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Regular version of the site

Right now: Can social enterprises be a partner of big business?

We have summarized the results of our survey of social entrepreneurship in Russia.
In the course of the study, 359 social entrepreneurs from 24 regions of Russia, as well as 12 CSR managers of large companies, were interviewed. The aim of the study is to learn about the possibilities of cooperation between social entrepreneurs and big business .We have summarized the results of our survey of social entrepreneurship in Russia.In the course of the study, 359 social entrepreneurs from 24 regions of Russia, as well as 12 CSR managers of large companies, were interviewed. The aim of the study is to learn about the possibilities of cooperation between social entrepreneurs and big business.
"The study is noteworthy not only for the coverage of the heads of organizations with the official status of social enterprises or the assessment of cooperation with them of a large business, but also for the fact that the study was conducted starting from February 22, 2022 and made it possible to measure the temperature of such dissimilar organizations in real and very difficult time, "right now". – says the project manager Alexandra Moskovskaya. - "The work was carried out with the financial support of the RFBR and the BRFFI within the framework of the scientific project No. 20-511-00047 "Investments in social entrepreneurship: barriers and prospects in new conditions (on the example of Russia and the Republic of Belarus)". We will tell you about the results of comparing the situation in Russia and Belarus later."

According to our data, more than 65% of the social entrepreneurs would like to have a partnership with a big business, in reality less than a quarter of respondents are involved in it. Despite the fact that social entrepreneurs considered gratuitous financial assistance to be the most attractive form of support, less than half of the respondents (43%) chose it in theirs answers. It is followed by purchases of goods and services  by bigger businesses, and assistance for SE in promoting their products to the market.  

Is there a stretch in using the word "partnership"? The latter presupposes mutual interest, but the scale and markets of SEs and large businesses are so different that it seems naive to expect a convergence of interests. In the best international practices such a partnership demonstrates advantages to both sudes. In Russia, it is going without saying that in this pair, one is a "twosome", and the second is an "excellent". As a result, most of the talk about big business participation in the SE support is about big business’ money. In that case the conclusion arises: social enterprise should become a more attractive object of investment than the other agents of the "charity market".  NGOs are being offended, the state is comparing the efficiency of social enterprises by profit with regular small& medium enterprises, to which they usually lose. But in reality, SE should occupy a niche that is not occupied by either NGOs or SMEs. In this capacity, they will not only receive the beautiful name "drivers of change", but will also become attractive partners for large businesses.