Product Description

Research on social entrepreneurship is finally catching up to its rapidly growing potential. In "The Search for Social Entrepreneurship", Paul Light explores this surge of interest to establish the state of knowledge on this growing phenomenon and suggest directions for future research. Light begins by outlining the debate on how to define social entrepreneurship, a concept often cited and lauded but not necessarily understood. A very elemental definition would note that it involves individuals, groups, networks, or organizations seeking sustainable change via new ideas on how governments, nonprofits, and businesses can address significant social problems. That leaves plenty of gaps, however, and without adequate agreement on what the term means, we cannot measure it effectively. The unsatisfying results are apple-to-orange comparisons that make replication and further research difficult.The subsequent section examines the four main components of social entrepreneurship: ideas, opportunities, organizations, and the entrepreneurs themselves. The copious information available about each has yet to be mined for lessons on making social entrepreneurship a success. The third section draws on Light's original survey research on 131 high-performing nonprofits, exploring how they differ across the four key components. The fourth and final section offers recommendations for future action and research in this burgeoning field.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #889059 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
Paul C. Light is the Paulette Goddard Professor of Public Service at NYU's Robert F.Wagner School of Public Service and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Light is the author of numerous books, including the award-winning Thickening Government (Brookings, 1995), The Tides of Reform (Yale, 1998), Government's Greatest Hits (Brookings, 2002), and Sustaining Nonprofit Performance (Brookings, 2004). He is also a coauthor Government by the People, a bestselling American government textbook.