Legal Framework for Social Enterprise : Lessons from a Comparative Study of Italy, Malaysia, South Korea, United Kingdom, and United States

Social enterprises are emerging as a new area of public policy: several countries seek to stimulate private sector contribution to development outcomes, and social enterprises could be important players in that agenda. However, those seeking a middle ground between for-profit and non-profit sectors to enable social enterprise have found legal frameworks to be lacking. This has triggered a range of legal developments over the past ten years, with a number of countries seeking to implement appropriate legal frameworks that can support and stimulate the development of social enterprise. These legal frameworks can both define social enterprise as well as to structure it, through the creation of new legal forms and regulations. The objective of this study is to analyze various definitions and forms under which social enterprises operate in five countries and the implications for public policies. The study is based on literature review and a small number of interviews clustered around Italy, Malaysia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and United States, where social enterprise has attracted government`s interest. The study analyzes how the government operationalized its engagements with social enterprises. It takes a historical perspective to understand the legal forms available to, and adopted by, social enterprises, and the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches