scholarly journals FROM TRADITIONAL BUSINESS TO SOCIAL ONE: NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR ENTREPRENEURS IN RURAL AREAS

Author(s):  
Jolita GREBLIKAITE ◽  
Neringa GERULAITIENE ◽  
Wlodzimierz SROKA

In many EU countries economic and social development stagnates. The reasons are various and depends on the country. Some countries are still leaders (Germany, Great Britain, France), but depending on political events and complicated issues in each of them common EU internal market is kept as rather passive and not expanding in terms of consumption and investments. Especially it is related to countries suffering their internal business problems. The research problem of this paper is related to the issues how to provide some innovative solutions to traditional enterprises in Lithuania and Poland for their prosperous development. The aim of the paper is to analyse the situation and problems of traditional business in rural areas of Lithuania and Poland and propose development possibilities applying social initiatives and becoming social enterprises. The research object of the paper is traditional and social enterprises in rural areas. The research discloses that in Lithuania and Poland the situation in rural areas has a lot of similarities in terms of development and problems. Social entrepreneurship in both countries is kept as possibility but still problems and specificity exist in the countries.

Author(s):  
Jolita Greblikaitė ◽  
Rolandas Rakštys ◽  
Donatello Caruso

The research problem lays upon disclosing the importance of role of social entrepreneurship in rural development of Lithuania. The paper thė tendencies of social entrepreneurship in Lithuania, to present successful examples of such business for providing recommendations how to improve sit-uation in rural areas in terms of social entrepreneurship development. Lithuanian government has made some steps towards development of social enterprises, social entrepreneurship, and social in-novation, but the a lot remains to be improved. The roots of family business go back only above 20 years and have rather poor traditions in Lithuania. It is tightly related to rural areas especially than agriculture economies are acting as family farms with potential of young social businesses.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
Zina Machničová ◽  
Marcela Chreneková

AbstractSocial entrepreneurship is important tool in eliminating regional disparities, inclusion of socially excluded people into society, overall improvement of the quality of life and much more. This paper aims to analyse the development of municipal social entrepreneurship in the conditions of the Banská Bystrica self-governing region, where some of the less developed districts are located. The main sources of research were questionnaire realized among local government representatives, plan of the economic and social development of the district and statistical data. In the article, there were many indicators examined, such as quantity of the municipal social enterprises, its activities, support or barriers of its development. The results points to fact that only 7% of the participants of research own municipal social enterprise. The most common barrier to establish and manage these enterprises is inadequate knowledge of the relevant legislation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Iza Gigauri ◽  
Kakhaber Djakeli

Abstract The lockdown regulations aiming at avoiding the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 have caused disruptions in organizations of all types or sizes. In order to survive and remain competitive, enterprises have moved online. In line with the dramatic changes around the globe triggered by the regulations as a part of preventive measures, social enterprises switched to working from home. As a result, entrepreneurs have to learn new digital skills to capture the potential of digitalization as it is considered to have an ability to accelerate economic recovery after the pandemic. Yet digitalization influences organizational processes and operations and requires changes in strategies. In light of these transformations, researching social enterprises from different angles is of particular importance when economies are facing the threat of recession, as social entrepreneurship addresses market failure and can tackle social problems. Social entrepreneurs can find innovative solutions to modern challenges and help society and economies to transform. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the feasibility of remote working and digitalization in social enterprises. The paper outlines remote working concerns in social enterprises in the Republic of Georgia and analyses flextime opportunities for enterprise employees. The empirical study is based on a qualitative research approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with the seventeen Georgian social entrepreneurs to explore the research questions. The paper contributes to understanding remote working in social enterprises and offers suggestions for future study directions in this under-researched area.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (340) ◽  
pp. 76-84
Author(s):  
Lasma Licite-Kurbe ◽  
Dana Gintere

Abstract Social enterprises have positive effect on sustainable development, and they have become an important instrument for solving social problems (especially in rural areas), as the national and local governments alone cannot solve all such problems. To foster the development of social entrepreneurship, Latvia has introduced several support instruments for social enterprises, which include tax relief, privileged procurement contracts, grants, as well as non-monetary kinds of support. However, social entrepreneurs often point out that support from the national and local governments is insufficient, while the support instruments stipulated in the Social Enterprise Law are not widely used. Therefore, the aim of the research is to analyse national and local government support instruments for social enterprises in Latvia. The research found that the most important financial instrument fostering the development of social entrepreneurship in Latvia is a grant scheme administered by the Ministry of Welfare and the JSC Development Finance Institution Altum, which is available in the range of EUR 5000 to 200000 for investment and working capital. In the period 2017-2020, 94 social entrepreneurship projects with a total budget of EUR 6 million were supported, which could be viewed as significant financial support. In contrast, immovable property tax relief, exemption from enterprise income tax (on profits) and relief from this tax for several categories of non-business expenses are considered by social entrepreneurs to be an insignificant kind of support. There is also lack of experience and practice regarding the inclusion of social criteria in public procurement in Latvia.


Author(s):  
Olena PRUTSKA

The article considers and justifies the approach to the financing of organic production as a component of the concept of impact-investing. The essence, features and tools of impact-investment are considered. Impact-investing differences from social investment, socially responsible investment and social entrepreneurship are considered. It is proved that Impact Investment is the newest financial strategy for social development, provides for investments in business projects that initially focused on profit and positive changes in society or the environment It is noted that scientific consideration of impact investing has not yet been given due attention in Ukraine. The subject of research is at the intersection of financial technology, social entrepreneurship and organic agro-production. Impact investing is considered a separate case of social investing with more clearly defined boundaries. Examples of social enterprises both in agriculture and in the restaurant business and in manufacturing are known in Ukraine. Because social entrepreneurship is a business, it has all the rules of the business: niche search, market research, competition, investment, and more. Impact investments help measure the external effects of doing business. With the introduction of the investment impact criterion, it becomes possible to determine what this business impact is, how to measure, study and understand it. It is emphasized that Impact investing is only beginning to develop in Ukraine. Over the past few years, examples of such investments have emerged in Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa, Ivano-Frankivsk and other cities. Most of them have started their business through local businesses and have relatively small initial investments by global standards. The opinion is grounded that investment in the development of organic production can be considered as a form of impact investment. It is concluded that, given the great social importance of the development of organic production, as well as the positive effects that organic agricultural production can potentially have on the development of rural areas, the use of financial resources of agricultural holdings may be promising. It was proposed to provide a differentiated approach to the collection of a fixed agricultural tax (FAS), taking into account the availability of investments in organic agricultural production, which would have prompted agricultural holdings to include organic production units in their structure. Investments in the development of organic agricultural production, which are proposed to be considered as impact investments, would allow domestic agro-holdings to a certain extent “rehabilitate”, improve their image, give their debt to society, and contribute to the development of rural areas.


Author(s):  
Silva Jeromanova-Maura ◽  
Ilmārs Šukjurovs

Since 1 of April 2018, it is possible to register social entrepreneurship in Latvia as one of the type of business and to take advantage that is only suitable for this type of business. The study analyses how coud social entrepreneurship become one of the opportunities to address social problems, directly in rural areas, where today in Latvia is concentrated the largest population of a socially unprotected groups. This means that, while developing social enterprises and solving social problems in the regions of Latvia, at the same time, also address other issues that are actual today – lack of labour force. For entrepreneurs in rural areas, the lack of labour is the most significant, and there is no problem in Latvian regions with finding a place of residence. The development of social entrepreneurship would also be a contributory factor in the fact that the new generation would not leave the countryside, but try to build up their business using existing infrastructure, including a rural school, kindergarten – it helps to them continue to work as well. In the Latvian countryside most are farmers and crafts companies, whose business is most often expressed seasonality. At the rural areas farmers can support with works during sowing and harvesting, and some works during growing period on organic farms. There is also a growing lack of labour force in the sales companies who support farmers with new technologies, especially in aftersales – service departments. Social entrepreneurship could be one of the solutions, especially since it is very seasonal for repairs, so that it is possible to focus the work on the season by successfully management with the contingent in the countryside. There is a great opportunities to make cooperation with local authorities on this issue, the role of the social business in the development and social Affairs of the rural environment should be clarified. As a result of successful cooperation, social enterprises can become an important contribution to local authorities in addressing the societal challenges of the municipality. The study analyses how important to develop this model of cooperation, as it needs to convince local leaders before work on regional reform begins.


Author(s):  
Yulia A. Fomina ◽  
◽  
Irina V. Katunina ◽  

This study examines the motives (reasons) of social entrepreneurship in the field of education and enlightenment of the European Union. We used the methodology of collective case study to answer the research questions. Our final sample includes seven social enterprises which work at different levels (from European to local) and in different EU countries. We identified the following motives of social entrepreneurship in the field of education in the EU: 1) the desire to change society; 2) self-realization; 3) networking; 4) personal life situation; 5) access to funding and grant support. These motives in general (without details) are identical to the well-known motives of social entrepreneurship. A detailed analysis of the motives of social entrepreneurship in the field of education and enlightenment of the EU allowed us to identify its distinctive features (that are determined by the field of activity), namely: the motive to change society by means of education and art; the motive of self-realization by means of the acquisition or implementation of professional experience in the field of education and enlightenment; the motive of networking by means of the inclusion of educational institutions, students, pupils, teachers; the motive of networking by means of the involvement of children and youth as key participants and volunteers; personal life situation as a motive was often associated with obtaining education and new knowledge in difficult socioeconomic circumstances in the past. The studied social enterprises belong to the EU that has an influence on the studied motives: the desire to change society by means of education and introduction of the European Union’s fundamental values; the motive of state funding and grant support by means of access to the European funds. This study has its limitations being a collective case of seven non-profit organizations engaged in social and entrepreneurial activities in the field of education and enlightenment. These organizations operate at different levels (from European to local), but the case does not cover all the EU countries and at the same time does not show the specifics of particular countries that may become directions for future research. This study also has limitations imposed by the qualitative approach methodology. The obtained results can be used to conduct a quantitative study in the future with a survey of social entrepreneurs in the field of education and enlightenment in the EU.


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-117
Author(s):  
T.V. Klenova ◽  
◽  
A.S. Ivanov ◽  
D.A. Koneva ◽  
◽  
...  

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