OKAN UNIVERSITY LECTURER
We all know that profitability, efficiency, growth and sustainability are indispensable priorities for all enterprises. These values, which are deemed as indispensable for enterprises, are tried to be provided in society either by the state or by non-governmental organizations. Businesses and profit-making organizations try to support organizations that offer services for this purpose, through sponsorship or similar means. When we look at the real sector of our country from this point of view, it can be seen that we have reached some values. Social entrepreneurship usually breaks some molds about the spirit of entrepreneurship. First of all, it is necessary to see what kind of change the social entrepreneurship will provide in the solution of social issues. We know that the main goals of social entrepreneurship, as well as all the related thinking structures and actions, are to bring solutions to social problems. The attractive and appealing side of social entrepreneurship is that it uses all the benefits of the economic system for the benefit of society.
“Social entrepreneurship is an understanding that melts profit and social benefit in the same pot, and gathers social ideals and management skills under the same roof.”
When social benefit and profit melt in the same pot
There is an assumption that the concepts such as efficiency, efficiency and profit belong only to business life. On the other hand, concepts such as social benefit, goodwill and dedication belong to non-governmental organizations. But these organizations are not as “skillful” as capitalist entrepreneurs. So, social entrepreneurship is an understanding that melts profit and social benefit in the same pot, and gathers social ideals and management skills under the same roof. Entrepreneurship means noticing the opportunities in theoretical and practical fields, taking risks and investing in these fields by finding solutions to problems. Innovation, risk-taking and especially leading the change exist in the spirit of entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is a model that was established to solve social problems, but also uses monetary means that are already available in the current economy. When we look at the commercial life in our country, we see, with satisfaction, that most of the enterprises take part in social entrepreneurship movements. Considering the social entrepreneurship as a person or institution that collects charity and aims to help people would be definitely wrong. We should know that social entrepreneurship creates permanent change in the areas it penetrates into, makes solutions widespread and creates solutions by providing community support in the long term.
Charity is based on “giving fish” to the hungry. Civil society projects, on the other hand, are basically based on “teaching fishing”. The name of the structural change that opens a fruitful door to the idea of social benefit, which is at the core of social entrepreneurship, is “social innovation”. Social innovation, which supports new ideas, technologies, products, new relationships and theories of finding permanent solutions to problems, structures another dimension of social entrepreneurship. When we think about the importance of innovation in all developing values, the benefits that the social entrepreneurship will provide to the society when structured with innovative thoughts and actions, are obvious.
“The attractive and appealing side of social entrepreneurship is that it uses all the benefits of the economic system for the benefit of society.”
When we consider along with Industry 4.0, which has been on the agenda in recent years in the rapid development of our age, we can see that the concepts of social economy and social entrepreneurship are new but of great importance terms in today’s socio-economic structure. Many definitions have been made for these two terms. Joseph Schumpeter was the first to mention the concept of entrepreneurship, which is not social or economic, in the early 1900s. Since then, many researchers have touched on this subject, and a few have used this definition:
“Social entrepreneurship is an economic activity based on creating new models of product and service provision in order to meet the basic human needs of the poorest social layer, which cannot be met by the existing economic and social institutions.” (Seelos & Mair, 2005).
Considering the human resources of our country and the “emotional thinking” structure of our people, we can see social entrepreneurship and related developments in all layers of society. When we look at our history, we can say that Yusuf Ziya Bey, who pioneered the establishment of Darussafaka in 1872, was a very important social entrepreneur. Also, we can state that Princess Zeynep Kamil and her husband, who founded the Zeynep Kamil Hospital in 1862 in order to combat women’s and children’s diseases, were also innovation-minded social entrepreneurs.
What Will Be the Effects of Industry 4.0?
This point is of great importance. Because, in the structural changes that will develop with Industry 4.0;
- Machine control will increase with systems that switch from manpower to technology control,
- Labor force needed will reduce due to automated systems,
- The impact on socio-economic working life shall negatively effect employment,
- The fact that the industry will gain a different value and those who provide this integration in the market will receive a larger market share will make social entrepreneurship important once again. With the developing and digitalizing industry it should not be ignored that labor-intensive jobs will turn in favor of machinery and business efficiency. At this point, the social and innovative entrepreneurship that will be supported will be included in the businesses’ budget plans and significantly impact both the labor market and even our social values.
