Abstract
This chapter is based on qualitative data (i.e., personal communications, interviews, observations, and documents such as white papers, reports, books, training materials, etc.) collected over a 2-year period from over 100 stakeholders involved in the social enterprise movement in China. I describe the development of social enterprises as a global phenomenon before providing an in-depth account of the development of the social enterprise movement in China, explain various structures and characteristics that are unique to the Chinese context, and then identify current challenges and opportunities for Chinese social enterprises. I propose that the social enterprise movement can be defined as the search for better solutions to the constantly changing needs of society that achieve a balance between efficiency and fairness. This reflects a new entrepreneurial innovation trend in which commercial enterprises are addressing social needs motivated by the development of modern politics, economy, science and technology, and humanity. Given these synergies, I argue that the social enterprise movement is more precisely defined as the social entrepreneurial movement for innovation.
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US nonprofits are not required to conform to a formal business structure.
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Startup Cafe introduces social entrepreneurship to university students and advocates care for innovative solutions to social problems. It consists of three main programs: (1) a training program for university teachers; (2) a massive online credit course on social entrepreneurship; and (3) a seed funding program to encourage and support social enterprise practice of student teams. http://www.youcheng.org/plus/list.php?tid=237.
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The Huangpu Military Academy: one of the four military academies in the world, lies on Changzhou Island in Huangpu. In May 1924, Sun Yat-sen first established the Huangpu Military Academy with the help of the Communist Party of China and the Soviet Union in order to train military officials for revolution. It turned out to be a great success with many famous generals from both the Communist Party and the Kuomintang receiving their training there.
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Red Cross scandal (Guo Meimei incident): China’s Red Cross Society came under fire after a credibility scandal erupted on the Internet. Netizens were infuriated when a 20-year-old woman named Guo Meimei, who claimed on Sina Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) to be the general manager of a company called Red Cross Commerce, boasted about her luxurious lifestyle. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2011-07/15/content_12912148.htm.
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Maker Faire: http://www.makerfaireshenzhen.com/english
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Zhang, W. (2017). The Social Enterprise Movement. In: Jiang, Q., Qian, L., Ding, M. (eds) Fair Development in China. Perspectives on Sustainable Growth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-43663-0_9
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