extent from public subsidy. Thus they mobilize market relations to sell services or goods, and can use redistributive relations by utilizing government funding to finance their services. Their long-term sustainability depends on their ability to ‘continuously hybridise the three poles of the economy so as to serve the project’. Their complementary use of monetary and non-monetary relations guarantees autonomy of service based on their connections within communities and economic viability. This view of social enterprises offers an insight into their complexity in terms of the roles they must juggle and of the many forms – from cooperatives, community enterprises, social firms, fair-trade companies and more – that they take.

Dees (1998: p.4) identifies five criteria that social entrepreneurs possess: adopting a mission to create and sustain social value; recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation and learning; acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; and exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and to the outcomes created.

Catford (1998, p.97) who articulates the issues and one possible solution most eloquently: “Traditional welfare-state approaches are in decline globally, and in response new ways of creating healthy and sustainable communities are required. This challenges our social, economic and political systems to respond with new, creative and effective environments that support and reward change. From the evidence available, current examples of social entrepreneurship offer exciting new ways of realizing the potential of individuals and communities…into the 21 st century”.

The Progress Report on Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success(2003, p.68) concludes that there is little hard evidence to demonstrate the impact and added value of social enterprise. The report points out that one of the reasons for the lack of statistical evidence is that social enterprises create a range of social and environmental impacts, beyond their financial return (the ‘double’ or the ‘triple’ bottom line) that are hard to measure (even by the social enterprises themselves). Limited information on their social and environmental, as well as financial, impact also means that policy makers, business support providers and finance providers find it difficult to assess the value of targeting social enterprises or of including them in their activities.

2.6 Concluding Remarks

Academic writing about modern social entrepreneurship skills is relatively limited, compared to mainstream business or charities. The concept of ‘social enterprise’ has been rapidly emerging in the private, public and non-profit sectors over the last few years. Currently, the non-profit sector is facing increasing demands for improved effectiveness and sustainability in light of diminishing funding from traditional sources and increased competition for these scarce resources. At the same time, the increasing concentration of wealth in the private sector is promoting calls for increased corporate social responsibility and more proactive responses to complex social problems, while governments at all levels are struggling with multiple demands on public funds.

Chapter 3: Background Information of Social Enterprise

This chapter will give the idea about the social enterprise types and size in the UK along with the impact, barriers and sources of fund in this organizations.

• Social Enterprise in the UK

The UK government has been at the front position of enabling and encouraging the increase of social enterprises as part of both welfare services delivery and community regeneration at the policy level. The impacts and influence of public, private, and citizen are empirically proven and exhibit that these conventional sectors of society are playing a part in re-evaluating the value creation opportunities offered by market (or quasi-market) mechanisms.

[Brief overview of types]

According to the UK policy-making community, social enterprises play a vital role in the creation of economic and social value.

• It has been claimed that, there were some 15,000 social enterprises in the UK SBS(2005, pp.1-2), accounting for around 1.2% of all employing enterprises in the UK. These social enterprises generate around £18 billion in annual turnover and employ over 775,000 people (475,000 paid employees and 300,000 volunteer staff).
• Government’s Survey and existing data for the social enterprise sector estimated that there are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK, with a combined turnover of £27billion per year which is raised to over £800 million from the preceding year. This corresponds to 2% of the UK’s GDP . The number of registered charities rose from around 120,000 in 1995 to more than 164,000 in 2005, and there are also hundreds of thousands of small community groups.
• According to Government estimates, social enterprises account for 5% of all businesses with employees and contribute approximately £8.4billion to GDP (HM Treasury and Cabinet Office, 2006, p.29), around 0.7% of the total economy.
• The data obtained from the cabinet office website in social sector showed that in the year 2003/04, 56% of third sector organisations reported an increase in activity in the previous year, and 67% of them expected activity to grow in the next three years.
• Positive aspects of social enterprise:

Social enterprise is a varied activity and can include a range of organisations working on different scales and at different levels of trading. Some work at community level, while others work nationally. They can work in public services or commercial markets. They often work in the most disadvantaged areas and work with the most disadvantaged groups. Some organisations work only as a social enterprise while in other organisations social enterprise is often a part of their activity. This most commonly applies in a voluntary organisation or a housing association.

According to Bob Doherty and John Thompson (The diverse world of social enterprise stories, p.362) the common characteristics for a Social Enterprise are:

• They have a social rationale and yields and surpluses are not shared out to shareholders.
• Reinvested profit can be used to provide training and development opportunities for staff.
• They use assets and capital to generate community benefit.
• They pursue this with (at least in part) trade in a market place.
• Members or employees can also take part in decision making.
• The enterprise is responsible to both its members and a wider society.
• Citizenship participation and volunteering are encouraged within the local community
• The social enterprise model could create new forms of entrepreneurship and employment within a community
• The model is ideally placed to meet new needs within a community, if supported sufficiently at start up
• Social Enterprises can offer goods and services to poor and disenfranchised communities
• The potential of a profits and revenue stream could liberate organisations from the tyranny of fundraising and grant applications
• Organisations could flourish effectively and creatively under this model
• There is either a double or triple-bottom line concept. The assumption is that the most effective social enterprises exhibit healthy financial and social returns rather than high profits in one and lower profits in the other.

Social enterprise makes an important contribution to the social, economic and environmental development of Scotland. This can be summarised as follows.

Fig 4: Beneficiaries of Social Enterprise

Social enterprise is extremely varied but, importantly, it works in a number of key priority areas for the UK economy- these include:

• employment and training;
• adult care services;
• renewable energy;
• financial inclusion;
• community regeneration; and
• rural development.
• In particular, social enterprise contributes to regenerating our most deprived communities in both urban and rural areas. It often works with the people who have least opportunity in our society, including those outside the labour market, and so it has a major role to play in developing employability and supported employment and ensuring equal opportunities to those people.
• Social enterprise can add value to many of its activities by focusing on social, economic and environmental benefits, importantly linking these aims in a positive way, which in other business models may sometimes cause conflict.
• Social enterprise can offer goods and services to its customers in a flexible and innovative way. It can focus on their needs to deliver better public services. Often this is in areas where the market has failed – areas where the private sector does not want to go.
• Social enterprise can make sure resources give value for money where a public-sector contract is needed for the activity. This includes working with very marginalised groups, where the enterprise activity helps reduce the amount of public funding needed. Through encouraging social entrepreneurship in communities, levels of public subsidy and grant dependency can be reduced.
• Barriers of social enterprise

“…often have boards of directors or trustees who come from a voluntary sector rather than a business background. This can lead to a lack of business focus and prevent social enterprise from truly reaching their potential (DTI 2002, p.62)

Several challenges remain before the full potential of the third sector can be realised. First, the Government must carry through its commitment to provide a constructive partnership with the sector and resist the temptation to treat it as one of the instruments for the marketisation of the Welfare State. Amicus, a trade union with workers in the public, private and third sectors, is concerned that an expansion of the third sector will be a ‘stepping stone’ to the privitisation of the public sector (Maskell quoted in Little, 2007, p.31). Second, the majority of third sector organisations are small and under-capitalised and they are constrained in the growth aspirations by limited access to capital (Bank of England, 2003; SQW, 2007).

Insufficient capital can lead to either under-investment, or a re-orientation towards market objectives in order to obtain finance, and the consequent re-prioritisation of economic over social and environmental outcomes. To enable third sector organisations to maintain the balance between economic, social and environmental outcomes, the Government must ensure that a pragmatic and realistic assessment of the financial costs of service delivery is incorporated into their policies and strategies (HM Treasury, 2006).Third, a curse of successful activities in the third sector is that they themselves are prone to being privatised and consequently turned into capitalist ventures that adopt orthodox business practices, as has been the case with the demutualisation of the Building Society movement in the UK.

According to UK Government and various literatures review shows that there are mainly four significant barriers to accessing appropriate business support and finance for social enterprises throughout the region.

1. Cultural barriers between those setting up social enterprises and mainstream business advisors. 2. Lack of clarity about where to access business support at the local level, largely due to the huge diversity of routes into starting up social enterprises.

3. Limited numbers of accredited technical specialists in key business advice areas where social enterprises require specialist support, for example on legal structure, potential investors or taxation.

4. Limited sources of affordable equity and loan finance of all sizes.

All of these barriers inhibit the use of available business support by social enterprise. Many of the issues are cultural, but there are also skills issues, with mainstream business advice agencies not being adequately equipped to address more technical aspects of social enterprise business development. Specialists do exist within the region but many of them are funded through short-term grant finance. This enables the free provision of services but a lack of long-term sustainability for the advice services themselves.

To grow and develop social enterprise in UK, we must tackle a range of challenges and issues which have been highlighted by the research and consultation carried out to develop this strategy. Tackling these challenges, which are summarised into five key areas in this chapter, will be a major part of this strategy:

• Use of the social enterprise business model.
• Business opportunities.
• Finance and investment.
• Business support for social enterprise.
• Raising the profile and demonstrating value.
• Sources of Finance

The key factor in an enterprise’s development is access to appropriate sources of finance. Social enterprises are more likely than SMEs to have been rejected for finance, although the majority of those rejected by one lender appear subsequently to be successful with another. In addition, a large minority of social enterprises perceive access to external finance as a major barrier to expansion, including some of those that have successfully accessed finance in the past. While there is no one, clear reason to account for the higher rejection rates among social enterprises than SMEs, this report explores possible contributory factors, which

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A social network analysis of online gamers' friendship networks: Structural attributes of Steam friendships, and comparison of offline-online social ties of MMO gamers , Juan G. Arroyo-Flores

Family Response to a Diagnosis of Serious Mental Illness in Teens and Young Adults: A Multi-Voiced Narrative Analysis , Douglas J. Engelman

GoFundTransitions: Narratives of Transnormativity and the Limits of Crowdfunding Livable Futures , Hayden J. Fulton

"Courage Drives Us": Narrative Construction of Organizational Identity in a Cancer-Specific Health Non-Profit Organization , Katie J. Hilderbrand

“I woke up to the world”: Politicizing Blackness and Multiracial Identity Through Activism , Angelica Celeste Loblack

The Athletics Behind the Academics: The Academic Advisor’s Role in the Lives of Student Athletes , Max J.R. Murray

Red-Green Rows: Exploring the Conflict between Labor and Environmental Movements in Kerala, India , Silpa Satheesh

Winning “Americans” for Jesus?: Second-Generation, Racial Ideology, and the Future of the Brazilian Evangelical Church in the U.S. , Rodrigo Otavio Serrao Santana De Jesus

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Palatable Shades of Gender: Status Processes at the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Team Formation , Jasmón L. Bailey

American Converts to Islam: Identity, Racialization, and Authenticity , Patrick M. Casey

Meaning and Monuments: Morality, Racial Ideology, and Nationalism in Confederate Monument Removal Storytelling , Kathryn A. DelGenio

"Keep it in the Closet and Welcome to the Movement": Storying Gay Men Among the Alt-Right , Shelby Statham

Selling White Masculinity: An Analysis of Cultural Intermediaries in the Craft Beverage Industry , Erik Tyler Withers

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The Role of the Soldier in Civilian Life: Personal and Social Concerns that Influence Reintegration Processes , Matthew J. Ahlfs

“I Want to Be Who I Am”: Stories of Rejecting Binary Gender , Ana Balius

Breaking the Crass Ceiling? Exploring Narratives, Performances, and Audience Reception of Women's Stand-Up Comedy , Sarah Katherine Cooper

An Intersectional Examination of Disability and LGBTQ+ Identities In Virtual Spaces , Justine E. Egner

"I've never had that": An Exploration of how Children Construct Belonging and Inclusion Within a Foodscape , Olivia M. Fleming

Hybridizers and the Hybridized: Orchid Growing as Hybrid "Nature?" , Kellie Petersen

Coloring in the Margins: Understanding the Experiences of Racial/Ethnic and Sexual/Gender Minority Undergraduates in STEM , Jonathan D. Ware

Decreased Visibility: A Narrative Analysis of Episodic Disability and Contested Illness , Melissa Jane Welch

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

“Have a Seat at our Table: Uncovering the Experiences of Black Students Attending a ‘Racially Diverse’ University” , Diamond Briggs

TERF Wars: Narrative Productions of Gender and Essentialism in Radical-Feminist (Cyber)spaces , Jennifer Earles

“Can You Believe They Think I’m Intimidating?” An Exploration of Identity in Tall Women , Elizabeth Joy Fuller

Black Girl Magic?: Negotiating Emotions and Success in College Bridge Programs , Olivia Ann Johnson

"What Are We Doing Here? This Is Not Us": A Critical Discourse Analysis of The Last Of Us Remastered , Toria Kwan

Behind the Curtain: Cultural Cultivation, Immigrant Outsiderness, and Normalized Racism against Indian Families , Pangri G. Mehta

From the Panels to the Margins: Identity, Marginalization, and Subversion in Cosplay , Manuel Andres Ramirez

Examining Forty Years of the Social Organization of Feminisms: Ethnography of Two Women’s Bookstores in the US South , Mary Catherine Whitlock

"There is No Planet B": Frame Disputes within the Environmental Movement over Geoengineering , David Russell Zeller Jr.

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

“You Can Fight Logic…But You Can’t Fight God”: The Duality of Religious Text and Church as Community for White Lesbians in Appalachian and Rural Places , Jessica Mae Altice

Songwriting as Inquiry and Action: Emotion, Narrative Identity, and Authenticity in Folk Music Culture , Maggie Colleen Cobb

Unraveling the Wild: A Cultural Logic of Animal Stories in Contemporary Social Life , Damien Contessa

“It’s Not Like a Movie. It’s Not Hollywood:” Competing Narratives of a Youth Mentoring Organization , Carley Geiss

An Examination of Perspectives on Community Poverty: A Case Study of a Junior Civic Association , Monica Heimos Heimos

"I'm Not Broken": Perspectives of Students with Disabilities on Identity-making and Social Inclusion on a College Campus , Melinda Leigh Maconi

People and Pride: A Qualitative Study of Place Attachment and Professional Placemakers , Wenonah Machdelena Venter

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Mediated Relationships: An Ethnography of Family Law Mediation , Elaina Behounek

The Continuum of Ethno-Racial Socialization: Learning About Culture and Race in Middle-Class Latina/o Families , Maria D. Duenas

Getting Ahead: Socio-economic Mobility, Perceptions of Opportunity for Socio-economic Mobility, and Attitudes Towards Public Assistance in the United States , Alissa Klein

Beauty is Precious, Knowledge is Power, and Innovation is Progress: Widely Held Beliefs in Policy Narratives about Oil Spills , Brenda Gale Mason

Looking at Levels of Medicalization in the Institutional Narrative of Substance Use Disorders in the Military , Chase Landes Mccain

The Experience of Chronic Pain Management: A Multi-Voiced Narrative Analysis , Loren Wilbers

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Resources Matter: The Role of Social Capital and Collective Efficacy in Mediating Gun Violence , Jennifer Lynne Dean

More to Love: Obesity Histories and Romantic Relationships in the Transition to Adulthood , Hilary Morgan Dotson

Dieting, Discrimination, and Bullying: A Contextual Case Study of Framing in the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance , Veronica Kay Doughman

Negotiating Muslim Womanhood: The Adaptation Strategies of International Students at Two American Public Colleges , Amber Michelle Gregory

Checking Out: A Qualitative Study of Supermarket Cashiers' Emotional Response to Customer Mistreatment , Michael E. Lawless

Managing Family Food Consumption: Going Beyond Gender in the Kitchen , Blake Janice Martin

Motherhood Bound by State Supervision: An Exploratory Study of the Experiences of Mothers on Parole and Probation , Kaitlyn Robison

In Search of the Artist: The Influences of Commercial Interest on an Art School - A Narrative Analysis , Michael Leonard Sette

"They're Our Bosses": Representations of Clients, Guardians, and Providers in Caregivers' Narratives , Dina Vdovichenko

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Constructing Legal Meaning in the Supreme Court Oral Arguments: Cultural Codes and Border Disputes , Jeffrey Forest Hilbert

"All Blacks Vote the Same?": Assessing Predictors of Black American Political Participation and Partisanship , Antoine Lennell Jackson

Expectations of Nursing Home Use, Psychosocial Characteristics and Race/Ethnicity: The Latino/a Case , Heidi Ross

Beyond the Door: Disability and the Sibling Experience , Morgan Violeta Sanchez Taylor

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

A Mother's Love: A Narrative Analysis of Food Advertisements in an African American Targeted Women's Magazine , Janine Danielle Beahm

It's a Support Club, Not a Sex Club: Narration Strategies and Discourse Coalitions in High School Gay-Straight Alliance Club Controversies , Skyler Lauderdale

Beyond the Backlash: Muslim and Middle Eastern Immigrants' Experiences in America, Ten Years Post-9/11 , Gregory J. Mills

Competing Narratives: Hero and PTSD Stories Told by Male Veterans Returning Home , Adam Gregory Woolf

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

"Can't Buy Me Wealth": Racial Segregation and Housing Wealth in Hillsborough County, Florida , Natalie Marie Delia Deckard

Friendship Networks, Perceived Reciprocity of Support, and Depression , Ryan Francis Huff

That is Bad! This is Good: Morality as Constructed by Viewers of Television Reality Programs , Joseph Charles Losasso

American Muslim Identities: A Qualitative Study of Two Mosques in South Florida , Azka Mahmood Mahmood

Ethnic Identities among Second-Generation Haitian Young Adults in Tampa Bay, Florida: An Analysis of the Reported Influence of Ethnic Organizational Involvement on Disaster Response after the Earthquake of 2010 , Herrica Telus

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

Feral Cats and the People Who Care for Them , Loretta Sue Humphrey

Utilizing Facebook Application for Disaster Relief: Social Network Analysis of American Red Cross Cause Joiners , Jennie Wan Man Lai

Comparative Study of Intentional Communities , Jessica Merrick

More Than Bows and Arrows: Subversion and Double-Consciousness in Native American Storytelling , Anastacia M. Schulhoff

Between Agency and Accountability: An Ethnographic Study of Volunteers Participating in a Juvenile Diversion Program , Marc R. Settembrino

Predictors of Academic Achievement among Students at Hillsborough Community College: Can School Engagement Close the Racial Gap of Achievement? , Warren T. Smith

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Latent Newspaper Functions During the Impact Phase of Hurricane Katrina , Christina A. Brown

The Subjective Experience of PMS: A Sociological Analysis of Women’s Narratives , Christiana B. Chekoudjian

Sacred Selves: An Ethnographic Study of Narratives and Community Practices at a Spiritual Center , Sean E. Currie

Digging It: A Participatory Ethnography of the Experiences at a School Garden , Branimir Cvetkovic

Constructions of Narrative Identities of Women Political Candidates , Amy E. Daniels

“The Best We Can With What We Got”: Mediating Social and Cultural Capital in a Title I School , Jarin Rachel Eisenberg

Identities of Alternative Medicine Practitioners , Mychel Estevez

A Family „Affear‟: Three Generations of Agoraphobics , Sherri Elizabeth Green B.A.

“According to Wikipedia …”: A Comparative Analysis of the Establishment and Display of Authority in a Social Problems Textbook and Wikipedia , Alexander A. Hernandez

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Business Dissertation Topics

Published by Owen Ingram at January 5th, 2023 , Revised On May 28, 2024

As a business student, you will study various aspects of conducting business. From handling human resources to managing marketing and finances, you will study them all. However, what is essential is to understand how you will put your learning into practice.

That is when the real challenge starts. You might have aced your quizzes and assignments and stood out in your class, but if you cannot implement your learning in your practical life, your academic success means nothing.

Thus, to help you understand the real-life scenario, the dissertation can be a great starting point. Dissertations help you understand the concepts, frameworks, and models of business in great depth.

Choose a topic for your dissertation that will interest you and help you in your professional life. Thus, to help you fulfil your academic condition and choose an appropriate dissertation topic, here is a list of topics that are recent and relevant.

To help you get started with brainstorming for business topic ideas, we have developed a list of the latest topics that can be used for writing your business dissertation.

These topics have been developed by PhD qualified  writers of our team , so you can trust to use these topics for drafting your dissertation.

You can also start your dissertation by requesting  a brief research proposal  from our writers on any of these topics, which includes an  introduction  to the problem,  research question , aim and objectives,  literature review , and the proposed  methodology  of research to be conducted. Let us know if you need any help in getting started.

Check our  example dissertation to get an idea of  how to structure your dissertation .

You can review step by step guide on how to write your dissertation  here.

So, without further ado, here’s a list of business dissertation topics that will help you stand out in your class.

• International Development Dissertation Topics
• Cooperate Governance Dissertation Topics
• Business Intelligence Dissertation Topics
• Business Information Technology Dissertation Topics
• International Business Dissertation Topics
• Business Management Dissertation Topics
• Business Psychology Dissertation Topics
• Business Law Dissertation Topics
• Project Management Dissertation Topics
• HRM Dissertation Topics
• Management Dissertation Topics
• Operations Management Dissertation Topics

2024 Business Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: an evaluation of the impact of business ethics on the moral obligations associated with business deals of corporations.

Research Aim: The research aims to conduct an evaluation of the impact of business ethics on the moral obligations associated with business deals of corporations

Objectives:

• To analyse the importance of ethics for the shareholders of a business.
• To evaluate the link between business ethics and successful business deals.
• To investigate the impact of business ethics on the moral obligations of corporations while executing business deals

Topic 2: The impact of AI-based tools on business decision making and overall organisational profitability.

Research Aim: The research aims to analyse the impact of AI-based tools on business decision making and overall organisational profitability.

• To analyse the impact of AI tools on the strategic management of the business.
• To evaluate the factors impacting business decision making and profitability.
• To investigate the impact of AI tools on business decision making and overall organisational profitability.

Topic 3: How does the HRM function impact the business health of organisations?

Research Aim: The research aims to understand how the HRM function impacts the business health of organisations.

• To analyse the role of the HRL function of organisations.
• To analyse the concept of business health and how it is measured.
• To examine the impact of HRM on the business health and wellbeing of the organisations.

Topic 4: The impact of corporate governance on firm performance and internationalisation.

Research Aim: The research aims to examine the impact of corporate governance on firm performance and internationalisation.

• To critically analyse the impact of corporate governance on brand image and equity.
• To investigate the impact of firm performance on internationalisation decisions.
• To investigate how corporate governance impacts firm performance and internationalisation.

Topic 5: An assessment of the impact of materials management on production efficiency and cost optimisation of business

Research Aim: The research aims to examine the impact of materials management on production efficiency and cost optimisation of business

• To investigate the impact of materials management in the production business
• To analyse the factors impacting production efficiency and cost minimisation of business.
• To evaluate how materials management impacts production efficiency and cost optimisation of business

Latest Business Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: impact of digital business on the economic growth of the country: a case study of xyz country.

Research Aim: This research will focus on the significance of digital business during the pandemic and its impacts, not the country’s economic growth. It is a detailed view of the future that needs to be digitalised.

Topic 2: Brand Marketing through social media

Research Aim: This research aims to focus on the importance of Brand Marketing through social media by addressing various current strategies used in brand marketing.

Topic 3: Impacts of social media on customer behaviour

Research Aim: This research aims to measure social media’s impacts on customer behaviour and address various strategies that are effective in attracting customers through social media.

Topic 4: What factors influence the consumer's buying decisions?

Research Aim: This research aims to identify factors that influence the consumer’s buying decisions

Topic 5: Black Friday sale strategy to drive sales

Research Aim: This research aims to identify how the Black Friday sale strategy effectively drives sales. How can huge discounts benefit sellers?

Topic 6: The role of Influencer Marketing in increasing sale

Research Aim: Influencer Marketers impact the customer’s perception. This research aims to examine the role of influencer marketing in increasing sales.

Topic 7: Impact of E-marketing on consumer purchase decision: the case of the luxury industry in the UK

Research Aim: This research aims to measure E-marketing’s impact on consumer purchase decisions in the UK luxury industry.

Topic 8: Analysis of the customer-centric marketing strategies in attaining competitive advantage for the firm and sustaining business success

Research Aim: This research focuses on attaining customer-centric marketing strategies in a competitive advantage for the firm and sustaining business success.

Topic 9: Traditional vs. digital marketing: a comparative study of the last ten years

Research Aim: This research aims to conduct a comparative study of traditional vs. digital marketing in the last ten years.

Topic 10: The impact of relationship marketing on customer loyalty: an analysis of the Honda motor

Research Aim: This research aims to assess the impact of relationship marketing on customer loyalty. An analysis of the Honda motor will be conducted as the base of the research.

Topic 11: The importance of search Engines in e-commerce

Research Aim: This research aims to identify the importance of search engines in e-commerce.

Topic 12: E-Commerce company's advertising strategy-critical analysis

Research Aim: This research aims to identify the importance of an E-Commerce company’s advertising strategy.

Topic 13: Importance of customer retention in E-commerce

Research Aim: This research aims to measure the importance of customer retention in E-commerce.

Topic 14: Importance of brand loyalty in Internet marketing

Research Aim: This research aims to identify the importance of brand loyalty in Internet marketing.

Top Business Dissertation Topics

Topic 1: assessing how the regional differences between countries influence the business strategies of multinational companies.

Research Aim: Their regional differences and conflicts between countries have directly affected trade activities. Therefore, this research will identify a highly sensitive issue by analysing how regional differences between countries impact the overall business strategies of multinational companies.

Topic 2: How corporate social responsibility (CSR) affects customer loyalty: A case study of the UK petroleum industry

Research Aim: Corporate social responsibility has become an important phenomenon as it directly impacts the brand image of the company. Therefore, the main purpose of the research is to analyse how CSR activities influence customer perception, which in turn impacts customer loyalty. The focus of the research will be the UK petroleum industry.

Topic 3: Assessing the leadership styles of a non-profit organisation and how they impact the overall business operations

Research Aim: Leadership has always been a significant aspect of any organisation as it has a drastic impact on the overall business processes. Many researchers have focused on identifying the best leadership style for MNCs and SMEs; however, few have focused on non-profit organisations. Therefore, the main purpose of the research is to assess the most effective leadership styles that non-profit organisations should practise and how it affect the overall operations.

Topic 4: Examining the impact of global business negotiations on cross border mergers and acquisitions

Research Aim: The main aim of the research is to analyse the effect of international business negotiations on cross border mergers. Due to intense competition, many companies are going for mergers and acquisitions to enhance their market share. Therefore, this research will explore the aspect of global business negotiations in mergers and acquisitions between two different companies in two different countries.

Topic 5: Analysing the impact of forwarding and backward integration on business performance and sustainability

Research Aim: To gain a competitive advantage, firms have devised various supply chain strategies that help them improve their business performance. One such strategy is forward and backward integration. Therefore, this research will be focusing on analysing the impact of both forward and backward integration on business performance and sustainability.

Topic C1: The economic suffering due to the plague of COVID-19

Research Aim: The research must assess the disruption that has been created by the spread of  COVID-19 in the world. This must include the global lockdown of the countries and the shutting of industries, resulting in soaring unemployment rates and a dramatic decline in economic statistics. The research aims to look at the economic consequences generated by the outbreak of COVID-19 in general.

Topic C2: The major sufferings in the economy as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak

Research Aim: The research must assess the reasons behind the rising suffering in specific business sectors and industries. For instance, the supply chain is suffering because China has become the manufacturing hub, which has brought disruption in the supply chain of the whole industry due to a complete lockdown in the country. The research aims to study majorly affected regions such as the entertainment sector, tourism industry, restaurant sector etc.

Topic C3: Expecting changes in the economic statistics by the outbreak of COVID-19

Research Aim: The recent expected changes by the professionals about the impact of COVID-19 on the global economic statistics must be discussed in the research, such as the estimated growth rates of the world and China was predicted to be 0% and 1.6%, respectively, for the year 2020 by the Ethan Harris, head of global economic research in the Bank of America according to his recent interview. Similarly, articles from other professionals must be included in the research to focus on the effects of an outbreak on the economy.

Topic C4: The major regions and business industries affected by the spread of COVID-19

Research Aim: The research would assess the regions (cities and countries) which are being affected by the spread of coronavirus COVID-19 and the major impacted business industries, such as the food industries like restaurants are completely locked down after the outbreak of the virus and the people that were engaged in those industries are unemployed now. The research aims to focus on such industries and the impact of their lowered productivity on the economy.

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Business Strategy and Globalisation Dissertation Topics

Globalisation can be defined as the process that assists organisations and businesses in spreading their operations and influence on an international scale to increase their profit levels.

According to the Financial Times Lexicon, it is  “a process by which national and regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through the global network of trade, communication, immigration and transportation.”

It would not be wrong to say that globalisation is the integration of policymaking, cultures, markets, industries, and economics around the globe.

In recent times, the concept of globalisation has been expanded to include a broader range of activities and areas such as biological, political, social, cultural, technological, climate and media factors, even though initially it primarily focused on the economies, capital flows, foreign direct investment, and trade.

Some recent topics with respect to globalisation and business strategy are listed below:

Topic 6: Why organisations and businesses must change their business strategies in the era of globalisation

Research Aim: Any and every company that does strategies based on globalisation will lose out on huge business opportunities. Thus, this research will focus on the reasons why companies should plan for globalisation-related strategies.

Topic 7: Business management framework and globalisation – An empirical study

Research Aim: This research will talk about a successful business management framework for companies operating in the era of globalisation.

Topic 8: Global business strategy for MNCs and the role of corporate vision, conflicts, and empowerment

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various business strategies available for MNCs and the role their vision, conflict management, and empowerment play in building these strategies.

Topic 9: Exploring the drivers of Chinese business expansion strategy into Africa and other developing countries

Research Aim: This research will explore the various factors that drive Chinese business expansion into Africa and other developing countries.

Topic 10: An investigation into the process of offshore outsourcing of customer services to determine the causes of poor customer satisfaction

Research Aim: This research will assess customer services’ offshoring process, which in turn impacts customer satisfaction.

Topic 11: Cross border management strategy – A research study focusing on foreign business organisations in Malaysia

Research Aim: This research will talk about cross border management strategies and specifically about foreign businesses operating in Malaysia.

Topic 12: An investigation into the impact of globalisation on UK businesses' operations on both a national and international scale.

Research Aim: This research will study the impact of globalisation on UK businesses. The impact on both national and international scales will be assessed.

Topic 13: How banks can implement business strategies in light of globalisation to improve connectivity with clients – A case of Barclays Plc

Research Aim: This research will focus on the globalisation of banks. Barclays PLC will be used as a case study for this research.

Topic 14: A study to examine the factors affecting the MNC’s choice of alliances and entry modes – The case of Sri Lanka

Research Aim: This study will discuss the various factors that impact the MNC’s choice of alliances and entry modes. Sri Lanka will be used as a case study for this research.

Topic 15: Performance, e-business strategies, and globalisation – Examining the factors affecting the social media strategy of business organisations in the UK

Research Aim: This research will discuss the factors that impact the performance, e-business strategies, and globalisation of UK based businesses. The study will also focus on factors impacting the social media strategy of these organisations.

How Can ResearchProspect Help?

ResearchProspect writers can send several custom topic ideas to your email address. Once you have chosen a topic that suits your needs and interests, you can order for our dissertation outline service , which will include a brief introduction to the topic, research questions , literature review , methodology , expected results , and conclusion . The dissertation outline will enable you to review the quality of our work before placing the order for our full dissertation writing service !

Strategic Change Management Dissertation Topics

Change management can be defined as the management of “change and development” within a business organisation. Dealing with the impact of change is of critical importance. Strategic change management helps managers deal with change from the perspective of the individual and an organisation.

An important aspect of this concept is the organisational tools that can help achieve successful transitions to adopt change. Furthermore, business organisations can effectively and quickly implement change to meet changing market requirements as part of the strategic change management process.

Topic 16: An investigation into the implementation of strategic change management in the UK retail sector

Research Aim: This research will analyse and investigate how the UK retail sector changes its business processes to stay relevant in the market.

Topic 17: Examining the factors affecting organisational changes from the perspective of employees – The case of HSBC

Research Aim: This research will focus on organisational changes from the perspective of employees. HSBC will be studied as a case in this research.

Topic 18: Use of a proprietary change management system with respect to transformational change and stakeholder communication

Research Aim: This research will discuss a proprietary change management system that helps with transformational change and stakeholder communication.

Topic 19: The role of feedback in organisational culture change: A case study of any multinational company

Research Aim: This research will assess the role of feedback, be it from employees or customers, in bringing and managing organisational cultural change. This study will be based on a company of your choosing.

Topic 20: Strategic management of change in Asian countries – The case of Singapore

Research Aim: This study will talk about strategic change management in Asian countries. Singapore will be the chosen country for the purpose of this study.

Topic 21: To establish the importance of measuring the stress levels of employees to successfully implement change

Research Aim: This research will talk about the importance of employee stress measurement in order to implement change successfully.

Topic 22: The role of senior management of business organisations in developing a framework that connects unexpected results and strategic plans

Research Aim: This study will talk about the role of senior management of businesses in developing a framework that will help the company bring together strategic plans and unexpected positive results.

Topic 23: Differences in working styles of Saudi project managers and foreign project managers

Research Aim: This research will help understand the different working styles of Saudi project managers and foreign project managers.

Topic 24: Intervention, project management, and change management – The banking sector in the UK

Research Aim: This research will talk about the change management and implementation barriers that companies are unable to implement change effectively.

International Human Resource Management Dissertation Topics

International Human Resource Management is a system that is designed to improve employee performance at national and international levels. The IHRM function primarily focuses on the policies developed to ensure efficient personnel management within organisations at an international level.

Various activities such as training and development, skills enhancement, employee recruitment, motivational programmes, bonuses and rewards systems, and performance appraisal are implemented to help businesses increase their work output.

Topic 25: Managing employees’ performance in non-profit organisations – A case study of any non-profit organisation

Research Aim: This research will help non-profit organisations understand how they can manage and monitor employee performance even when operating at an international level.

Topic 26: Developing an effective human resource management system in large multinational companies – The recommended practices and strategies

Research Aim: This research will help multinational companies develop an effective human resource management system.

Topic 27: Examining the impact of human resource professionals and human resource management in the new global economy

Research Aim: This study will help understand the impact of human resource professionals and shed light on human resource management in the new globalised economy.

Topic 28: Can human resource development and training help to remedy poor selection processes

Research Aim: This research will aim to understand whether resource development and training will lead to better selection processes or not.

Topic 29: The causes and forms of deviance in business and non-profit organisations

Research Aim: This research will help understand the causes and forms of deviance in business and non-profit organisations.

Topic 30: Investigating the effects of organisational transition on employees’ performance in large diversified companies.

Research Aim: This research will investigate the impact of organisational transition on the performance of employees in multinationals.

Topic 31: Configuration of human resource management system in multinational companies

Research Aim: This research will help understand how the human resource management system in multinationals is configured.

Topic 32: Learning from small businesses in the UK – How firm performance is associated with strategic human resource management.

Research Aim: This research will understand how firm performance in small businesses is linked with strategic human resource management and its benefits and limitations.

Topic 33: Human resource challenges for UK construction industry – Knowledge transfer and retention

Research Aim: This research will help understand human resource challenges for the UK construction industry, particularly knowledge transfer and employee retention.

Topic 34: The role of strategic human resource management in the public sector – The recommended practices and policies

Research Aim: This research will help understand the role of strategic human resource management in the public sector.

Information Technology Management Dissertation Topics

The process of managing all information technology resources of a business organisation is known as “information technology management”. It should be noted that the information technology resources of an organisation are usually managed in accordance with the priorities, policies, and requirements set out by the business.

Physical investments, including the staff, data centre facilities, networks, data storage databases, software, and computer hardware, are examples of information technology resources required to be managed within a company.

This is done using simple management skills such as organising and controlling, change management, and budgeting.

Topic 35: Developing a framework for the strategic management of information technology

Research Aim: This research will help companies build a sustainable framework for the strategic management of the information technology sector.

Topic 36: Role of information technology management in large diversified business organisations.

Research Aim: This research will help in understanding the role of information technology management in large businesses.

Topic 37: Analysing the issues associated with the implementation of Information technology in new technology-based firms.

Research Aim: This study will help in assessing issues associated with the implementation of information technology in technology firms.

Topic 38: Recommended practices to introduce and implement information systems in business organisations.

Research Aim: This study will help companies introduce and implement information systems in organisations.

Topic 39: How business organisations can gain a competitive advantage through social media branding in a fast-paced electronics industry?

Research Aim: This study is extremely relevant for this day and age as it focuses on gaining a competitive advantage through social media for the electronics industry.

Topic 40: The role of strategic alliances, acquisitions and mergers in building eCommerce business giants – A case study of any large scale and established virtual company.

Research Aim: This research will focus on understanding the role of strategic alliances, acquisitions, and mergers for e-commerce business giants. You can choose a large scale company of your choice for this study.

Topic 41: How can an e-HR system help UK energy companies improve their efficiency?

Research Aim: Electronic-human resource management systems are a thing of today. This research will focus on implementing e-HR in UK based energy companies.

Topic 42: Identifying the most influential factors affecting information technology management in the UK construction industry.

Research Aim: This research will identify factors that influence information technology management in the UK construction industry.

Topic 43: Investigating the Benefits and Limitations of Implementing Information Technology in the UK Fashion Industry.

Research Aim: This research will help explore the benefits and limitations of implementing information technology in the UK fashion sector.

Topic 44: To investigate the important elements of information technology management.

Research Aim: This research will focus on the essential factors of information technology management.

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Organisational Leadership Dissertation Topics

Business leaders are the management staff that provide operational oversights, inspiration and other administrative services. It is the duty of business leaders to help prioritise organisational objectives and corporate vision for other team members. Here are some interesting topics related to organisational leadership.

Topic 45: Examining the effects of leadership and clarity of vision on business organisations.

Research Aim: This research will understand the impact of leadership on businesses and how having a clear business vision helps organisations.

Topic 46: The impact of organisational culture and leadership behaviours on practices of knowledge management in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Research Aim: This research will examine the impact of organisational culture and leadership behaviours on knowledge management in SMEs.

Topic 47: Examining the impact of leadership on organisational performance of small enterprises in Saudi Arabia.

Research Aim: This research will study the impact of business leadership on the organisational performance of small businesses in Saudi Arabia.

Topic 48: Evaluating the impact of leadership on organisational performance – A case study of any large and diversified firm.

Research Aim: This research will help evaluate the impact of leadership on organisational performance. You can choose a company of your choice for this research.

Topic 49: Role of organisational leadership in developing countries – A case study of any home-grown company.

Research Aim: This study will evaluate the role of organisational leadership in developing countries.

Topic 50: Traits of prevention-oriented and charismatic leader for the successful operation of medium-sized enterprises.

Research Aim: This research will examine the various traits of leadership that are required for successful business operations.

Topic 51: Organisational leadership in the multicultural environment of Saudi Arabia.

Research Aim: This research will focus on organisational leadership in a multicultural environment in Saudi Arabia.

Topic 52: Distinguishing leadership from management to achieve corporate strategies.

Research Aim: This research will analyse and compare leadership and management which companies achieve corporate strategies.

Topic 53: Investigating the differences between individual charismatic leadership and traditional organisational leadership.

Research Aim: This research will help to investigate the differences between charismatic leadership and traditional leadership.

Topic 54: How leadership decisions to implement new business strategies can be influenced by organisational culture – A case study of Nokia.

Research Aim: This research will assess how leadership decisions help in implementing new business strategies and how they are influenced by organisational culture. This study will be based on Nokia.

International Business Strategy Dissertation Topics

International business can be defined as the transactions that occur across country borders as a result of trade. For example, a UK based company selling its products in another country is involved in international business.

Another definition of international business is the exchange/trade of goods or products among businesses and individuals in multiple countries.

However, it is worth noting that all commercial transactions, including transportation, logistics, investments, sales, governmental and private, that occur as a result of trade between two different regions are the elements of International Business.

Here are some interesting topics based on international business strategy:

Topic 55: Investigating the patterns of foreign direct investment in new global economies

Research Aim: This research will help outline foreign direct investment patterns in new global economies.

Topic 56: The future of the bamboo industry in Europe – Opportunities and challenges

Research Aim: This research will understand the bamboo industry in Europe, its opportunities, and the challenges the industry has to face.

Topic 57: How Telenor internationalised in Asia – The case of Pakistan

Research Aim: This research will focus on Telenor expanding its operations in Asia. International business strategies undertaken by the company will be discussed.

Topic 58: Internationalisation opportunities for Chinese multinational companies – The link between international business development and “knowledge and learning.”

Research Aim: This research will explore the internationalisation opportunities for Chinese multinational companies, i.e. the link between international business development and knowledge will be studied.

Topic 59: Exploring strategic alternatives in Research & Development through the exploitation of opportunities and capabilities

Research Aim: This research will talk about the various strategic alternatives in research and development by exploring various opportunities and capabilities.

Topic 60: The role of new theoretical models with respect to global politics and business

Research Aim: This research will understand the role of new theoretical models by considering global politics and businesses.

Topic 61: The impact of corporate governance on performance and internationalisation of business organisation

Research Aim: This research will focus on the impact of corporate governance on the performance and internationalisation of business organisations.

Topic 62: Examining the factors that could motivate large multinational corporations to adapt an internationalisation strategy

Research Aim: This research will analyse the factors that motivate multinationals to adapt to internationalisation strategies.

Topic 63: The growing importance of social media strategies in the global business environment – Internationalisation, e-business plans and performance of firms

Research Aim: This research will understand the importance of social media strategy in the global business environment, i.e. firm performance, e-business plans, etc.

Topic 64: Investigating “foreign direct investment” strategies of large and diversified companies in developing economies – The case of India

Research Aim: This research will examine foreign direct investment strategies of huge diversified businesses based in India.

Corporate Social Responsibility Dissertation Topics

The concept of corporate social responsibility has gained tremendous importance, thanks to growing social and environmental concerns that need to be integrated into business operations.

CSR allows business organisations to achieve a balance of social, environmental, and economic obligations and addresses stakeholders and shareholders’ needs.

Implementing CSR amongst small and medium-sized enterprises can prove to be an extremely daunting task primarily because it requires strategies to be designed in a manner where the respective capabilities and needs of these businesses are considered, but the profitability of the company is not adversely impacted.

Here are some relevant CSR dissertation topics for you to choose from:

Topic 65: Investigating the role of corporate social responsibilities in brand equity

Research Aim: This research will analyse how brand equity is built with the help of corporate social responsibility.

Topic 66: How values are associated with perceptions of corporate social responsibility

Research Aim: This research will talk about how values and perceptions are associated with corporate social responsibility and how businesses view it.

Topic 67: Effects of CSR on the performance of business organisations in transitional economies

Research Aim: This study will examine how CSR impacts businesses’ performance operating in transitional economies.

Topic 68: Investigating performance and strategic plans of UK firms with respect to corporate social responsibility

Research Aim: This research will investigate the performance and strategic plans of UK firms with regard to their respective corporate social responsibility.

Topic 69: To what extent do international certifiable management regulations influence business practices

This research will aim to understand the extent to which international certifiable management regulations impact business practices.

Topic 70: Corporate social responsibility in developing countries – The case of the Chinese construction industry

Research Aim: This research will talk about corporate social responsibility in developing countries and focus on the Chinese construction industry.

Topic 71: Corporate social responsibility and societal expectations – A case of any multinational corporation

Research Aim: This research will understand the expectations associated with corporate social responsibilities. A multinational will be chosen for this study.

Topic 72: How corporate social responsibility affect business practices of the UK energy sector

Research Aim: This research will help understand how corporate social responsibility impacts business practices in the UK energy sector.

Topic 73: The role of CSR on international corporate governance theories and practices

Research Aim: This research will examine the role of CSR in international corporate governance theories and practices.

Topic 74: Financial performance of selected European corporations in light of corporate social responsibility

Research Aim: This research will understand how the financial performance of European businesses is impacted by corporate social responsibility.

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Organisational Behaviour Dissertation Topics

Organisational behaviour can be defined as how individuals interact with larger groups to create more efficient businesses. The theories of organisational behaviour can help to achieve maximum output from individual members of a team. Here are some interesting topics to help you pick an appropriate dissertation topic on organisational behaviour.

Topic 75: Investigating the impact of values and beliefs on employees’ performance and commitment at the workplace

Research Aim: This research will investigate the impact of beliefs and values on employees’ performance and commitment at the workplace.

Topic 76: Studying the impact of culture on organisational behaviour – The case of the Indian telecommunication industry

Research Aim: This research will help study the impact of culture on organisational behaviour. The Indian telecommunication industry will be the focus of this research.

Topic 77: Examining decision-making process in multinational corporations in light of organisational behaviour and choice

Research Aim: This research will help examine the decision making process in multinationals with respect to organisational behaviour and choice.

Topic 78: Organisational citizenship behaviour and organisational commitment, psychological contract and conflict at Oxford University

Research Aim: This research will help understand organisational citizenship behaviour, organisational commitment, and conflict at Oxford University.

Topic 79: Exploring the relationship between a sense of belongingness and development of trust with managerial behaviour in large and diversified organisations

Research Aim: This research will help in understanding the relationship between trust and a sense of belongingness in huge, multicultural organisations.

Topic 80: Investigating causes of unethical actions of individuals in the workplace – Analysing organisational standards, practices, ethical behaviour

Research Aim: This study will explore causes that lead to unethical actions at workplaces. The research will analyse the organisational standards, practices, and ethical behaviour.

Topic 81: Developing organisational citizenship behaviour and organisational culture in the pre-inauguration stages – The case of the UK hotel industry

Research Aim: This research will help develop organisational citizenship behaviour and organisational culture in the early days of businesses. The UK hotel industry will be the main focus of this research.

Topic 82: Comparing employees’ attitudes and organisational cultural values in the Indian agricultural sector

Research Aim: This research will compare employee attitude and organisational cultural values in the Indian agricultural sector.

Topic 83: This study will explore the relationship between employee performance and corporate objectives.

Research Aim: The research will take into consideration the role of shared values and standards.

Topic 84: Introducing, Implementing, and Managing Change in a Multinational – Assessing the Conflicts associated with it

Research Aim: This research will study global change management as to how multinationals introduce, implement and manage change globally.

List of Top Trending Business Dissertation Topics In 2024

• The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Business Decision-Making
• Gig Economy’s Impact on Traditional Employment Structures
• Blockchain Technology in Supply Chain Management for Efficiency
• The Rise of Social Media Influencers and Their Disruption of Marketing Strategies
• Fostering Innovation in a Remote Work Environment
• The Ethical Implications of Big Data Analytics in Modern Business Practices
• The Growing Power of Customer Experience as a Competitive Differentiator
• Mergers and Acquisitions in the Age of Digital Transformation
• Redefining Leadership in a Multigenerational Workforce
• The Impact of Remote Work on Corporate Culture
• How E-commerce is Changing Consumer Behaviour and Shopping Experiences
• The Influence of Fintech on Traditional Financial Institutions
• Exploring the Potential and Challenges of Sharing Economy for Sustainable Business Models
• How Social Impact is Shaping Consumer Choices
• Protecting Businesses in a Digital World
• The Power of Data-Driven Marketing
• The Gig Economy and its Impact on Employee Benefits and Social Security Systems
• The Increasing Importance of Cybersecurity Awareness Training for Employees
• The Rise of Remote Work and its Implications for Urban Planning and Development
• The Growing Influence of Employee Activism on Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives
• The Impact of Automation on Jobs
• The Ethical Considerations of Artificial Intelligence in Business
• Redefining Work-Life Balance in a Technologically Driven World
• Blockchain Technology and its Potential to Transform Business Processes Across Industries
• The Power of Storytelling in Modern Marketing
• The Growing Popularity of Subscription-Based Business Models
• The Impact of Globalisation on Labour Practices
• The Ethical Challenges of Using Social Media Data for Targeted Advertising
• The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Building Brand Reputation and Customer Trust
• The Impact of Remote Work on Employee Mental Health
• The Rise of Remote Collaboration Tools
• The Increasing Importance of Data Privacy Regulations and their Impact on Business Practices
• The Growing Influence of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Factors on Investor Decisions
• The Rise of the Creator Economy
• The Future of Work in the Age of Automation
• The Ethical Implications of Facial Recognition Technology in Business Applications
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Future of Customer Service
• The Growing Demand for Sustainable Products and Services
• The Future of Workplace Learning

Important Notes:

As a student of business studies looking to get good grades, it is essential to develop new ideas and experiment with existing business theories – i.e., to add value and interest to your research topic.

The field of business is vast and interrelated to so many other academic disciplines like  civil engineering ,  construction ,  law , and even  healthcare . That is why creating a business dissertation topic that is articular, sound, and actually solves a practical problem that may be rampant in the field is imperative.

We can’t stress how important it is to develop a logical research topic; it is the basis of your entire research. There are several significant downfalls to getting your topic wrong; your supervisor may not be interested in working on it, the topic has no academic creditability, the research may not make logical sense, and there is a possibility that the study is not viable.

This impacts your time and efforts in  writing your dissertation , as you may end up in a cycle of rejection at the very initial stage of the dissertation. That is why we recommend reviewing existing research to develop a topic, taking advice from your supervisor, and even asking for help in this particular stage of your dissertation.

While developing a research topic, keeping our advice in mind will allow you to pick one of the best business dissertation topics that fulfils your requirement of writing a research paper and add to the body of knowledge.

Therefore, it is recommended that when finalising your dissertation topic, you read recently published literature to identify gaps in the research that you may help fill.

Remember- dissertation topics need to be unique, solve an identified problem, be logical, and be practically implemented. Take a look at some of our sample business dissertation topics to get an idea for your own dissertation.

How to Structure Your Business Dissertation

A well-structured   dissertation can help students   to achieve a high overall academic grade.

• A Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration
• Abstract: A summary of the research completed
• Table of Contents
• Introduction : This chapter includes the project rationale, research background, key research aims and objectives, and the research problems. An outline of the structure of a dissertation can  also be added to this chapter.
• Literature Review :  This chapter presents relevant theories and frameworks by analysing published and unpublished literature available on the chosen research topic in light of the research questions to be addressed. The purpose is to highlight and discuss the relative weaknesses and strengths of the selected research area while identifying any research gaps. Break down of the topic, and key terms can positively impact your dissertation and your tutor.
• Methodology: The  data collection  and  analysis methods and techniques employed by the researcher are presented in the Methodology chapter, which usually includes  research design, research philosophy, research limitations, code of conduct, ethical consideration, data collection methods, and  data analysis strategy .
• Findings and Analysis: Findings of the research are analysed in detail under the Findings and Analysis chapter. All key findings/results are outlined in this chapter without interpreting the data or drawing any conclusions. It can be useful to include  graphs ,  charts, and  tables in this chapter to identify meaningful trends and relationships.
• Discussion and  Conclusion: The researcher presents his interpretation of results in this chapter and states whether the research hypothesis has been verified or not. An essential aspect of this section is to establish the link between the results and evidence from the literature. Recommendations with regard to the implications of the findings and directions for the future may also be provided. Finally, a summary of the overall research, along with final judgments, opinions, and comments, must be included in the form of suggestions for improvement.
• References:  Make sure to complete this in accordance with your University’s requirements
• Bibliography
• Appendices: Any additional information, diagrams, and graphs used to complete the dissertation  but not part of the dissertation should be included in the Appendices chapter. Essentially, the purpose is to expand the information/data.

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How to find business dissertation topics.

To find business dissertation topics:

• Research industry trends.
• Analyse unresolved problems.
• Review academic journals.
• Consider global challenges.
• Explore emerging markets.
• Select a topic that excites you and has research potential.

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Need interesting and manageable finance and accounting dissertation topics or thesis? Here are the trending finance and accounting dissertation titles so you can choose the most suitable one.

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Entrepreneurship Dissertation Topics

Entrepreneurship has become a ‘buzzword’ in recent years… Everyone wants to be one. And who can blame them? Being an entrepreneur sounds fun!

But what does it really mean to be an entrepreneur? How do you become one? And once you’ve launched a successful enterprise, how do you ensure sustainable growth? These are some of the broad themes that you could explore if you choose to write an entrepreneurship dissertation.

That said, let’s get on and explore some topical dissertation ideas for students studying entrepreneurship in 2021.

Theory-based topics

Technology-based dissertations, personal qualities in entrepreneurs.

There are many theories relating to the topic of entrepreneurship, the key ones are Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation, where he suggested that entrepreneurs are important because they disturb the flow and create new means of economic activity. The other one is Economic Theory of Entrepreneurship, which states that money is the main motive behind innovation. The following topics relate to these dominant theories.

• To study the contribution of female entrepreneurs towards development of new services in the 21st Century.
• To study the key qualities of entrepreneurs in development of new ‘unicorns’ (billion-dollar start-ups).
• To understand the entrepreneur’s need for self-fulfilment through the study of academic papers.
• An empirical study of the validity and importance of the established theories of entrepreneurship in the current era.
• To study the factors or conditions that lead to innovation amongst housewives and mothers.
• Can entrepreneurial spirit be the answer to unemployment in post-COVID world?
• Can extreme social conditions and risks create entrepreneurs? A case of entrepreneurship and innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entrepreneurs have been focused on the technology-based new products, start-ups and have managed to create paradigm shifts in the markets with their innovations. Technology has been the most important sector for entrepreneurs and deserves a section of its own, hence this section focuses on entrepreneurship and technology sector.

• To study new methods of raising finance by entrepreneurs using crowdsourcing.
• Challenge to traditional ways or great opportunity: The entrepreneurship in digital learning.
• To study the role of technology in creating the entrepreneurs of the 21st Century.
• Can technology be the answer for global pollution reduction: A case of electric cars by Tesla.
• To evaluate the relationship between exposure to technology and entrepreneurial success: Study of entrepreneurs in India and USA.
• To study the challenges encountered in creating a technological start-up in developing nations.
• To study the role of technology in developing social entrepreneurship.
• Study of how Israel developed framework of technological ecosystem to create the most successful tech start-ups in the world.

New and different topics that are taking the entrepreneurial world by storm will be discussed here as well as the role of family businesses that have been the budding grounds for entrepreneurs but have also hindered their growth.

• To study the relationship between intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship.
• Review of educational courses and the level of success rate of the entrepreneurs that attend them.
• Role of entrepreneurs in the post-COVID world and the innovation in healthcare.
• Entrepreneurship education and its impact on sustainability of family businesses: Case of Indian business families.
• Role of entrepreneurship in healthcare to contend future pandemics.
• Study to understand the importance of availability of microfinance in creating sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in developing nations.

Qualities of entrepreneur has been one of the most thoroughly researched topics in this sector and many academics have tried to establish a relationship between qualities, skills and success in an entrepreneur, yet the key questions are still left unanswered. Hence this section focuses on entrepreneur as an individual and their skills and qualities.

• To study the key skills and qualities that help an entrepreneur to overcome entrepreneurial failure.
• Study to evaluate the role of culture in development of successful entrepreneurs: Case of China versus USA.
• Study to understand if the skills and qualities are same or different for male and female entrepreneurs
• Explorative study to determine the role of government support in developing entrepreneurship amongst women.
• Study to understand the role of social media in creating entrepreneurs.
• Are social media influencers the new entrepreneurs?
• To study the perception of female entrepreneurs in a traditional family business setting.
• Study to understand if international collaboration can lead to higher innovation.
• Study of entrepreneurial contribution in reducing environmental impacts of businesses and industries.

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Dissertation topics, corporate social responsibility dissertation topics.

If you’re concerned about social or environmental justice, consider writing your dissertation on corporate social responsibility (CSR). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a strategy used by companies to take control of their relationships with various stakeholders. A CSR approach asks questions such as, “Who are we harming and how can we help?” by managers. Rather than focusing on interactions with specific stakeholders, some companies may choose to support broader social-environmental issues. CSR, on the other hand, aims to make the world a better place. Right? There are opposing views on this subject, as there are with most others. These critical viewpoints make for a fascinating dissertation. Is corporate social responsibility, for example, always sincere? Is it risky to implement CSR programmes? What are the possible mediating factors between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial performance? Here are some hot CSR dissertation topics to get you started.

Editingarsenal  has compiled a list of some of the most popular and common dissertation topics from a variety of academic disciplines, so you can pick and choose what to write about. If you need  dissertation editing assistance  , don’t hesitate to contact one of our qualified and experienced editors and proofreaders.

Covid-19 and Its Effect On CSR

• From automobiles to ventilators: A Tesla and Ford case study
• Risk analysis of reactive corporate social responsibility responses to the COVID-19 crisis.
• Has the COVID-19 crisis resulted in a decrease in corporate social responsibility spending? A quantitative analysis.
• The retail sector’s CSR crisis since COVID-19 is examined.
• Combating child malnutrition by 2020: Analyze the responses of small and medium-sized businesses to Marcus Rashford’s social activism.

CSR Threats and Challenges Topics

• Identifying impediments to the shipping industry’s CSR implementation.
• Conducting research into the practical and ethical barriers to CSR disclosure.
• Implementing CSR across borders: The United Kingdom vs. Kenya.
• How can CSR be integrated into the value chain?
• How critical is innovation in terms of CSR implementation?
• Acquiring responsibility: Developing CSR competencies at the organisational level.
• A qualitative approach to instilling social responsibility in the culture of an organisation.
• rsted as a case study for analysing employee resistance to CSR.
• Is CSR a possibility in the gambling industry?
• Is it authentic or is it a case of greenwashing? Conducting an analysis of senior management’s perceptions of corporate social responsibility.
• Analyze the contribution of intellectual capital to CSR implementation.

Sustainability and CSR

• To what extent does Starbucks’ corporate social responsibility programme align with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations?
• To what extent does Coca-social Cola’s responsibility programme align with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations?
• Was corporate social responsibility instrumental in rsted’s transformation from a black to a green energy company? An exhaustive investigation.
• What effect does corporate social responsibility have on corporate sustainability? A quantitative analysis.
• CSR in the food industry: A case study of a vegan restaurant.
• To what extent is corporate responsibility for resolving the climate crisis? A qualitative investigation of stakeholders’ perspectives.

CSR Contribution and Impact

• Corporate social responsibility and the environment: A case study in the energy sector
• Are luxury fashion customers concerned about corporate social responsibility? A qualitative investigation.
• What factors contribute to consumer interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes?
• Corporate social responsibility: What role does it play in marketing strategy?
• Examining the financial impact of corporate social responsibility: A comparison of Marks and Spencer’s Plan Before and after images of a scheme.
• Can corporate social responsibility be used to gain a competitive edge? A case study analysis of health and wellness small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
• To what extent does corporate social responsibility affect the value of a business? Is there any way for this association to be mediated?
• What effect do volunteer days sponsored by employers have? A multi-stakeholder survey-based approach.
• A secondary analysis of the business benefits of volunteerism among employees.

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More From Forbes

Social entrepreneurship: balancing profit and purpose.

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Dr Krissy Jones , Founder, Trilogy Trust Foundation.

In the evolving landscape of global business, social entrepreneurship stands out as a model that marries the social and environmental missions of nonprofits with the revenue mechanisms of for-profit businesses. These hybrid organizations, known as social businesses, strive to address some of the most pressing global issues—such as poverty, inequality and environmental degradation—while maintaining financial viability.

I have always tried to foster a culture of giving back within my organizations. In my first company, I implemented initiatives such as weekly litter-picking sessions in the local park and granting employees one day off per month to engage in voluntary work of their choice. These efforts not only contributed to our company's recognition but also created a sense of fulfillment and purpose among our team.

My passion for philanthropy truly started after nearly becoming homeless. Thankfully, we never actually lost our home, but this challenging period in my life fueled a determination to make a difference and led to the establishment of my own foundation, which aims to prevent homelessness.

Some other examples of organizations that embrace social entrepreneurship include:

• TOMS: Perhaps one of the most recognized social enterprises, TOMS is known for pioneering the "one-for-one" model where it donated a pair of shoes for every pair purchased (though the company has since moved away from this model ).

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• Warby Parker: This eyewear company follows a model similar to the one TOMS used to, where for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is donated to someone in need. The company partners with nonprofits to help make this happen.

• Kiva: This is an online lending platform that allows people to lend money to low-income entrepreneurs and students in more than 80 countries, according to the company's website.

• Fairphone: This company produces smartphones with the goal of being ethical and environmentally conscious. Fairphone designs devices that are durable, repairable and made from responsibly sourced materials, which challenges the norms of the smartphone industry.

• Patagonia: While primarily known as an outdoor apparel brand, Patagonia is deeply committed to environmental sustainability. The company invests in environmental campaigns, builds products with eco-friendly materials and encourages the recycling of its garments.

Understanding The Hybrid Model

I believe a social business model represents a significant evolution in simultaneously pursuing business and social objectives. Social entrepreneurs use their business acumen and commitment to social causes to develop scalable solutions that are both impactful and economically sustainable.

The potential impact of a social business is twofold: It could help improve the lives of target beneficiaries and foster broader community development. Efforts might include enhancing access to essential services, creating jobs and advancing environmental sustainability, for example. Equally important is financial sustainability, which involves generating enough revenue to sustain operations over the long term without relying on external funding such as grants and donations.

Navigating Complexities

The path of a social entrepreneur, however, is fraught with challenges. Designing business models that deliver both social impact and financial returns involves managing the interdependence of diverse stakeholders, balancing multiple ambitious goals and overcoming substantial resource limitations. Entrepreneurs may also need to navigate complex regulatory environments and must secure funding without compromising their social goals.

Despite these hurdles, the success stories of numerous social enterprises demonstrate that integrating social and business objectives is not only possible but can also be transformative for communities. I believe the opportunities for making a tangible difference are immense and open avenues for significant social innovation and transformation.

Getting Started

To help your business have a positive impact, start by asking yourself a few questions. Firstly, reflect on your company's core values and mission. What drives your business beyond profit? Then, identify social causes that resonate authentically with your brand. Additionally, be sure you consider the needs and interests of your stakeholders, customers and the community at large. By aligning your company's social initiatives with the interests of these groups, you can foster greater engagement and support. Keep in mind that your employees can be a valuable asset in driving forward these social initiatives, both through their ideas and by actually taking part.

I've found it's best to prioritize initiatives that leverage your unique resources and expertise. This might mean, for example, donating a percentage of profits or donating one item for every item sold; implementing employee volunteer programs or transitioning to more sustainable business practices. The chosen initiatives should reflect the company's strengths and capabilities. It's important to approach social impact efforts with a long-term perspective, focusing on sustainable solutions rather than short-term fixes.

In my own journey, I've also learned that transparency is key. Communicating openly with stakeholders about your company's social impact initiatives builds trust and accountability and makes employees feel a part of the process and passionate about the cause.

Additionally, it's essential to measure and track the outcomes of these initiatives to ensure they're making a meaningful difference. Lastly, be open to learning and evolving your approach over time. Social impact is a dynamic field, and staying adaptable allows businesses to stay relevant and effective in addressing pressing societal issues.

A Model For The Future

Social entrepreneurship provides a framework for understanding how enterprises can develop sustainable business models that deliver both social and economic value. For emerging social entrepreneurs, this model serves as a blueprint for launching and scaling ventures that aspire to tackle societal challenges through innovative business strategies.

As the business world becomes increasingly attuned to the importance of sustainability and social responsibility, social entrepreneurship can be a powerful strategy for societal improvement. By aligning business operations with social goals, social businesses can pave the way for a sustainable, equitable and prosperous future.

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Advancing Health Equity: SE Summer Fellow Simona Stancov (MBA 2025)

The  HBS Summer Fellows Program  enables students to apply their classroom training as they explore career opportunities in roles or regions where compensation is generally lower than the traditional MBA level. This summer, we are connecting with some of our 70 Social Enterprise Summer Fellows, who are working around the world to develop skills and knowledge while having significant responsibility and high impact.

What are you working on this summer?

As an intern at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), I am spending the summer working on Regional Malaria Strategy and Finance. While progress in malaria elimination 1 is certainly something to celebrate, there is still a lot of work to do. Nearly every minute, a child under five years of age dies from malaria 2 . Many of these deaths are preventable, so it is imperative that existing solutions — from bed nets and insecticides to rapid tests and medications — can get to the people who need them. My projects at CHAI focus on helping governments in Central and West Africa with the finance work that enables this solution delivery. So far, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to support partners with:

• A donor funding request to scale up preventive interventions in Burkina Faso
• Efforts to better understand and address out-of-pocket costs in Benin
• Development of a costing tool to estimate resource needs for digitizing campaigns in Africa

Why did you choose this internship for the summer?

Prior to HBS, I spent four years working in Boston Consulting Group's healthcare and social impact practice areas. Along the way, I learned some important lessons: Progress is not always linear or transformational. Systems have been shaped by misaligned incentives. Solutions cannot benefit patients if political, economic, or cultural barriers to care persist. In reflecting on ways to maximize my impact in this complex space, I have strengthened my sense of purpose: to advance health equity. I want to create a world in which the most vulnerable moments of a person’s life are not intensified by issues with the accessibility, quality, and cost of healthcare. After learning about CHAI’s incredible work across 20+ programs in 35+ countries, I knew it would be the perfect place to deepen my knowledge of what health equity means in a global health context.

What are your goals for this summer?

My goals for the summer include helping CHAI accelerate progress toward malaria elimination and gaining a better understanding of what it takes to successfully deliver global health solutions. Although the population vulnerable to malaria has doubled since 2010, funding has plateaued over the same horizon 3 , placing greater pressure on securing and making the most of limited resources. I am eager to support government partners in navigating this complex landscape and expect I will learn a lot about policymaking, multinational cooperation, and financial management along the way. By comparing and contrasting countries’ approaches to malaria elimination, I will advance my perspectives on widely applicable best practices vs. country-specific endeavors. These insights promise to serve as a powerful starting point for my future global health and health equity projects.

How has your MBA skillset prepared you to be successful in this role?

Given my consulting background, I have spent a lot of time thinking about and developing strategies. My first semester at HBS taught me that while a strong strategy inspires and focuses energy, it is excellent leadership, finance, operations, and marketing that bring strategy to life. My second semester allowed me to appreciate that organizations’ choices across these business domains do not exist in a vacuum. Health facilities are shaped by the systems to which they belong. These systems, in turn, are regulated and funded by governments. And governments are influenced by the actions of the global community. These MBA learnings have framed the way I approach my work at CHAI. By investigating the various forces at play behind malaria prevalence and incidence, I am better able to help colleagues and partners develop nuanced, effective solutions.

How has the summer influenced your thinking on future involvement in social enterprise?

This summer has challenged me to reflect on my personal approach to prioritization, an exercise that promises to strengthen my ability to drive lasting change in resource-constrained settings. There is no shortage of urgent work in the global health space, and I have been tempted, on more than one occasion, to simply move from one pressing task to the next. Working on multiple, disparate CHAI projects in parallel has taught me to be intentional about advancing efforts that are important in the long term but not urgent in the short term. In the next few weeks, this lesson will manifest itself in the way I manage my calendar. In the future, it will shape the way I scope my team’s health equity work, allocate limited funding, and capacitate partner organizations. I’ve learned that meaningful social impact requires leaders who can meet the urgent demands of today and lay the foundation for work that will become urgent tomorrow. I am grateful to have the opportunity to practice being one of these leaders.

How can someone learn more about your organization?

You can learn more about CHAI and its fantastic work in the malaria space through the organization website and resource center .

[1]      Over 40 countries have achieved malaria-free certification as of January 2024 ( WHO )

[2]     Children under five years of age constituted 76% of 608,000 deaths from malaria in 2022 ( UNICEF )

[3]      Closing the global malaria funding gap can help sustain the strong progress made over the past two decades ( Malaria No More )

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