Social entrepreneurship in Russia and in the world. Practice and role in modern society."

Social entrepreneurship- this is one of the types of business activities, the main goals of which are to help people and work with their problems. This type of business differs from pure charitable activities in the ability of projects to pay for themselves and make a profit.

Small businesses and social oriented organizations can be active in various directions, working within the framework of socially useful projects in the field of healthcare, agriculture, provision of services, education, etc. Today it is impossible to give an unambiguous definition of social entrepreneurship, because it is a multifaceted phenomenon that is relevant to many areas of human life . The shortest and most capacious might sound like this: “Getting profit from helping other people.”

The main meaning of social entrepreneurship is that a businessman is an independent, independent entity that has the opportunity to carry out charitable activities, relying on its own capital.

There are several features that characterize social entrepreneurship.

• focus on people's problems;
• the presence of new solutions (as the usual traditional ways of resolving problems become ineffective);
• replicability (the ability to share experience with other organizations around the country and the world);
• self-sufficiency (independence from the support of sponsors);
• the possibility of making a profit (it is necessary to support and stimulate the development of the project so that it generates income and satisfies the needs of its owner).

The main feature of social entrepreneurship organizations is that they contribute to changes in society and are characterized by three components:

1. Identification of injustice expressed in the marginalization or suffering of certain groups of citizens who are in dire need of material means or political support in order to achieve a prosperous existence through transformation.
2. Finding opportunities to achieve well-being for any group in society suffering from injustice - through inspiration, creative approach to the problem, active decisive action and courage of the entrepreneur.
3. A gradual process leading to the establishment of justice, which becomes a factor that alleviates the suffering of some people through the "creation of a stable ecosystem in a new equilibrium." This contributes to the achievement of a prosperous existence in the future of this composition of citizens, as well as society as a whole.

Very often, solving problems with the help of social entrepreneurship brings more effective results than those achieved by charitable non-profit organizations or the state using their standard algorithms.

The main advantages of commercial socially oriented enterprises in comparison with state institutions can be listed:

1. A high degree of involvement in the process of the entrepreneur and his motivation to achieve success from the activities of the organization.
2. Government structures have the opportunity to transfer some powers to socially oriented businesses, thereby reducing their administrative costs and the time resource allotted for the implementation of programs: from development to implementation of a real-life project that can provide assistance certain group people in need of support.
3. Organizations in the field of social entrepreneurship take on the role of establishing a balance between citizens with different levels of social well-being. Thanks to the activities of entrepreneurs and their socially oriented organizations, the state is able to monitor the effectiveness of balancing regulation within the framework of state control and at the same time transfer the search for new solutions to the problems of modern society to the level of socially oriented business.
4. The high level of competition among organizations of this type contributes to the fact that the most active companies focus on their specific goals and try to achieve them most effectively.

Main types of social entrepreneurship

The main types and areas of activity of social entrepreneurship:

1. Use of a zero-waste production method (recycling of waste), making a positive impact on environmental conditions (for example, the Indian plastic waste recycling company Concerve).
2. Reducing the criminal component in society (for example, the French sports youth organization Emergence).
3. Help and support for those who find themselves in difficult living conditions (for example, the French enterprises Jardins de Cocagne in the agricultural sector for the employment of the long-term unemployed).
4. Provision of services for low-income citizens (for example, the American organization American Family).
5. Issuance of mini loans to small businesses (for example, Kiva.org, a global Internet platform that is not part of the Ashoka fund database).

Platform

This model assumes that the owner of a socially oriented business organizes a platform for the exchange of information and becomes an intermediary between a small producer and consumers. For example, the Nizhny Novgorod Gallery of Crafts allows craftsmen to regularly participate in exhibitions and fairs where they can sell their products. This model is very convenient for a small manufacturer who has difficulty finding buyers on his own.

Market Access

This model is implemented in practice by the Artistic Crafts company - it purchases products from small manufacturers in order to sell them on its trading floors.

Employment

This model involves caring for vulnerable groups of the population: for example, training and employment of people with disabilities. A good example is the Berezen Center for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (Tula).

Access to a product or service

In this case, social entrepreneurship takes on the role of making up for the shortcomings or gaps in the market and offering consumers access to a certain group of goods or services if the customers are willing to pay for it. An example of such a model is the Bumper book bus, which delivers books to the end consumer anywhere in the city at the lowest prices.

Charity

This model implies a free purchase of a service or product. In addition to the seller and the buyer, there is a third party that finances the project. For example, the Perspektiva-NN organization, which provides classes for parents with children with serious vision problems. Services are provided free of charge or for a purely symbolic fee. This organization is financed by the regional budget and is included in the list of organizations providing social services.

4 Profitable Social Entrepreneurship Business Ideas

Profit is no longer the only driving force. According to Richard Branson, the new kind business, which he proposes to call "capitalism 24,902" (that's how many miles the length of the equator). The meaning is simple: every businessman is responsible for both people and the planet.

The editors of the magazine "CEO" gave several examples of companies of the new era.

What are the steps in the social entrepreneurship process?

In the structure of the process of social entrepreneurship, upon detailed consideration, five main stages can be distinguished:

1. Search for opportunities (to solve problems and meet the needs of those in need).
2. Development of a development concept (identification of benefits, creation of new products, market identification).
3. Acquisition of resources that are needed: finance, specialists, knowledge, experience, skills, competencies.
4. Launching and improving the enterprise (determining results, growth and expansion of the organization).
5. Achieving the goal (merging with other companies, expanding the company, formulating new tasks, solving them and closing the organization).

For any organization working in the field of social entrepreneurship, it is important to understand two main factors according to which its activities are structured: firstly, it is the solution of problems relevant to society, and secondly, the receipt of cash income. The essence of entrepreneurship in the social sphere lies in the balance of these two factors. With competent and successful development, such organizations contribute to the strengthening of public relations and their gradual and sustainable development.

• Image in social networks: how to protect the reputation of a business

Social Entrepreneurship Project Ideas

There is no shortage of ideas for social entrepreneurship these days. On the contrary, there have been many creative and non-standard proposals lately. In this area there are wonderful opportunities for creativity and bold experiments. The most important thing is not to forget about the main goal of this activity - to help people in need. Next, we offer an overview of the ideas already implemented in practice.

Idea 1. Eco-packaging. The well-known plastic bag decomposes over a very long time: it takes about two hundred years. Every day we throw away a huge number of bags in which we buy sour-milk products, juices, frozen vegetables, sausages. Huge mountains of plastic bags will soon become a terrible "decoration" of our planet, if we do not think and stop such thoughtless behavior. This is exactly what the creators of ecological packaging want to prevent - they use completely different materials for storing goods: paper and cardboard, which completely decompose in two years, which is a huge advantage compared to polyethylene. Unfortunately, no environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bottles has yet been found. However, even the fact that ecological packaging made of paper and cardboard can be found on the market today is already a huge achievement.

Idea 2. Plastic recycling. Modern people use a huge number of plastic products: bags, bottles, cans, films, boxes, etc. The negative aspects of such packaging are not only environmental degradation, but also waste of resources. Tons of bottles end up in landfills every day, but the same amount of new material is used by factories to make new ones. It is important to stop and start reusing plastic waste: modern technologies make it possible to produce packaging, bristles for brushes, building materials and much more from old plastic.

Idea 3. Rural tourism. Nowadays, it has become a fashionable activity among residents of large cities. Newer generations born and raised in urban areas may never have seen a live cow or know how potatoes grow. For such people, a trip to the countryside becomes a real adventure. They are ready to pay for such entertainment: milk a cow, collect eggs, help their grandmother in the garden. The mental state of an average resident of a metropolis leaves much to be desired, therefore, clean fresh air, physical labor heals people, restores exhausted emotional balance, and for villages and villages such ecotourism is a great opportunity for development.

Idea 4. Educational computer games. Children are big fans of various games on modern gadgets, and their creation is profitable business. However, you can combine business with pleasure: create educational and educational games. So, for example, in the format of computer "developers" you can learn foreign languages ​​or master business skills, for example, blind typing with a ten-finger writing method. With the help of special applications, you can study school subjects. In addition, there are many excellent opportunities for social role-playing games in order to acquire the skills of harmonious interaction with the outside world and other people.

Idea 5. Center child development or private kindergarten. This type of social entrepreneurship brings considerable benefits to families where both parents work and they have no one to leave the child with (getting into a municipal kindergarten today is not easy) or there is not enough time for its qualitative development creativity. In this case, private kindergartens or development centers come to the rescue - as a rule, they have small groups, which allows maintaining the high quality of the services provided and providing an individual approach to each child. The advantages of such organizations are also that they are modernly equipped and offer effective development programs. The disadvantage for some families may be the high fees for this quality of service.

Idea 6. A club dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Today it is very fashionable to be slim, well-groomed, monitor your diet, play sports, actively spend your free time. On the one hand, these are the requirements of the time, on the other hand, many people dream of being like that. However, doing all this alone is not particularly interesting, and if there is a community of like-minded people, it will help you stay in good shape and motivate you to further work on yourself. For a certain fee, people can get a company of interest, high-quality service, and the opportunity to spend their leisure time in an organized and healthy way.

Idea 7. Crowdfunding or collective financing of projects. A modern view of creating your own business on voluntary contributions from those who are interested in this or simply support the idea. The size of the contribution is not limited, everything happens purely according to the possibilities and desire of the one who wants to financially support this or that idea. Detailed information about such programs can be found on the Internet. Many successful startups started this way. As a rule, projects of this kind are born in the field of culture, journalism, art and cinema.

Idea 8. Providing support(training, retraining and employment) to people who find themselves in difficult living conditions. Today there are many such citizens in society. These are former prisoners, and single mothers, and individuals who have been subjected to violence, as well as those who are undergoing rehabilitation after treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, people with disabilities. All these categories of citizens experience difficulties in finding a job. As part of social entrepreneurship, you can open an agency that will purposefully work with just such people, help them with training, with the development of simple professions that can help them get on their feet, gain financial independence, and feel like full-fledged members of society. What is the benefit for the entrepreneur? The fact is that, as a rule, people who have experienced difficulties in life and have received a new chance highly value their newfound well-being and are very responsible in their duties, without having excessive demands on employers.

Idea 9. Dating club for single people. Activities in this area will always be relevant in any society: it is much more difficult for single people of the age to get to know each other and find a partner for life on their own. The forms of such social entrepreneurship can be very different: a marriage agency, interest clubs, dance evenings "for those who are over ...".

• How Corporate Social Responsibility Helps Business Grow

How to evaluate the results of social entrepreneurship

In the field of social entrepreneurship, it is necessary to evaluate the results. There are many ways to do this, here are some of the most common:

Valuation of social outcomes

Estimates of this kind are encouraged by investors or donors, since the calculation of the costs that society is forced to incur in order to cope with crime, poverty, drug addiction and other types of problems of modern society can make their economic contribution to solving these problems more visible and tangible. . Examples for such results might be as follows:

1. Increasing income (decreasing expenses) of those who received assistance in the form of the provision of services from a socially oriented enterprise. This factor is measured after the provision of assistance, or for a certain period of time.
2. Changes in other people's costs and profits as a result of the changes financial position participants of socially oriented programs.
3. Reducing public spending by reducing the need for certain categories of citizens to receive support from the state through the provision of assistance from social enterprises.
4. Falling demand for specialized services;
5. Growth in social profits due to the fact that the number of employed citizens who have received support from social enterprises increases, as a result of which their personal well-being increases.

There are two approaches to measuring valuations:

1. Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). It is used in cases where the results of social activity for some reason cannot be expressed in monetary terms or are reflected in other units of measurement (for example, “number of saved years”, “everyone who is a high school graduate”). If the results are presented in different units of measurement and it is not possible to combine them and determine the overall effectiveness, it becomes necessary to apply a cost-benefit analysis.
2. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a method that allows you to identify the relationship between costs and various social outcomes. With this analysis, you can see the net benefit both for the whole society and for individual stakeholders. The advantages of this method are that it helps to make better decisions about social outcomes, set the right priorities and plan for funding. The shortcomings of such an analysis are the inability to give an extensive assessment of the whole variety of social costs and benefits.

The main difference between different approaches to assessing the results of socially oriented activities lies in determining what a social result is, how exactly costs are calculated, and how both of these concepts are expressed in monetary terms or in natural units.

The main disadvantage in the process of applying these indicators is the need for serious expenses for implementation: time, money, intellectual, etc. This aspect does not allow the widespread use of these methods in the field of social entrepreneurship.

Flexible valuation methods

Social entrepreneurship needs more pragmatic and flexible methods in terms of goals and measurement of results. Methods are needed that would not require the investment of financial and time resources.

For example, the international association Acumen has developed a special system of Lean Data methods in order to measure the degree of efficiency of enterprises in the field of social entrepreneurship.

It helps to make the process of collecting information about the company's customers (beneficiaries) easier, as well as to optimize the analysis of the collected information and the use of its results in decision-making:

1. Cooperation. The Lean Evaluation system examines what changes social enterprise leaders would like to see, after which a general work is done to collect information that should help answer the main questions.
2. Attention to the client (beneficiary). Lean Data studies the opinions and wishes of social enterprise customers so that organizations can operate in a more efficient and targeted production of products and services in accordance with the needs of beneficiaries.
3. Benefit from the information collected. Lean Data is not in the business of creating reports for investment companies, but is committed to helping social enterprises get the most insight from their clients and thus help them make better decisions.
4. Profitability. Lean Data uses modern information technologies in its work, which allows you to receive information from customers quickly, while spending minimal time and financial resources to carry out your research.

Unified standard for managing socially-oriented activities

Some experts and practitioners believe that the creation of a universal way to measure the results of social activities is impossible due to the fact that the problems of society are very diverse, as well as the activities of socially oriented enterprises. The optimal solution in this case would be the creation of uniform recommended indicators, universal for most socially oriented organizations.

It is these considerations that have led the European Commission to create a standard for measuring social performance, which is used as a guideline by many organizations and their funding agencies. This standard is based on the Social Performance: Measurement and Management guidelines developed by the European Venture Philanthropy Association.

The unity of the standard is achieved due to the fact that the stages of management are of a universal nature:

• definition of tasks;
• analysis of stakeholders (parties involved);
• evaluation of results;
• control and measurement of the degree of impact;
• monitoring and reporting.

These steps should be carried out strictly in the sequence as they are indicated, periodically updating them in connection with the experience gained and new information.

Support for social entrepreneurship by funds, consulting companies, large businesses

For several years now, the Russian government has shown a steady interest in the field of socio-economic entrepreneurship. This can be seen both at the federal and regional levels. More than once, the state has indicated a tendency to support "representatives of small businesses" who are engaged in socially responsible activities and contribute to solving the problems of modern society.

The Our Future Foundation became the first representative of the social entrepreneurship sector in Russia. During the five years of its existence, this fund has supported 59 socially oriented enterprises. The total amount of funds allocated for these purposes amounted to more than 130.5 million rubles.

The Fund has established a competition, the winners of which are provided with financial and advisory support. In addition, interest-free loans are issued for a long period of time, legal and minimal cost loans are provided, small office premises are offered for rent, etc.

Along with the holding of the All-Russian competition Our Future, the Foundation established the Impulse of Kindness award, which is aimed at financially and morally supporting promising projects. In 2012, during the competitive selection for this award, a large number of applications for participation from entrepreneurs from 54 regions of Russia were submitted.

In the modern business world, it is necessary to be able to create business models, manage projects, manage finances, and develop business plans. This needs to be learned and this kind of education should be publicly available. For example, Citibank offers grants for such training for social entrepreneurs with the support of the Graduate School of Management in St. Petersburg. The Our Future Foundation acts as the organizer of the training course at Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov.

It is very important if a social entrepreneur has the opportunity to receive organizational and consulting support. An entrepreneur is always required to be able to understand accounting issues and the legal foundations of a business. In business activities, situations often arise that require the participation or assessment of various specialists, which in turn requires a lot of expenses. For social entrepreneurship, it would be very important to create certain centers that would provide such services at the lowest prices.

Also, a huge support for social entrepreneurs would be the creation of specialized consulting centers that could provide office space for rent, provide legal advice, and help in organizational matters. The potential for cooperation between the state and big business in order to support and develop social entrepreneurship is very high. Both sides of this process should be genuinely interested in developing and strengthening such interaction.

Already today, there are many large companies and consulting organizations that support social entrepreneurs in various ways: financially, through legal advice at reduced prices or free of charge, as part of their ongoing charitable projects. Some representatives of large businesses have included this type of entrepreneurship in the list of priority areas for the implementation of socially significant programs and charitable initiatives in the territories of their presence.

Rusal is such a company - with its support, programs for the development of single-industry towns are being implemented, including projects to assist social entrepreneurs. Severstal has been running a project called the Urban Development Agency for several years with the support of local authorities, which aims to support individual and, more recently, social entrepreneurs. SUEK, with the support of the corporate fund Suek for the Regions, is also running a similar program.

Thus, representatives of big business contribute to the development of important initiatives for society, support the development of territories. In addition to these important goals, large companies may have a number of other interests in helping small businesses and social entrepreneurs.

In order to optimize production, many large companies are introducing non-core assets which are most often associated with the provision of social services to their employees and their relatives. However, the need for them does not disappear anywhere. Therefore, companies often buy necessary services from organizations created on the basis of withdrawn assets. Such enterprises may well become independent representatives of social entrepreneurship.

The state is largely responsible for the success of the development of the sector of socially oriented services and the active support of various initiatives in the field of small business, therefore it is extremely important what position it takes, whether it is ready to effectively cooperate and interact with business representatives.

There is the Federal Law on Social Entrepreneurship dated April 5, 2010 No. 40-FZ “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Issue of Supporting Socially-Oriented Non-Commercial Organizations”. According to this Federal Law, in Russia at present, only non-profit organizations are considered “social entrepreneurship”.

State programs to provide assistance to socially oriented NGOs (according to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation):

• provide financial, consulting, informational, educational support;
• offer reduced taxes
• provide office space for rent at a discounted rate.

In Russia, priority types of social entrepreneurship activities for NPOs have been identified:

• orphanhood prevention;
• support for motherhood and childhood;
• social adaptation of people with disabilities and their families;
• improving the quality of life of the elderly;
• development of additional education, scientific, technical and artistic creativity, mass sports, activities of children and youth in the field of local history and ecology;
• development of international cooperation.

Law on social entrepreneurship in Russia

Due to the insufficient development of the theoretical framework for 2016, the legislation of the Russian Federation does not have a separate general legal section dedicated to social entrepreneurship. This means the absence of a legislative framework that could regulate these issues, contribute to the development of more simple rules for the process of business registration and reduce the level of taxes for entrepreneurs.

The only definition of social entrepreneurship can be found in the order of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation dated April 24, 2013 No. 220 (previously - No. 223) "On the organization of the competitive selection of subjects of the Russian Federation, whose budgets in 2013 are provided with subsidies from the federal budget for state support of small and medium-sized businesses by subjects RF". This definition is intended exclusively for recipients of support provided by the ministry.

In order to reduce the tax rate, many social entrepreneurs in Russia use various forms of NGOs, and individual businessmen register as representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.

In 2013, the Federation Council Committee on social policy initiated the introduction of amendments to the second reading of the draft law "On the Fundamentals of Social Services for the Population in the Russian Federation", which would allow introducing the concepts of "social entrepreneur" and "social entrepreneurship" into federal legislation. But these amendments were rejected.

On October 16, 2014, a new initiative was taken: a group of deputies from the upper and lower houses of the Federal Assembly submitted to the State Duma a draft law on social entrepreneurship and forms of its support. To date, it has not been accepted.

In August 2016, the Ministry of Economic Development proposed to amend the current legislation in order to consolidate the term "social entrepreneurship" in it. To date, the draft federal law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (in terms of fixing the concept of "social entrepreneurship")" is being discussed on the "Federal Portal of Draft Regulatory Legal Acts".

In 2017, the Ministry of Economy sent a bill on social entrepreneurship for approval to such government agencies as the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the Federal Tax Service, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor. According to this bill, social entrepreneurship should include enterprises where people with disabilities work, single parents (having children under 7 years old), representatives of large families, pensioners, graduates of orphanages (under 21 years old), former prisoners. The total number of such employees must be at least 30% of the total number of employees of the enterprise, and the share of their remuneration must be at least 25% of the total wage fund.

These legislative changes may indicate that, in all likelihood, in 2017-2018 in Russia, the term "social entrepreneurship" will become more stable, clear and will be legislated.

• Industrial waste: 9 ideas how to make money on them

Examples of the development of social entrepreneurship in Russia

There are three bright socially useful projects that received support from the Our Future Foundation:

Example 1. The Armor project (LLC New Rehabilitation Technologies Armor).

This project is to create and use special orthopedic systems that help people with spinal cord injuries to move, stand, stand up and sit down without the help of strangers. This system was created and patented by Alexei Nalogin, who himself belongs to those who are called disabled spinal patients. Armor is the very first project supported by the Our Future Foundation. The total amount of invested funds amounted to 9.5 million rubles, more than half of which (5.5 million rubles) were provided in the form of an interest-free loan. To date, 50% of the total investment has been returned to the fund. The number of workers in "Armor" has 11 people. The production of orthopedic systems was carried out thanks to the support and cooperation of the medical center of the Russian State Medical University.

Example 2. Creative workshop "Merry felt" (NP "Women's organization of social support" Woman, personality, society ").

The main activity of the project "Merry felt" is the creation of designer souvenirs-toys and felt decorations. This project operates on the territory of the city of Rybinsk, its social significance is the participation in it of mothers of large families from low-income families who are not able to work in full-time jobs, who need to work at home. The Fund allocated 400 thousand rubles for this project, one fourth of which was issued in the form of an interest-free loan. To date, 15 women have been employed by the project. The company paid off the loan issued in 2008 ahead of schedule and today is actively cooperating not only with domestic manufacturers and sellers of toys, but also with foreign enterprises.

Example 3. "School of farmers" (individual entrepreneur V.V. Gorelov).

The School of Farmers helps graduates of Perm orphanages get a professional education (the project prepares rural entrepreneurs), learn how to be financially independent and socially protected. Participation in this project instills positive values ​​in young people, teaches them how to interact competently with other people. Its activity is aimed at producing independent entrepreneurs for agriculture who are able to run a profitable business. The Fund allocated about 1 million rubles to support and implement the School of Farmers, and the money received has already been returned due to the fact that the author of the project, Vyacheslav Gorelov, managed to repay the loan ahead of schedule. Today, the project has prospects to become a "youth village". If successfully developed, it will train young farmers in a much large scale, thereby solving very important problems facing the society.

Having studied only a few projects created in the field of social entrepreneurship, which is supported by the Our Future Foundation, we can draw important conclusions:

1. These initiatives are aimed at solving important problems of society that exist in modern Russia.
2. In order for the project to bring sustainable profits and achieve self-sufficiency, initial investments in the form of financial investments and the provision of high-quality organizational support at the stages of project preparation and implementation are necessary.
3. At the same time, an important role is assigned to the creation of a development infrastructure that contributes to the rapid achievement of stable financial indicators. This allows projects to become independent in a short time and use funds for new initiatives.

All entrepreneurs engaged in socially significant activities contribute to the development of business and the expansion of its geographical boundaries. Representatives of social entrepreneurship actively share their knowledge, experience and proven methods of work with those who are ready to follow in their footsteps. In this sense, socially oriented enterprises are becoming reference points for the development of civil society and its activity.

It is gratifying to note that an increasing number of businessmen and entrepreneurs are imbued with the ideas of philanthropy and become active participants in socially useful activities. Many small companies regularly make donations to charitable causes, some of the business representatives offer special prices for low-income categories of citizens, other companies participate in charitable projects and promotions. It's great when good deeds become a trend in society - after all, in this case, following fashion is simply necessary.

Entrepreneurship is a complex structured phenomenon that has become the object of close attention of researchers. various areas modern science. However, there is still no unambiguous definition of the concept of "entrepreneurship", an integral scientific approach that allows a comprehensive study of this phenomenon. This involves the development of new theoretical directions for the study of entrepreneurship.

For example, Ignatova I.V. (4) applies a modular approach to entrepreneurship research. It allows you to take into account and group all more or less homogeneous elements and processes within the framework of entrepreneurship. There are three modules:

institutional;

Economic;

Psychological;

This division is due to the specifics of entrepreneurship as a type of activity that includes three components:

1. Firstly, a necessary feature of entrepreneurship is economic freedom and administrative independence of decision-making, the guarantors of which are legislative acts of various levels.

2. Secondly, entrepreneurial activity is focused on achieving commercial success, making a profit, which is associated with market structure economy, during which the continuous renewal of social needs is ensured.

3. Thirdly, in the process of entrepreneurial activity, a person realizes himself, develops entrepreneurial thinking.

The absence of a social module is due to the fact that society is the basis of any activity, in relation to which it acts as a condition, resource and environment that evaluates the results of activity. Society is understood as a complex, voluminous, multi-level, open organic system based on the collective activity of people. No activity can be carried out outside the society. Entrepreneurial activity is no exception, it is implemented by people and for people, while society plays a dual role. On the one hand, it is a resource of entrepreneurship - these are people who have the potential or are actually engaged in entrepreneurial activity, and unmet social needs. On the other hand, the results of entrepreneurial activity have an impact on society through the discovery and implementation of existing and the formation of new social needs. So, the society permeates, determines and evaluates the success of entrepreneurial activity, plays a connecting role between the entrepreneur and society, ensuring the unification of economic interest, efficient use of resources and creative self-realization in the processes of implementing unique ideas in a certain way.

Thus, entrepreneurship is social, it originates in a society that reflects modern social status, as human resources, forms social relations, culture, etc. Then he uses them, acting as a "black box", where the factors used in the process of entrepreneurship are transformed, at the output of which new social elements, trends, norms, etc. appear. Therefore, entrepreneurship is the transformer of society. Let us consider in more detail each of the stages of the process of transforming society through entrepreneurship.

First stage reflects the impact of society on entrepreneurship. We single out the following social factors:

Sex and age structure of the population;

The level of general and special entrepreneurial education;

Opportunity to increase personal income;

Society's attitude to entrepreneurship;

Developed business services infrastructure specializing in entrepreneurship.

Sex and age structure of the population. It is from the demographic situation that the changes in the needs for goods and services depend, as well as the reaction of the population to these changes and its ability to offer ways to meet new demands. Studies show that countries with zero expected population growth in the coming decades (until 2025) have a total entrepreneurial activity index of 2.2% or lower, and countries with an expected population growth of 20% have the highest level of entrepreneurial index. Russia is one of the countries with zero (minus) expected population growth, therefore, it is reckless to expect active entrepreneurial activity in the coming years (until 2025).

The most promising for business is the population aged 25 to 44 years. Countries with the highest development of entrepreneurship have more than a quarter of the population in this age range, countries with a low entrepreneurship index - 22%. It is also believed that women constitute a powerful, as yet underutilized resource for entrepreneurship development. However, in general, women in the field of entrepreneurship face many specific barriers, such as weaker technical education, difficulties in building a business infrastructure, the need to divide their time between family and entrepreneurship, etc.

The level of general and special entrepreneurial education. In this area, the United States has a significant competitive advantage, since more than 80% of the population at the appropriate age receive a special secondary and higher education and are second only to Canada (90%) in this indicator. According to statistics, entrepreneurs have a higher level of education than the national average. Researchers note an interesting phenomenon - among entrepreneurs in the United States, there are more people with incomplete higher education(about one third). At the same time, the best American colleges and universities in the 1990s. began to offer special courses on entrepreneurship. By 2000 their number had reached 125. In recent years, the introduction of educational programs designed to increase the level of knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship has begun in Russia. It should be noted that traditionally Russian entrepreneurs show a very high level of education (the level of activity of respondents with higher education exceeds the average for the sample by 2 times). However, along with Japanese entrepreneurs, Russian entrepreneurs show uncertainty in their knowledge and experience to start a business, respectively 13% and 18% of respondents. At the same time in developed countries Western Europe and America, this figure ranges from 25 to 55% of the number of respondents. This fact explains the low number of people involved in entrepreneurial activity in Russia. It is significant that entrepreneurs from the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Peru demonstrate the greatest confidence in their knowledge (a level of more than 70%).

Opportunity to significantly increase personal income. The presence of a sufficiently high correlation between the general entrepreneurial activity and the difference in individual incomes was revealed. For most industrialized countries, the ratio of the total income of the richest 10% of taxpayers to the total income of the poorest 10% of the population is in the range of 5–10; in Russia (according to government statistics) in 2008 it reached 17. on the one hand, they provide the necessary savings for initial investment in start-up companies, on the other hand, they are a good target for ambitious entrepreneurs who want to increase their income level.

The attitude of society towards entrepreneurship. In order to widely use entrepreneurship as a resource of social economic development it is necessary, among other things, to form the ideology of entrepreneurship in society, which is one of the tasks of the state. The whole world knows the American dream of such "... a social order in which everyone can fully realize their abilities and thereby earn the respect of others." In the US, it is prestigious to be an entrepreneur, he is a hero who managed to become independent and independent. R. Reig studied the honor factors of entrepreneurship in the USA and came to the conclusion that the reason for this is the absence of contradictions between entrepreneurial and civic culture. They have been successfully synthesized, which has become a determinant of ennoblement of entrepreneurial activity. If state views on the methods of solving economic problems are compatible with entrepreneurial interests, then a qualitative and quantitative rise in entrepreneurship is ensured. As a result, an entrepreneur in the United States is a national hero and role model.

In Russia, the situation is different, the entrepreneur is outside the law, he is not a hero. Based on the research of R. Reig, it can be stated that the reason for this is the contradiction between entrepreneurial and civic cultures. Domestic scientists (for example, I.G. Akperov, V.M. Emelyanov, Zh.V. Maslikova and others) testify that Russian entrepreneurs have a particularly pronounced complex of independence and autonomy. Cross-cultural studies have determined that Russian entrepreneurs are more alienated from society and psychologically protected from social disapproval than, for example, German ones. This is due to the development of Russian entrepreneurship in an unbalanced market, without real and consistent support from the state, in a socio-cultural environment of disapproval, and demonstrates an open opposition of business to the state and an extreme manifestation of individualism. At present, the situation has changed somewhat under the influence of the development of market relations and state policy. According to research, about 70% of the Russian population believe that an entrepreneur is respected in society (in the USA - 74%, in Finland, which is the leader in this indicator - 89%). Therefore, a negative attitude towards Russian entrepreneurs on the part of compatriots relented.

Developed business service infrastructure(lawyers, accountants, consultants who specialize in entrepreneurship). New high-growth companies tend to be underfunded and unable to hire full-time, high-skilled professionals and pay high rates, so they rely on third-party services. Comparative studies of the economic and socio-political situation in the leading industrialized countries have shown that such norms and characteristics as the openness of the economy, the country's participation in international division labor, the degree of state intervention in the regulation of markets, the level of development of managerial culture have a greater influence on the success of large companies and much less on the level of entrepreneurial initiative.

Thus, the identified factors affect the pace of the spread of entrepreneurship, determine its characteristic features, which must be taken into account when developing measures to develop entrepreneurship in the country.

Second phase- the process of entrepreneurship, transforming the society included in it. In the process of entrepreneurial activity, a psychologically important process occurs: the implementation and development entrepreneurial skills person. The problem of abilities is one of the most important in psychology. In the context of abilities, predisposition to entrepreneurial activity, leadership qualities of an entrepreneur, his communication skills, risk appetite, etc. are considered.

Entrepreneurs form a collection of heterogeneous groups, they include directors of privatized industrial giants, managers of small firms, chairmen of the boards of large banks, chief physicians of medical institutions, scientists and others. The fundamental differences between groups of entrepreneurs are related to the scale and scope of management, its technical and organizational level, the origin of capital and the nature of reproductive ties, and the degree of responsibility. Big business tends to be more stable, more closely linked to state structures, bears the burden of political rather than economic risk, and transcends national borders. All this sharply distinguishes him from the bulk of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs.

Social aspects the process of entrepreneurial activity are manifested:

In creating the most efficient jobs;

In providing an opportunity for employees to realize their abilities, to provide a decent life for their families;

In creating a competitive environment, therefore, helping to lower prices, improve the quality of goods and services, saturate the market with goods, and reduce shortages.

Consequently, entrepreneurial activity contributes not only to the realization of creative potential, but also to ambitions, the achievement of life goals, and as a result, an increase in the level of satisfaction of an individual. The mass nature of entrepreneurship, respectively, will improve the social climate at the level of the entire society.

Entrepreneurship in various fields life can be the shortest path to human well-being and prosperity. An increase in the material and cultural standard of living leads to an increase in cash income and savings that can be invested in a project and received additional income. This factor contributes to the expansion of entrepreneurial activity, the accumulation of capital and an increase in the opportunities for entrepreneurship in solving large-scale problems, that is, it can develop into the ability to solve some social problems at the state level.

Like any process, entrepreneurship has negative social consequences. The desire to maximize profits, as one of the goals, can be reflected in the prices of goods and services, as well as their quality, which will lead to a decrease in the level and quality of life of the population. Therefore, every socially responsible entrepreneur is looking for a compromise between making a profit and the social consequences of their actions. In practice, this means that such an entrepreneur will not be engaged in any activity that brings even high profits (bright examples are drug and arms trafficking - socially unacceptable activities, but highly profitable).

third stage, includes the process of transforming society through entrepreneurial activity. One of the directions for the implementation of this process in practice is the social responsibility of business, which provides for the right of a person to make decisions and take actions according to his opinions and preferences, but he must be responsible for their consequences and cannot shift the blame for the negative results of his decisions and actions to others. This understanding of responsibility is expressed, for example, in the decision environmental issues, caring for the observance of laws, even if it is possible to get around them. Thus, social responsibility is a contract between the entrepreneur and the society in which he operates.

Within the framework of the modular approach, the implementation of the social responsibility of business in three directions is considered in accordance with the selected modules. In the institutional module, the social responsibility of business is implemented through:

Compliance with the legislation of different levels;

Economic module - transparency of taxation, establishment of an appropriate rate of return;

Psychological module - the realization of human abilities.

Accordingly, in order to develop the sociality of entrepreneurship, the state needs to organize activities in the three indicated areas, creating conditions for enhancing the activities of entrepreneurs in solving social problems of society.

The positive effect of the socially responsible behavior of the entrepreneur is manifested in:

Creation of favorable long-term prospects for business;

Positive reaction of employees to the social activity of their enterprise, increase in labor productivity;

Increasing the attractiveness of enterprises for job seekers;

In facilitating the formation of friendly relations with the authorities and lobbying their interests;

Additional attractiveness for investors.

It should be noted that the above are voluntarily assumed responsibilities of companies. In accordance with the law, the entrepreneur is obliged to work, pay taxes and wages, and the state to deal with social problems. Here are the arguments against the participation of the enterprise in solving social problems: violation of the principle of profit maximization; the costs of social involvement are costs for the enterprise that are passed on to consumers in the form of price increases; insufficient level of accountability to the general public in the implementation of social activities; lack of ability to solve social problems.

Various levels of social responsibility are combinations of requirements and expectations from business on the part of society and the state and the benefits / disadvantages of social activity for business. The higher the level of social responsibility of companies, the more voluntarily assumed obligations.

One of the options for a compromise combination of profitability and sociality in entrepreneurial activity is the development of social entrepreneurship, which is an entrepreneurial activity aimed at mitigating or solving social problems. Social entrepreneurship, as a type of entrepreneurship, has the following features:

Willingness to take risks;

Ability to use the situation in the market;

The ability to move away from the narrow understanding of entrepreneurship as commerce and mobilize disparate resources to achieve the main goal.

The difference between them is:

In the introduction of new mechanisms for solving existing social problems;

Improving the level and quality of life of people affected by the activities of the entrepreneur.

At the same time, social entrepreneurship must be profitable, otherwise we are talking about a charitable organization.

Some foreign researchers of the personality of an entrepreneur believe that it is necessary to abandon the search for universal psychological characteristics of an entrepreneur, and those that have already been identified should be attributed to the characteristics of success in any professional activity. For example, R. Hisrich says that there is no such thing as a typical entrepreneurial profile. Entrepreneurs are not born: they develop. To this it should be added that, as in any professional activity, one can talk about the individual style of the professional activity of an entrepreneur and its psychological structure. (see 7.3.). However, R. Hisrich, among the factors that significantly distinguish an entrepreneur from the rest of the population, identifies factors that serve as prerequisites for successful professional activity:

Family environment in childhood, meaning the environment of people engaged in entrepreneurial or near-entrepreneurial activities. What can contribute to its success with a young man in the future;

Education, as mentioned above;

Work experience, which adds to the success of any professional activity, and an entrepreneur is no exception;

Age (the optimal age for doing business is from 25 to 45-50 years old);

Personal values ​​(the desire for personal self-realization, material well-being, wealth, power, spiritual needs and aspirations, etc.)

Shifting the emphasis from the study of psychological traits to socio-psychological and socio-economic factors, R. Hisrich believes that the key moment in the formation of an entrepreneurial orientation of a person is social learning through the assimilation of role models of entrepreneurial behavior in childhood.

So, entrepreneurship directs social development towards social progress and contributes to the coordination of the interests of man and society, their "commensurability". It directly participates in the process of reproduction of social life.

The path to socially responsible Russian entrepreneurship does not lie through isolated cases of charity. It is necessary to create in society such a culture and morality that would contribute to the motivation business people to caring for the image of their activity, which is morally justified in the eyes of the majority of the population. Unfortunately, today in Russia there are no economic and legal incentives for activities to improve the skills of employees of enterprises, the development of a system of non-state, including intra-company social protection, participation of companies in sponsorship activities and socially significant projects. The formation of such incentives is the task of the legislature, vocational education and the local community, which is gradually developing mechanisms for the ethical regulation of the activities of individuals and professional groups in a market economy, cultural and political pluralism.

In the complex Russian reality, it is necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the Russian mentality and entrepreneurship development, the lack of tax incentives or benefits for socially responsible companies. Awareness of the essence of the social function of entrepreneurship, and most importantly, the real actions of the state and entrepreneurship, will create favorable conditions to harmonize their interests, redistribute the burden of solving social problems of society.

The main factor in the efficiency of the modern economy is the achievement of welfare by the society with the priority of the development of the social sphere. Problems in the social sphere accompanied society for many years, starting from primitive times. We consider it appropriate to single out the following stages in the formation of the activities of social entrepreneurs, which for centuries has been aimed at ensuring social stability, general welfare and socio-economic security of all groups of the population.

The origins of social entrepreneurship as the first stage of development include the period of antiquity (IV-III centuries BC). It was the ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle who were among the first to consider social issues and a just social order. In the most famous work"State" (360 BC) Plato (427-347 BC, Athens) considered the socio-economic concept of development, which was expressed in the creation of an ideal state as a state of general welfare, where everyone does his own business and benefits not only itself, but also society. Justice, according to Plato, was the fundamental principle of the ideal state.

In the writings of Plato's student Aristotle (384 BC, Halkidiki - 322 BC, Chalkis), along with consideration of issues of optimal social structure, we see a slightly different approach to social justice and building social well-being. Aristotle formulated socio-philosophical views based on the study of the political structures of states. He established that the correctly chosen goal and strategy of national development are directly related to the successful development of the state: “Now we have to talk about the state system itself: from what and what quality constituent parts there should be a state that wants to become a happy state and have an excellent structure. The good under all circumstances depends on the observance of two conditions: one of them is the correct establishment of the task and ultimate goal of any kind of activity, the second is the search for all kinds of means leading to the final goal.

The main goal of the state, according to Aristotle, is the welfare of citizens. Everything in the state is subordinated to this goal. In the fundamental work “Politics” (335–322 BC), Aristotle wrote: “You should not, moreover, think that every citizen is on his own; no, all citizens belong to the state, because each of them is a part of the state. And care for each particle, of course, must mean care for the whole. Thus, the well-being of society is a consequence of the virtuous life of all citizens.

Aristotle called man a political animal, while paying special attention to his social essence. It is known that the solution social issues, as well as the state system, the ancient Greek scientist associated with the nature of the social structure of society. The state, according to Aristotle, should first of all take care of people: “Only those state structures that have in mind the common good are, according to strict justice, correct; but those who have in mind only the good of the rulers are all erroneous and represent deviations from the correct: they are based on the principles of domination, and the state is the association of free people.

So, since ancient times, scientists have thought about the welfare of citizens, the relationship between man and society, turned to the problem of the optimal state structure and insisted on the need to take into account when building domestic policy by the state those problems that are directly related to the social sphere.

The second stage of the formation of social entrepreneurship includes the time period of the XVII-XVIII centuries. At this time, the ideas of social reform and understanding of the possibilities of social improvement of society were formulated and substantiated. The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) - the creator of the theory of the social contract - in his work Leviathan, or Matter, Form and Power of the Church and Civil State (1651) reflected on the just structure of the state, paying attention to the question of state support poor sections of society and charity.

Noting that this type of assistance is a necessary condition for a just state arrangement, Hobbes wrote: “If many people, due to inevitable accidents, have become unable to support themselves by their work, then they should not be provided with private charity, and the most necessary for existence should be provided to them by the laws of the state. . For just as it would be cruelty on the part of anyone to withhold support from a helpless person, so it would be cruelty on the part of a sovereign state to expose such helpless people to the accidents of indefinite charity.

It should be noted I.T. Pososhkov (1652–1726), the first Russian theoretical economist, who in the socio-economic treatise The Book of Poverty and Wealth (1724, published in 1842) wrote about the immaterial wealth of the country, a set of civil foundations, i.e. • institutions that contribute to the healthy functioning of the economy and society. Pososhkov was the first to raise the question of material wealth not as the money supply located in the country, but as material goods in the hands of the state and the people. “In which kingdom people are rich, that kingdom is also rich,” is his main idea.

A follower of I.T. Pososhkov and the first social entrepreneur can be considered the English sociologist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). It was he who, in 1794, drew up a plan to widely attract poor citizens to the factory to service wood and metalworking machines, invented by his brother Samuel. Soon, the Bentham brothers' private business enterprise became a universal plan for solving the social problem as a whole. His workhouses, intended for the use of the labor of the poor, were to be directed by a central council, established in the capital, and organized on the model of the board of the Bank of England: shares worth 5 or 10 pounds gave each member one vote.

In the published version of the plan, one can see: “1. The care of the poor throughout the South of England is entrusted to a single body; the corresponding costs should be covered from one fund. 2. Said body, which is a joint-stock company, will be called the "National Charity Company" or something like that. It was supposed to create at least 250 workhouses, covering approximately half a million people. The draft analyzed in detail the situation of various categories of the unemployed. Note that Bentham was more than a century ahead of other researchers. "People without a job", dismissed quite recently, Bentham distinguished from those who could not find work due to "temporary stagnation", seasonal workers with their "periodic stagnation" - from "displaced hands", which became superfluous due to the introduction machines. The last group consisted of those discharged from the army.

The most important, however, was the “temporary stagnation” group, which included not only those artisans and craftsmen whose professions depended on fashion, but also a larger group of people who lost their jobs due to the general crisis in production. Thus, Bentham's innovative idea assumed a grandiose in scale set of measures aimed at solving such social problems as unemployment, social protection and support for the poor.

The third stage (XVIII-XIX centuries) is marked by the formation of the term "entrepreneurship" as a socio-economic phenomenon and the development of the principles of modern social entrepreneurship. For society as a whole, the development of entrepreneurship created conditions for a more efficient growth of production, saturation of the market with goods and services, an increase in the incomes of the population and the state, employment and social stability.

The word "entrepreneur" originated in France. Literal translation from French: this is the name of a person who decides on a significant project or activity; this characterizes courageous and reckless people who stimulated economic progress by finding new and more efficient ways of working.

Richard Cantillon (1680–1734), a merchant and financier originally from Ireland, who lived in France for many years, was the first to outline the concept of entrepreneurship. In his work “An Essay on the Nature of Trade in General” (1755), he singled out the dominant role of entrepreneurs, who, in his opinion, operate at risk due to the fact that farmers, merchants, artisans and other small proprietors acquire goods at a certain price. , and sell at an unknown price. At the same time, Cantillon characterized entrepreneurship as a type of profitable activity that stimulates economic progress through the search for new and most effective ways to implement a business initiative. He noted that an entrepreneur must have a certain intelligence, that is, various information and knowledge.

The ideas of Say and Schumpeter, the classics of the theory of entrepreneurship, undoubtedly served as the basis for the formation of a modern approach to social entrepreneurship. The French economist Jean-Baptiste Say (1767–1832) defined the entrepreneur as an economic agent who combines the factors of production and shifts economic resources from areas of low productivity and profitability to areas where they can give the greatest result. An entrepreneur, according to Say, is a person who is willing to take risks in order to achieve a goal. Its most important distinguishing features are: a) combination of factors of production (capital and labor); b) collection of information and accumulation of necessary experience; c) decision making and organization of the production process. Therefore, entrepreneurship is economic activity, carried out through a constant combination of factors, aimed at the efficient use of resources and obtaining the highest results. Say emphasized the creative, experimental, as well as innovative nature of the entrepreneur's activity, which, of course, is the basis for building the principles of modern social entrepreneurship.

Importance in further development social entrepreneurship played the 20th century, which was marked by the unprecedented development of information technology. The result was the emergence of a new technological order and the widespread dissemination of social innovations. Development innovation processes in turn had a significant impact on the associated social infrastructure

The fourth stage (the first half of the 20th century) is characterized by an already formed industrial base and the massive development of entrepreneurship. The Austrian economist and sociologist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) supported the idea of ​​social innovation, focusing on the function of the entrepreneur as an innovator. He considered the entrepreneur as the main driving force and the “main phenomenon” of the economic development of society, while emphasizing the need to introduce innovative technologies and new combinations of the use of economic resources: “To produce means to combine the things and forces available in our sphere. To produce something different or different means to create other combinations of these things and forces.

If no new innovative combinations are carried out in the production process, then there is no proper reason to talk about entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship involves a departure from the usual "moving with the flow", requires a creative approach. Therefore, this kind of activity is weakly connected with the personal benefit of the entrepreneur and serves as a means of assessing the social result.

But unlike business, entrepreneurship was less closely associated with making a profit. This fully applies to the concept of social entrepreneurship, the fifth stage (the second half of the 20th century) and the formation of which is associated with the spread of the idea of ​​the participation of citizens in the management of production. This was expressed in the use of methods of social partnership and the establishment of social peace, the method of legal concessions in the field of legislative and collective bargaining regulation of labor and trade union activities.

A prerequisite for the formation of social entrepreneurship was the development of the theory of the welfare state, developed by Ludwig Erhard (Germany) and Gunnar Myrdal (Sweden), in which a significant role was given to social partnership. The system of social partnership has served as a tool for combining economic efficiency and achieving social justice. This system was one of the forms of interaction between state institutions and civil society, including trade unions and associations of employers and entrepreneurs.

Particular attention was paid to the analysis of social relations, their role in the development of economic processes. Supported and developed the concepts of social entrepreneurship J.-B. Say and J. Schumpeter, Austrian-born American scientist Peter Drucker (1909–2005), focusing on new opportunities and the development of the idea of ​​social innovation. According to Drucker, “the entrepreneur is always looking for change, responding to it, and seizing it as an opportunity.” However, he did not consider any business development as entrepreneurship. Business expansion can be a routine process that does not involve transformation and innovation. The organization must adhere to three principles in its work: continuous product improvement, the use of knowledge for its own development and systemic innovation. P. Drucker was the first to not only interpret innovation as purely technical, but also spoke about intra-company and social entrepreneurship. He believed, for example, that Japan's economic success was based precisely on social innovations, on the development of such institutions as higher and secondary education, and labor agreements. Most successful innovations are based not on unique inventions and unknown facts, but on changes that have already taken place and may even be widely known, such as a change in the age structure of the population.

The sixth modern stage (the end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st century) is characterized by a significant complication of the social structure of society in developed countries, as well as a more distinct manifestation of the conditions for the formation of social entrepreneurship as an area of ​​domestic political activity of the state. The active development of non-profit, non-governmental and voluntary organizations of a philanthropic orientation begins simultaneously with the emergence of social enterprises. The outlines of modern models of social entrepreneurship (Anglo-American, European, Asian) are emerging, each of which is characterized by its own features.

The undisputed leaders in the development of social entrepreneurship are the United Kingdom and the United States. This is due to the need to solve urgent social problems and, first of all, due to the fact that the system of state social security markedly lagged behind the rapid development of market relations, which was accompanied by acute manifestations of the shortcomings of the market economy, causing severe social consequences for certain groups of the population, which the market does not care about.

It is impossible not to note the evolution of the definition of social entrepreneurship. All previous history laid the foundations for a general understanding of the need for the state to pursue a policy to ensure the social stability of society as a set of measures aimed at solving problems in the social sphere, which are a kind of indicator of the level of socio-economic development. Unresolved social problems, reduced social protection of citizens, excessive differentiation in the incomes of individual social groups inevitably lead to the deepest stratification of society, a decrease in the level of well-being, create a threat of loss of control social processes, and also lead to destabilization of the economic and political situation in the country and a slowdown in economic growth. Meanwhile, the modern economy cannot be effective if it does not fulfill its main purpose - meeting the needs of citizens, ensuring the growth of living standards and national welfare.

Notes

1 Plato. State. M.: Nauka, 2005. S. 576.

2 Aristotle. Politics // Aristotle. Sobr. cit.: In 4 vols. M.: Thought, 1983. V. 4. S. 240.

3 Ibid. S. 254.

4 Ibid. S. 282.

5 Polanyi K. The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. SPb., 2002. S. 102.

6 Schumpeter J.A. Theory of economic development. Capitalism, socialism and democracy. M.: Eksmo, 2007. S. 132.

Moscow State University named after M.V. LOMONOSOVA Faculty of Journalism Theory of Mass Communications Abstract on the topic: "Social entrepreneurship in Russia and in the world. Practice and role in modern society." Completed by: student of preschool group 514 Alina Pachina Lecturer: associate professor, candidate of philological sciences, I. I. Zasursky MOSCOW 2014 1.1. The concept of "Social entrepreneurship" Social entrepreneurship is an activity that is aimed at solving or mitigating the social problems of society. It includes features of traditional entrepreneurship and charity. Charity refers to the social orientation of activities, and business to an entrepreneurial approach. Social entrepreneurship balances between social goals and a commercial component, where money is not a goal, but a means to achieve these social goals, allowing the entrepreneur to remain sustainable and not dependent on constant donor infusions. The social problem that the social entrepreneur solves with his work is the starting point of his business. For social entrepreneurship, it is important to have a problem, because without it there will be just a business with elements of corporate social responsibility or a social project without an entrepreneurial approach. Social entrepreneurship has existed abroad for about 30 years, and in Russia for less than a decade. Despite such a young age, social entrepreneurship already today occupies a place on a par with non-profit initiatives, charity, venture philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. And, of course, it already has its own history and its own heroes, some of which have managed to achieve well-deserved global recognition. According to experts, the idea of ​​social entrepreneurship gained popularity as it “touched the nerve” and “very much suited” the modern era. But it should be noted that the process of combining the economic efficiency of business organizations with social needs has certain historical prerequisites. 1.2. The first social projects. Let's start considering social projects with the organization of the House of Diligence of St. John of Kronstadt in 1882. It was the first center in Russia that was simultaneously engaged in employment, educational work and charity. Canteens, shelters and workshops were united under one roof. People were given the opportunity to find shelter and eat at the expense of their labor. The House of Diligence began with a hemp picking and capping workshop for men. It was work that did not require preparation, but could immediately provide earnings - small, but sufficient so as not to starve to death. The next important step in the development of social entrepreneurship is the creation of the non-profit organization "Ashoka: Innovators for Society" by William Drayton in 1980. Currently, this organization continues to function in more than 70 countries around the world, supporting over 3,000 fellows in the field of SP. At the time of its foundation, the starting capital of Ashoka was 50,000 US dollars, by 2006 this amount reached 30 million dollars; the organization currently has 25 regional centers located around the world. The meaning of the work of the Ashoka Foundation is to support social entrepreneurs by providing them with financial and consulting assistance, creating thematic communities and contributing to the creation of the infrastructure necessary for the development of the social sector and the dissemination of innovations. According to Bill Drayton, the main quality of a social entrepreneur is the desire to change the system as a whole: “That's what makes these people happy and keeps them engaged in the problem for as long as necessary. They are ready to measure their vision with reality, listen to the environment and constantly change the idea until it works, because if you are aimed at structural changes, an idea goes through many stages... It's a constant creative process, and it is the combination of two traits - creativity and entrepreneurial qualities - that is the rarest. ” In 1983, Muhammad Yunus came up with an innovative idea, he proposed the Grameen Bank project, the essence of which was microcredit. Muhammad Yunus issued the first loans from his own money, then the money was issued by the Bank of Bangladesh under the guarantee of Yunus through research project the university where he worked. The project was created specifically to study the method developed by Yunus for lending to the poor rural population. On October 2, 1983, the bank became an independent organization in accordance with the decision of the country's authorities. A feature of the bank's activity is also the need for clients to make 16 decisions that are not any obligations to the bank, but include promises to improve the quality of the borrowers' own life, such as, for example, the obligation to drink only bottled or boiled water, the obligation to provide their own children with an education, and so on. Relations between the bank and clients are based on trust, microcredits are issued without any collateral. At the same time, the share of repaid loans is about 98%. At the same time, the share of loans repaid out of date sometimes reaches up to 20%. The absolute majority (97%) of the bank's clients are women. As one of the positive consequences of the bank's activities, a significant (twofold) reduction in domestic violence against women who received a loan was noted. Currently, the largest foundation is the Skoll Foundation founded in 1999 by Jeff Skoll. Jeff Skoll, founder and first president of eBay and Participant Productions, created his own, the purpose of which is to help people, regardless of their place of residence and economic status, realize their talents and abilities. Jeff donated $250 million of eBay stock to the foundation and makes over $30 million in grants annually. “At the foundation, we call them outstanding people committed to the cause of the public good,” says the founder. In 2012, the Reach for Change international charitable foundation operates in many countries around the world and supports projects aimed at improving the lives of children. This non-profit organization was founded by a group of media companies Kinnevik (Sweden) with the aim of improving the quality of life of children and adolescents and respecting their rights. The Foundation holds an annual competition for social entrepreneurs, issuing grants in the amount of 1 million rubles. for a year and providing other support necessary at the stage of project formation. Thus, the winners are accepted into the virtual business incubator and end up in the hands of experienced mentors from the companies of the Kinnevik group. A year later, the fund's experts evaluate the social impact and financial performance of the project and decide to extend the support period for another two years. And yet, no matter how diverse the programs being implemented, no matter how active the innovators are, one thing is clear: in Russia, “social” demand will exceed supply for many years to come. This means that more than one will be inscribed in the history of social entrepreneurship. new chapter with an open ending. 1.3. Social projects in Russia. In 2007, Vagit Alekperov created the Fund for Regional Social Programs "Our Future" - the first Russian organization whose activities are aimed at developing and promoting social entrepreneurship in the country. "Our Future" is the founder of the All-Russian competition of projects in the field of social entrepreneurship, focused on people who are ready to develop and promote social business. Over the 5 years of its activity, the Fund has provided support to 59 social enterprises, and the total amount of assistance issued to them amounted to more than 130.5 million rubles. The winners of the competition receive financial and advisory support from the Foundation; The Fund also issues long-term interest-free loans, offers legal and accounting services at minimal rates, provides an opportunity to rent micro-offices, etc. Simultaneously with the All-Russian competition "Our Future", it holds the "Impulse of Good" Prize, which aims not only to provide financial, but also moral support to pioneers in the field of joint venture. Only in 2012, as part of the competitive selection for this award, the organizers received 194 applications from 54 regions of Russia. After such a rapid development of the fund "Our Future" in 2011, a new project was launched - "Achievements of the Young". This interregional public organization conducts the "Relay race of social innovations", the target audience of which is schoolchildren and students. The organization also trains young people in the basics of economics and entrepreneurship. The organization appeared in Russia in 1991. The Social Entrepreneurship project was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Young Achievement program in Russia and started in 2011. Academician Yevgeny Pavlovich Velikhov is the founder and leader of the Russian program "Achievements of the Young". Also in 2011, the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation was established. CSP specializes in research, training and consulting in the field of social entrepreneurship, social innovation, social responsibility of business, commercialization, it plays an important role in promoting the ideas of social entrepreneurship and social innovation as part of the National Research University " graduate School economy". The emergence of this center was the result of many years of activity of its director Alexandra Moskovskaya, who since 2007 has been conducting research work in the field of social entrepreneurship. Despite its youth, the HSE Center is today a leader in the study of the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship in Russia: even before receiving its official status, the Center at HSE served as an informal platform for thematic discussions, applied and theoretical research in this area. In 2014, the Our Future Foundation created the Social Entrepreneurship Laboratory, focused on practical training for beginners and existing social entrepreneurs. The laboratory conducts both face-to-face and remote (webinars) programs lasting from one or two hours to several months (School of Social Entrepreneurship). The laboratory has created specialized courses for students, young professionals, entrepreneurs, employees of government agencies, industrial corporations, social innovation centers. The topics of the programs touch upon various aspects of the creation and development of social businesses, considering the success stories of active social entrepreneurs, practical aspects of the work of social enterprises, issues of project financing and interaction with authorities. The laboratory provides comprehensive support for social entrepreneurship in Russia, develops new areas for the industry, such as social franchises and certification of social entrepreneurs. In 2004, the Radio of Russia radio station created the Children's Question social project, which helps orphans find a loving family. Over the 10 years of the project's existence, more than two thousand families have found "their" child. Every year the number of adopted children is growing. Within the framework of the "Children's Question" there is a special " hotline"by adoption, correspondence is being conducted with future parents and volunteers, radio programs are being broadcast, a database of questionnaires for orphans is being collected, a school for foster parents is operating. The "Train of Hope" runs around the country with moms and dads who specially went for their kids to other regions. Today, happy 1.4 Medical Innovators Jim Früchterman Jim Früchterman founded Benetech, a company that made high technology accessible to the underprivileged. who work with people with disabilities, Früchterman became interested in working in this field not because of his own experience, but because of his interest in helping people.The idea for Benetech came about when Jim was in his senior year at Caltech.One of his professors explained how the image recognition mechanism for laser-guided bombs was used in combat operations. Fryuchterman began to think about how to use this principle for the benefit of society and created a device that allows the blind and visually impaired to read by touch. In the 1980s, Frühterman co-founded a venture capital company to develop optical recognition technology. Then he founded Arkenstone - non-profit organization, engaged in technologies for the visually impaired. Beneteh grew out of Arkenstone, which was eventually sold to a commercial company. Proceeds from the sale are used to continue developing and innovating Benetech. David Green. Physician David Green in 1992, Green founded the non-profit organization Aurolab (India) - one of the largest companies in the world producing lenses (IOLs). Surgically, IOLs are implanted into the eye to restore the clarity of the lens in cataracts. Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment worldwide. Aurolab sells lenses for US$2-4, while equivalents in the industrialized world cost US$150. Green also ran a facility at Aurolab that made surgical suture. The company has significantly reduced the price of ophthalmic suture from $200 to $30 per pack. Currently, David Green is working to solve the problems of the hearing impaired. Was created social enterprise Conversion Sound, which produces high quality hearing aids. The World Health Organization has estimated that 278 million people have acute hearing loss, and the need for hearing aids worldwide is 32 million annually. At the same time, only 7 million hearing aids were sold worldwide in 2006, and less than 12% of them went to developing countries, where 70% of the world's population lives. Conversion Sound plans to expand its distribution channels to bring hearing aids to the underprivileged. Ann Cotton. According to statistics in South African countries, only 70% of boys complete primary school, and even fewer girls. In many poor families, only sons are educated, because it is customary to consider them the best "investment"; daughters are sent to work or get married early. This trend is devastating: girls under the age of 20 are five times more likely to be infected with HIV than boys. Studies show that educated girls are 3 times less likely to become infected with HIV than uneducated girls. Anne Cotton was the first person to worry about the fate of girls living in rural Africa. In 1991, during a research trip, she ended up in a remote Zimbabwean village. Ann was shocked by the stories of locals about girls who were not educated, they were at the lowest level of development. Parents who wanted to send their daughters to school could not do so because of poverty. After this incident, Ann created the organization Camfed, which supports girls from low-income families, allocating funds for their education. Ann Cotton's work has received recognition and international awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge. The Camfed model has four key components, each of which aims to make a difference in the lives of girls and girls in Africa's poorest regions. First, Camfed identifies vulnerable girls who are at risk of dropping out of even primary school due to poverty or the illness of a member of their family, and provides full support for the education of these children, including payment for school supplies. Second, Camfed continues to support girls in high school with four years of child support. Thirdly, Camfed provides graduates with a chance to become economically independent. The Camfed Association (CAMA), the organization's pan-African alumni network, constantly organizes trainings. Camfed also promotes local business development through a microfinance program. Fourth, Camfed defends women's rights. The organization's activities are aimed at ensuring that the voices of women from rural areas influence politics, contribute to the adoption of laws in the field of girls' education and gender equality. Victoria Hale. In 2000, Victoria Hale founded the One World Health Institute, which has changed the way we look at medicine in general. The first non-profit pharmaceutical company that develops drugs for diseases that are neglected in society. The Institute has shattered the notion of a seemingly uncompetitive industry providing drugs to those in need in developing countries by reshaping the entire revenue chain from drug development to drug delivery. Many infectious diseases in developed countries are unknown. These include: leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis, African sleeping sickness, lymph node filariasis, and Chagas disease. Others, such as diarrhea, are ubiquitous, but their impact is most severe and acute in developing countries, with two million children under the age of five dying from diarrhea every year. More than a million people a year die from malaria, most of them children. Over the past 25 years, 1,500 new drugs have been patented, but less than 12 of them are for the treatment of advanced diseases. Victoria Hale's experience and knowledge has been applied at all stages of the production of biopharmaceuticals in the United States. The experience of her corporation was used by Genentech, the world's first company specializing in genetic engineering. Hale received her PhD from the University of California in Pharmaceutical Chemistry. She is currently a member of the Association of Professors in Biopharmaceuticals, serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization in reviewing rules of ethical conduct for developing countries, and serves as an expert at the US National Institutes of Health. The mission of the One World Health Institute is to develop safe, effective and affordable medicine. The Institute designs, implements and manages the development of projects related to medicines intended for the treatment of advanced diseases. Conclusion. Social entrepreneurship is an activity that is aimed at solving a social problem and which really allows this problem to be solved. Moreover, the scale of the solution can be any, from local to global. It can be this or that territory, it can be a village, a single-industry city, a district of Moscow, the whole metropolis, after all, there is a certain social problem, then the solution to this problem in this territory is social entrepreneurship. The importance of social action is underestimated in our time, whether it is a project that helps students get an education through investment, or a project that helps produce free drugs and provide medical conditions to the poor. The future belongs to people who help change the living conditions of others, because thanks to their efforts the world around each of us becomes better.

Topics related to social entrepreneurship are becoming more and more popular every day. However, it is very difficult to give an unambiguous definition of this concept. What is corresponding to this direction, which categories are relevant in the first place? Why? These and other issues of no less concern to society are discussed in this article.

The concept of social entrepreneurship

What's happened social entrepreneurship? Activities, which characterize it, are determined in a very interesting way. So, social entrepreneurship should be understood as entrepreneurial activity, primarily aimed at mitigating or resolving social problems.

It is important to note that social entrepreneurs form a business model with unique characteristics. Its profit consists in increasing the social good. It needs to be added that social entrepreneurship, activities, corresponding to it, differ from business with a corporate social responsibility type (CSR). The fact is that in the second case, only part of the profit, and not its entire amount, is directed to solving problems of a social nature.

Related definitions

Development of social entrepreneurship closely related to the following definitions:

• Social impact is nothing more than targeting a mitigation or solution actual problems social plan; sustainable social outcomes of a positive nature that can be measured.
• Innovation is the use of new techniques that increase the degree of social impact on society.
• Financial stability and self-sufficiency is nothing more than the ability of a socially oriented structure to solve social problems for as long as there is a need for this, and at the expense of the income that comes from its own economic activity.
• Replicability and scalability - some increase in the scale of economic activity of the social structure (both nationally and internationally) and dissemination of the model (experience) in order to increase the degree of social impact.
• Entrepreneurial approach - the ability of an entrepreneur entering into market failures, accumulating resources, finding opportunities, forming new solutions that can positively influence both individual social groups and society as a whole on a long-term basis.

Social Entrepreneurship: Governance and Models

Through the analysis of currently relevant activities, the following models of social entrepreneurship can be distinguished:

• Charity sales. Usually this includes shops of services or commercial products. As a rule, their proceeds are transferred directly to a charitable foundation. Vivid examples of such structures are the following stores: "BlagoBoutique", "Thank you", the art gallery "White Horse" and so on.
• Solving the issue of employment of mothers with children under three years of age, disabled people, as well as individuals who are in a difficult life situation. For example, in the store "Naive? Very!" the formation of souvenirs is carried out by people with mental disorders, and the restaurant "In the dark" employs only blind people.

Additional destinations

As it turned out, characterizing social entrepreneurship activities do not have clear boundaries. Therefore, in the literature, as a rule, only approximate models (directions) of the corresponding activity are given. The options presented in the previous chapter are by far the most common. However, the following points are inferior to them to a minimum extent:

• Social entrepreneurship organizations to create services that are not fully provided by the state. A striking example of this situation is the Vasilek kindergarten, located in Moscow.
• Provision of services of a unique focus, for example, the taxi service "Invataxi" implements a transport service exclusively for the disabled.
• Socially oriented entrepreneurship aimed at the development of the territory and local society. For example, the Kolomenskaya pastila museum, which houses exhibits of the lost taste, and the formation of an urban brand around pastila, as well as an environmentally friendly delivery project clean production LavkaLavka, implemented to support rural producers living in the Moscow region.

Small business entities

socially oriented the projects presented in the previous chapters are organized through the efforts of social entrepreneurs. So, the following structures and citizens can act as the latter:

• Commercial organizations.
• Organizations of a non-profit type.
• Individual entrepreneurs.

Signs of social entrepreneurship

Subjects of social entrepreneurship are engaged in organizing and promoting activities that correspond to the following features:

• Social impact. In other words, the activities of the structure, one way or another, are aimed at mitigating the actual problems of a social nature.
• Social entrepreneurship (examples presented above) is determined by such a feature as innovativeness. Thus, in the course of its own activities, the company must use new unique methods of work.
• A sign of financial stability. In other words, the enterprise is obliged to solve social problems at the expense of the income that it receives from its own economic activity.
• And finally, it is scalable. That is, the structure, one way or another, has the ability to transfer previously acquired skills to other enterprises, markets, and even other countries.

What follows from this?

Having fully analyzed the features presented in the previous chapter, it can be judged that, due to such an interesting entrepreneurial approach, the category considered in the article differs significantly from the usual traditional charity. Why? The fact is that in addition to the social effect, the activity social companies is aimed at making a profit, which is very important for business structures today.

Development in different countries

To date, social entrepreneurship in the Russian Federation has not become as widespread as in other countries. The strategic director of the Russian Social Innovation Laboratory Clouswatcher expressed his point of view on this matter. He explained that social entrepreneurship is a newly formed economic sector, so many points in this case are debatable.

Thus, social entrepreneurship is usually classified as either a non-profit or a commercial field of activity. The specialists of the Laboratory of Social Innovations believe that the direction considered in the article exists and develops in accordance with its own laws. This means that a social entrepreneur can be considered absolutely any entrepreneur who has official obligations to regularly carry out a certain set of actions of a social nature to solve socially significant problems.

History pages

In the 1980s, the concept discussed in the article became popular in society thanks to the activities of Bill Drayton, who founded the Ashoka company. However, the direction appeared in reality long before this moment. Thus, in the Russian Federation, social entrepreneurship appeared at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

A striking example of such entrepreneurship is the House of Diligence, which was founded by Father John of Kronstadt. Subsequently, such structures began to rapidly gain popularity in society. In accordance with their meaning, they realized the function of labor exchanges, where every needy person had the opportunity to find a job.

However, social entrepreneurship only gained real popularity at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It is no coincidence that the world Nobel Prize was awarded for the first time in 2006 for the direction under consideration. It is important to add what the founder of the Grameen Bank organization, which has a microfinance character, Muhammad Yunus, received.

Expert point of view

According to experts, the category of social entrepreneurship significantly increases economic efficiency indicators. Why? The fact is that it puts into circulation those resources that were not previously used in such quantities. Moreover, the above provision applies not only to unused material (for example, industrial waste), but also to those that exclude the use of human resources. So, the latter include socially prohibited groups, which include the poor, ethnic diasporas, and so on.

So, Coimbatore Prahalad in own works formulated a very interesting approach to social entrepreneurship. In accordance with this provision, one can notice the following: if you do not consider the poor as a burden or a victim, but see them as consumers and entrepreneurs, then mechanically a large number of opportunities open up not only for the poor, but also for business.

Conclusion

In accordance with the foregoing, it can be concluded that by working for the disadvantaged or poor, a business has the opportunity not only to be profitable, but also to significantly expand the market, as well as attract a large number of new consumers. In order for this state of affairs to become possible, large-scale companies need to work closely with state organizations of local authorities and civil society.

It is important to note that foreign experience related to the support of social entrepreneurship is very broad in scope. Separately, it is worth noting the activities of organizations South Korea. Why? The fact is that it is there that the promotion of socially oriented business today is a priority task of national importance. Thus, all social entrepreneurs in South Korea are required to undergo certification. This gives them a significant advantage in terms of competition with conventional business entrepreneurs.

In our country, this type of activity has not yet become widespread, but society is developing, so this business will soon become very popular.