Overview
- Provides a complete picture of the social enterprise movement, its evolution, and their different forms
- Offers a broad overview of social enterprises in Europe and the USA, but also in China, Japan and Korea
- Provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview and describes the remarkable global range of current initiatives
- This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access
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About this book
In recent years, we have witnessed a significant shift of how business activities are conducted, mainly through the rise of social enterprises. In an effort to target social problems at their roots, social entrepreneurs create organizations that bring transformative social changes by considering, among others, ethical, social, and environmental factors. A variety of social enterprise models are emerging internationally and are proving their vitality and importance.
But what does the term “social enterprise” mean? What are its roots? And how does it work in practice within the legal framework of any country? This handbook attempts to answer these questions from a theoretical, historical, and comparative perspective, bringing together 44 contributions written by 71 expert researchers and practitioners in this field. The first part provides an overview of the social enterprise movement, its evolution, and the different forms entities can take to meet global challenges, overcoming the limits of what governments and states can do. The second part focuses on the emergence of benefit corporations and the growing importance of sustainability and societal values, while also analyzing their different legal forms and adaptation to their regulatory environment. In turn, the last part presents the status quo of purpose-driven companies in 36 developed and emerging economies worldwide.
This handbook offers food for thought and guidance for everyone interested in this field. It will benefit practitioners and decision-makers involved in social and community organizations, as well as in international development and, more generally speaking, social sciences and economics.
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Keywords
Table of contents (46 chapters)
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Purpose-Driven Companies: An International Overview
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Carlos Vargas Vasserot is a full professor of Commercial Law at the University of Almeria (Spain) and director of the Center for Research in Social Economy Law and Cooperative Enterprise (CIDES), which has become an academic reference in Spain in a few years, with important international connections. He has an extensive scientific career, being the author of more than 80 papers and several academic books for which he has received some scientific awards. He is currently the principal investigator of three R&D&I projects that deal with corporate social innovation, social enterprises, and social cooperatives, which are currently the main lines of research.
Jaime Alcalde Silva is an associate professor of private law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Faculty of Law. For 15 years, his teachings and publications have focused on the law of contracts, land law, company law, and social enterprises and cooperatives. In these two last matters, he worked as a consultant to the Minister of Economy, Development, and Tourism of the Republic of Chile during 2014–2015. In 2015, he coordinated the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Chilean commercial code. Since 2016, he has participated in the commission to elaborate on the project of the new Commercial Code for Chile.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The International Handbook of Social Enterprise Law
Book Subtitle: Benefit Corporations and Other Purpose-Driven Companies
Editors: Henry Peter, Carlos Vargas Vasserot, Jaime Alcalde Silva
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14216-1
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Law and Criminology, Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14215-4Published: 30 December 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-14218-5Published: 17 January 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-14216-1Published: 29 December 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 960
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Private International Law, International & Foreign Law, Comparative Law , Business Law, Business Ethics, Education, general