Inner Tension Of Social Enterprises

Social enterprise is the organization which is by means of business to realize the social purpose. It had a great development with the popularity of the new public management thoughts and the reform of the western welfare state. Hybrids is the main characteristic of the social enterprise. Integrating business methods and social purpose is one of the biggest benefits of social enterprises and is also the potential disadvantages of social enterprises. It can cause social enterprise’instability and increase social enterprise’ dependence on external environment. It also makes the structure of social enterprises to be vulnerable. In the micro perspective of new institutionalism, the prevalent view is reflected that social enterprises can achieve the purpose of social through business methods. In a critical perspective, the tension between the business means and the social purpose is analyzed.In the perspective of new institutionalism, organization is organized as an open system which constantly adapts to the institutional environment. Organization is not only affected by the technical environment which is emphasized by new classical economics but also the institutional environment in the process of survival and development. Organization is not only follow the efficiency mechanism but also follow the mechanism of legality. Technical environment and institutional environment has a negative correlation. The daily operation process of organization relationship is the process of interaction between technical environment and institutional environment, is the process seeking legal.Social enterprise is the organization which is by means of business to realize the social purpose impacted by technology environment and institutional environmental between the state, market and civil society. On the first hand, the tension between the business means and the social purpose is mainly reflected in the daily operation of social enterprise. In the daily operation of social enterprise, it follows different logic, its workers follow different social expectations, it also has different structure, it has tension between business competition and training, and it has different profit distribution. On the other hand, the effect of the tension between the business means and the social purpose are discussed. The tension gives rise to the conflict between different stakeholders in the process of pursuing legal, so it causes the practical legitimacy crisis of social enterprise. The tension causes that social enterprises had no unified mode, thus it influences the construction of moral legitimacy. The tension causes that social enterprise drifts the social goal in the development. Finally, Social enterprises resist the tension by reasonable organizational structure and active coping strategy.