Social Enterprises: Conceptual Debates and Approaches

AbstractThe concept of social enterprises spread globally in the early 1990s. The term social enterprise originated from different institutions, practices, and academic debates. This chapter aims to present and analyze the main debates and approaches to the concept of social enterprise. For this purpose, the different schools of thought and the characteristics of each of them were examined. This chapter also describes the most recent trends in the evolution of the concepts and experiences of social enterprises.