Social Enterprise in Asia

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

This panel proposal is based on papers derived from country contributions to the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) Project launched in July 2013.

The ICSEM Project is a worldwide research project aiming to compare social enterprise models across countries. Over 200 researchers are working together under the coordination of Jacques Defourny (CES, University of Liege, Belgium) and Marthe Nyssens (CIRTES, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium). Some 50 countries are covered, in all regions of the world.

So far, the ICSEM Project has resulted in “country contributions” prepared by local research partners to address three major topics:

1. Understanding contexts and concepts

This first part deals with historical, contextual and conceptual issues about the emergence of social enterprise in each country.

2. Mapping social enterprise models

The aim of this second part is to identify and characterize the various types/models of social enterprises: fields of activity, social mission, target groups, operational model, stakeholders, legal frameworks, and so on.

3. Institutionalization processes of social enterprise models

The aim of this third part is to analyze the extent to which social enterprise models identified here above are currently institutionalized and to examine the processes through which these institutional frameworks have emerged.

This panel proposal is made of papers focusing on the analysis of social enterprises in three Asian countries: China, South Korea and Nepal. Although these countries share some cultural backgrounds, the levels of economic development and the respective places and roles of the State, the market and the civil society are quite different. The influence of traditional socially oriented economic practices and the role of international NGOs as potential driving forces of the social enterprise phenomenon also vary significantly. In spite of all these diverging features, some common social enterprise models can be identified along with other more country-specific models.

Paper 1: A Typology of Social Enterprise Models in South Korea
Paper 2: The Characteristics of Social Enterprise Models in China Mainland: Case Studies in Shunde, Guangdong Province
Paper 3: An Overview of Work Integration Social Enterprises in Nepal

Sub Unit

• Social Innovation and Social Enterprise

Chair

• Jacques Defourny, University of Liege

Individual Presentations

• A Typology of Social Enterprise Models in South Korea - Eric Bidet, Universite du Maine; Hyung Sik Eum, Universita Catholique de Louvain; Jieun Ryu, University of Warwick

• The Characteristics of Social Enterprise Models in China Mainland: Case Studies in Shunde, Guangdong Province - Li YANG, China Academy of Social Management,Beijing Normal University; You Fei, Beijing Normal University

Session Organizer

• Jacques Defourny, University of Liege