۱٫ Introduction – Evolution and convergence of research

۲٫ Social enterprise – an alternative for economic and social revitalization

۳٫ European and national regulations regarding social enterprise

۴٫ Research methodology

۵٫ Findings

۶٫ Conclusions

References

The current paper contributes to the debate on social economy by highlighting the significance of the legal framework in the correct assessment of the structure and dynamics of the social economy of a country, providing evidence for Romania. The study presents the real dimension of Romanian social economy in the light of the new laws in the field and reveals the social enterprises’ profile. Findings show that, two years after the legal framework of the social enterprise and one year after the regulation of the Romanian Register of Social Enterprises, few operators of the social economy took the necessary steps for the official registration in the category of social enterprises. By analyzing the profile of certified social enterprises, we have shown that they are vulnerable from at least two points of view: viability (only 19% of the certified social enterprises have developed activities on a sustainable bases, having more than three years old) and efficiency (more than a third of the social enterprises go through financial difficulties from/after the first year of function). The analysis of the output indicator that measures the evolution of the average number of employees in the social enterprises showed a modest increase. Lastly, the study draws attention on the need to reconsider the national statistics regarding social economy.

۱٫ Introduction – Evolution and convergence of research

The start-up and development of social enterprises was the combined result of interests from the part of politicians, entrepreneurs, and researchers in order to identify alternate solutions to major problems such as unemployment, insufficient public resources, marginalization or discrimination of certain groups, based on age, sex, ethnicity, or social status. Political decision makers were acknowledged their contribution to the regulation of the legal status of the social enterprise, thus allowing the diversification of the types of entities with social impact. Social entrepreneurs were appreciated their capacity to identifying resources there where the others saw only problems. Researchers were acknowledged their contribution to the improvement of the gap between theory and practice, by organizing conferences, debates, and international forums. The action on the three levels has led to the mitigation of the role of passive policies in the field of work and to the application of active policies for rebalancing of the work market. Researches regarding social enterprise have flourished after 1990, first in Europe and the United States, and then in Asia and Latin America (Defourny & Nyssens, 2010). The starting point was represented by the simultaneous existence of unsatisfied social needs and of a great number of people fit for work but inactive from a professional point of view. Social enterprise, by providing social services, was meant to improve upon (along with the state and the other non-profit organizations) general and individual welfare (Figure 1).