Markus Beckmann – författare

Social entrepreneurs are change makers that aim to solve society’s unsolved problems. Not surprisingly, social entrepreneurship has thus created high expectations. To better understand the potential as well as the limitations of social entrepreneurship, however, a more nuanced approach is needed in two ways.

First, social entrepreneurship is a multi-level phenomenon. It spans macro-level questions as well as meso-level questions and, finally, micro-level questions. If we really want to understand social entrepreneurship, we need to bring together all three levels of analysis and see how they are connected.

Second, while social entrepreneurship can certainly produce socially desirable outcomes, we also need a critical perspective to capture potential undesirable effects that social entrepreneurship can cause, often unintendedly, in society, in markets, in organizations, and for individuals. To this end, an ethical perspective can help complement the positive analysis of social entrepreneurship with a discussion of the normative implications of its potential "dark side".

Looking at social entrepreneurship from both a multi-level analysis and an ethical perspective, Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics takes the reader on a journey through the "bright side" as well as the potential "dark side" of social entrepreneurship for societies, organizations, and individuals. Highlighting both, this book not only seeks to provoke researchers and students to advance their understanding of social entrepreneurship. It also hopes to help practitioners to better realize the positive contributions of social entrepreneurship for society.

Social entrepreneurs are change makers that aim to solve society’s unsolved problems. Not surprisingly, social entrepreneurship has thus created high expectations. To better understand the potential as well as the limitations of social entrepreneurship, however, a more nuanced approach is needed in two ways.

First, social entrepreneurship is a multi-level phenomenon. It spans macro-level questions as well as meso-level questions and, finally, micro-level questions. If we really want to understand social entrepreneurship, we need to bring together all three levels of analysis and see how they are connected.

Second, while social entrepreneurship can certainly produce socially desirable outcomes, we also need a critical perspective to capture potential undesirable effects that social entrepreneurship can cause, often unintendedly, in society, in markets, in organizations, and for individuals. To this end, an ethical perspective can help complement the positive analysis of social entrepreneurship with a discussion of the normative implications of its potential "dark side".

Looking at social entrepreneurship from both a multi-level analysis and an ethical perspective, Social Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics takes the reader on a journey through the "bright side" as well as the potential "dark side" of social entrepreneurship for societies, organizations, and individuals. Highlighting both, this book not only seeks to provoke researchers and students to advance their understanding of social entrepreneurship. It also hopes to help practitioners to better realize the positive contributions of social entrepreneurship for society.

Wo etablierte Akteure aus Markt, Staat und auch Zivilgesellschaft an ihre Grenzen zu stoßen scheinen, gewinnen Sozialunternehmen dadurch, dass sie soziale und ökologische Probleme auf oft unkonventionelle, innovative Weise angehen. Während der Begriff des Social Entrepreneurs in Großbritannien und den USA bereits etabliert ist, ist das Konzept des Sozialunternehmers in Deutschland erst in den vergangenen Jahren in das Licht der Öffentlichkeit geraten und blieb vorerst ein Phänomen der Medien und weniger der empirischen und theoretischen Forschung. Im Jahr 2010 hat sich der „Forscherverbund Innovatives Soziales Handeln – Social Entrepreneurship“ mit Unterstützung der Stiftung Mercator begründet, um eine erste umfassende, interdisziplinäre und vergleichende Vermessung von Sozialunternehmen in Deutschland zu erstellen und erste Handlungsempfehlungen für Unternehmer, Finanziers, die Politik und das Hochschulsystem zu generieren.