Resumo

Social businesses are enterprises that combine economic objectives and social goals (Battilana, Sengul & Pache, 2015; Doherty, Haugh & Lyon, 2014). This business model employs a wide range of strategies to solve problems in society, with widespread examples, including the Grameen Bank (Bangladesh), Aashtha Hospital (India), Banco Pérola (Brazil) and Dr. Consulta (Brazil). These four enterprises also have characteristics of commercial businesses, as they aim to make a profit, but differ in how they distribute dividends between partners and shareholders, and do not aim to maximize profits.

The article seeks to analyze how social and economic goals are balanced in social businesses in the Brazilian context.

Social businesses combine the social goals of not-for-profit organizations with the generation of financial resources of traditional businesses. While not-for-profit organizations exclusively aim to provide a social service, with donations as their source of income, traditional businesses seek to maximize profits for their partners and shareholders and are financially self-sustaininG. But this kind of business needs to balance profits and social goals and there is the risk of leaning more towards social orientation or prioritizing the maximization of profits.

The present study aims to analyze how social and economic goals have been balanced in social businesses in the Brazilian context, using a qualitative approach, analyzing the literature and proposing a seven-point conceptual model. This model seeks to reconcile the social and economic goals of this type of enterprise. The seven points were based on the principles proposed by Yunus et al. (2010), who is responsible for the increasing popularity of this type of venture, and the work of Defourny and Nyssens (2008), responsible for defining the concept of the EMES.

Each of the seven principles has been analyzed and one realizes how difficult it is to balance social and economic goals.

The companies had difficulty balancing their social and economic goals, and there were no homogeneous results regarding the points in the conceptual model. The closest result to 5 in the case of the companies in question was for Stated Social Goal, showing that the companies are involved with their social goals, but when it comes to the other points, both social and economic, their values are not homogeneous.

Battilana, J., Sengul, M., Pache, A. C., & Model, J. (2015). Harnessing productive tensions in hybrid organizations: The case of work integration social enterprises. Academy of Management Journal, 58(6), 1658-1685. Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2008). Social enterprise in Europe: recent trends and developments. Social enterprise journal, 4(3), 202-228. Yunus, M., Moingeon, B., & Lehmann-Ortega, L. (2010). Building social business models: Lessons from the Grameen experience. Long range planning, 43(2), 308-325.