This study centers on an exploration of the similarities and differences between social enterprises, commercial enterprises and public sector teams that operate within the same market. The study seeks to contribute to the establishment of social entrepreneurship theory by furthering knowledge of the boundaries of social entrepreneurship. The contextual influence on the development of social entrepreneurship theory is becoming increasingly well understood. As such, different theoretical streams are accounted for and systematically structured into a model containing four contextually anchored approaches, two American and two European, which compares their structures according to eight characteristics. It is on the basis of this model that three cases, one social enterprise, one commercial enterprise and one public sector team all operating towards work integration activities and placements for the long term unemployed are presented and analyzed from two perspectives: one focusing on how they compare to the characteristics and the other on how they compare to the approaches in their entirety. It shows how there are many similarities between the three cases that are lost when compared to each approach. Furthermore, the analysis discovered a limitation within existing social entrepreneurship models, as none of the models turned out to be fully applicable in a Swedish context. Therefore, this study proposes a tentative model for a Nordic approach, rooted in the specific socioeconomic and institutional context of the Nordic states.

The field of the social economy and of the work integration social enterprises (WISE) in particular, is for many a more or less unknown area. Unlike ordinary enterprises the WISE's are different due to their aim of integrating disadvantaged people through work. In comparison with other small enterprises earlier research has shown that the WISE's are dealing with challenges regarding recruitment, participation, leadership, sustainable business ideas but above all, the access to funding. The purpose of this essay has therefore been to examine and analyze the financial situation of eight WISE's located in the Stockholm County. The results indicate that half of the enterprises perceive their economic situation as very unstable and as an obstacle to their further development. This perception seems to be more common among the younger enterprises which have not differentiated their businesses activities enough, which results in a greater reliance of the purchases of the public sector. The studied WISE's express a desire to reduce their dependence on the revenues from the public sector by increasing the revenues from other business activities, but this is something that has been proven to be both difficult and time consuming. In line with e.g. age, business maturation, expanded areas of business activities and increased knowledge, more funding opportunities seems to occur. A vast majority of the enterprises have a negative attitude towards external funding in terms of external equity capital, due to its presumable intrusion on the determination of the company. The field which WISE's are operating in is undoubtedly an important socioeconomic area since they react to one of the society’s most prominent problems; people in exclusion and all the problems the exclusion causes. The analysis of the examined enterprise's funding opportunities and its consequences are the main contributions of this essay as well as the further suggestions on how the WISE's financial situation can be improved.

Arbetskraftsbrist och en krympande välfärdsstat har ökat fokusen på individer som står långt från arbetsmarknaden såväl som på arbetsintegrerande sociala företag. I den här hermeneutiska studien som baseras på intervjuer med tjänstemän som arbetar gentemot dessa grupper undersöker vi hur tjänstemännen upplever sitt handlingsutrymme och sin roll gentemot klienterna.   För att kunna utföra sitt arbete behöver de handlingsutrymme vilket ligger i linje med Michael Lipskys teori om gatubyråkrater (Lipsky 2010). Sociala företag beskrivs som behövda för att lösa brister på arbetsmarknaden men också problematiska eftersom både de sociala entreprenörerna och klienterna har en bakgrund med bristfällig skolgång vilket leder till problem att navigera i samhället. Tjänstemännen kompenserar för det genom att ta på sig olika roller.   Paradoxen med de sociala företagen analyseras med hjälp av en teori om pre-paradigmatiska fält och isomorfism som för med sig ett tryck på organisationerna att anpassa sig för att uppnå legitimitet och få tillgång till resurser. Med mer kunskap om den roll som tjänstemän kan spela för att förebygga utestängningar från arbetsmarknaden skulle det kunna möjliggöra för resurser att distribueras effektivare inom välfärdssystemet. / Lack of workers and a shrinking welfare state have increased the focus on individuals who are excluded from the labor market as well as social enterprises. In this hermeneutic study, based on interviews with officials working towards these groups, we investigate how officials perceive their discretion and role towards clients. To be able to do their job they need discretion which is in line with Michael Lipsky's theory on street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky 2010).   Social enterprises are described as needed to solve shortcomings in the labor market, but also problematic, as the social entrepreneurs could be lacking skills, as both clients and social entrepreneurs have a background of failed schooling due to disabilities and socio-economic causes. Bourdieu’s concept of doxa is applied to understand how failed schooling lead to shortcomings in navigating society and how officials compensate for this by taking on different roles.   The paradox of the social enterprises is analyzed with a theory on pre-paradigmatic fields and isomorphism which brings a pressure for organizations to conform to gain legitimacy and access to resources. More knowledge on the role the officials can play to prevent exclusion from the labor market could enable resources to be more effectively distributed within the welfare system.

Globalisation has challenged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to internationalise. Consequently, the academic world produced extensive publications on how SMEs approach the internationalisation process and what inhibits their export-based expansion. However, during the last decade, growing attention towards sustainability led to the creation of a new form of entrepreneurial organisation: social enterprises. Social enterprises combine an economic goal with the objective to generate a positive impact on society, focusing on social inclusion or environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to investigate if internationalisation theories on SMEs and on export inhibitors apply to social enterprises. The problem has been investigated by conducting a qualitative content analysis of interviews with C-level managers of social enterprises, with a social or environmental focus. The research contributed to validate the applicability of four internationalisation models to social enterprises. The results show a correlation between business and internationalisation maturity and the influence of the social purpose on social enterprises' internationalisation. Hence, theoretical shortcomings that need to be addressed have been identified. Lastly, the study found that social enterprises are subject to the same export barriers of SMEs. The research has been carried in collaboration with Oscar Ohlström, from Stockholm University (SU). Hence, two master thesis reports have been produced. The first is the following one and, the second has been published under the title of "Internationalizing ForProfit Social Enterprise”. Some sections of the documents have been co-written and, they are present in both reports. / Globaliseringen har utmanat små och medelstora företag (SME) att internationalisera. Följaktligen producerade den akademiska världen omfattande publikationer om hur små och medelstora företag närmar sig internationaliseringsprocessen och vad som hämmar sin exportbaserade expansion. Under det senaste årtiondet har dock ökad uppmärksamhet mot hållbarhet skapat en ny form av entreprenörsorganisation: sociala företag. Sociala företag kombinerar ett ekonomiskt mål med målet att skapa en positiv inverkan på samhället, med inriktning på social integration eller miljöfrågor. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om internationaliseringsteorier om små och medelstora företag och exporthämmare gäller sociala företag. Problemet har undersökts genom att genomföra en kvalitativ innehållsanalys av intervjuer med chefer på C-nivå för sociala företag med socialt eller miljömässigt fokus. Forskningen bidrog till att validera tillämpligheten av fyra internationaliseringsmodeller till sociala företag. Resultaten visar en korrelation mellan mognad för företag eller internationalisering och socialt inflytande på socialföretagenas internationalisering. Därför har teoretiska brister som behöver åtgärdas identifierats. Slutligen fann studien att sociala företag är föremål för samma exportbarriärer för små och medelstora företag. Forskningen har genomförts i samarbete med Oscar Ohlström, från Stockholms Universitet (SU). Därför har två masterprojekt rapporterats. Den första är den följande och den andra har publicerats under titeln "Internationalisering för socialt företagande". Vissa delar av dokumenten har skrivits samman och de är närvarande i båda rapporterna.

Inledning: Arbetsintegrerande sociala företag (ASF) fyller många betydelsefulla samhällsfunktioner och deras insatser bidrar till samhällsekonomisk nytta, som dessvärre inte inräknas i det traditionella bokslutet. Det interna bokslutet hos företaget kan visa förlust medan samhället gör en ekonomisk vinst till följd av dess existens. Genom socioekonomiska bokslut kan den samhällsekonomiska nyttan värderas i monetära termer. Syfte: Syftet med vår studie är att genom ett socioekonomiskt bokslut skapa förståelse om hur arbetsintegrerande sociala företag bidrar med samhällsekonomisk nytta samt identifiera vilka externa aktörer som påverkas av dessa, för att slutligen undersöka vilka av de identifierade aktörerna som påverkas minst/mest ekonomiskt av arbetsintegrerande sociala företag. Metod: Denna kvalitativa fallstudie har utförts med en abduktiv forskningsansats. För att upprätta det socioekonomiska bokslutet samt uppfylla studiens syfte har vi genomfört 18 semistrukturerade intervjuer med personer från ett arbetsintegrerande socialt företag. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att arbetsintegrerande sociala företag bidrar med samhällsekonomisk nytta genom minskad kontakt med myndigheter, minskad vårdkonsumtion samt upphörande/minskade bidrag, då människor i utanförskap integreras i arbete. De externa aktörer som identifierades var landsting, kommun, Arbetsförmedlingen samt Försäkringskassan. Den aktör som gynnades mest ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv var landstinget respektive Arbetsförmedlingen som gynnades minst. / Introduction: Work integration social enterprises (WISE) fulfill many important social functions and their efforts contribute to socio-economic benefits, which unfortunately are not included in the traditional final accounts. The internal final accounts of the company can show loss while society makes a financial profit as a result of its existence. The socio-economic benefits can be valued in monetary terms through socio-economic accounts. Purpose: The purpose of our study is to investigate, through a socio-economic account, how WISE contribute with socio-economic benefits and also identify which external actors are affected by them, in order to finally examine which of the identified actors are least/most economically affected by work integration social enterprises.  Method: This qualitative case study has been conducted with an abductive research approach. In order to establish the socio-economic account and to fulfill the purpose of the study, have 18 semi-structured interviews with people from a WISE been conducted. Result: The study’s results show that work integration social enterprises contribute to socio-economic benefits through reduced contact with authorities, reduced healthcare consumption and cessation/reduction of contributions, as peole in exclusion are integrated into work. The identified external actors were county councils, municipalities, the employment service and the Swedish social insurance agency. The actor who benefited the most from an economic perspective was the county council. The employment service benefited the least.

The aim of this study was to examine how two integrating social enterprises relate to and combines social, ecological and economic sustainability and how they work with sustainable development in the field of social work. The study has been focusing on three questions: What are the values underpinning “Macken” and “Vägen uts” approach to sustainable development? What motivates these companies to work with ecological sustainability in the creation of new jobs? How do these companies combine social, ecological and economic sustainability? To answer our questions we have been interviewing nine employees through semi-structured interviews combined with observations and this study was analysed through a symbolic perspective. The conclusion of this study showed that these companies worked with specific themes to reach social sustainability. Recurring themes in the study was empowerment, recovery and the employee’s own experience of exclusion. To achieve ecological sustainability the companies worked with recycling furniture and fabric as a way of creating new jobs. They also had ecological cafés and ecological cultivations. Furthermore the economical sustainability was displayed throw the reinvestment of the profit to hire more people to the companies.

Titel: Sociala företags finansieringsproblematik: En litteraturstudie om bidragande faktorer till finansieringsgapet mellan sociala företag och dess finansiärer. Författare: Jeanette Koznar, Håkan Lindgren och Sandra Nilsson Handledare: Anders Wrenne Institution: Managementhögskolan, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola   Kurs: Kandidatarbete i Företagsekonomi, 15 högskolepoäng Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att identifiera det befintliga kunskapsläget för hur fem utvalda faktorerna påverkar finansiärers benägenhet att investera i sociala företag, för att därefter urskönja mönster mellan dessa fem faktorerna och diskutera hur ett samspelande kan minska finansieringsgapet. Metod:  Vi valde att använda oss av en explorativ litteraturstudie som metod då denna karaktäriseras av att fördjupa förståelsen för ett forskningsproblem.   Slutsatser: Vi fann att genom att se sambanden mellan de faktorer som påverkar finansieringsgapet, mellan sociala företag och finansiärer, kan flera faktorers inverkan på finansieringsgapet minskas framförallt genom att attackera en av dessa faktorer: de organisatoriska färdigheterna. / Title: The financial problem for social enterprises: A literature review on contributing factors to the funding gap between social enterprises and its financiers. Authors: Jeanette Koznar, Håkan Lindgren och Sandra Nilsson Supervisor: Anders Wrenne Department: School of Management, Blekinge Institute of Technology  Course: Bachelor’s thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to identify the existing level of knowledge for how the five specifically chosen factors affect financiers' propensity to invest in social enterprises, and descry patterns between these five factors and discuss how an interaction between them can reduce the funding gap.   Method: We chose an exploratory literature review as a method to conduct this study based on that it is characterized by further deepening the understandings of a specific research problem.   Results: We found that by investigating the connection between the factors that contribute to the funding gap between social enterprises and financiers, the impact on the funding gap can be reduced primarily by attacking one of these factors: the organizational skills.