Business Models in Social Entrepreneurship: An Approach to Typology Building

Abstract

The paper proposes a typology of business models of social entrepreneurship. Five main types of business models are identified: “Platform”, “Access to Market”, “Employment”, “Access to goods/services”, “Philanthropy”. The analysis is based on the works of Russian and foreign researchers in the field of social entrepreneurship and strategic management. The empirical data of the research is gained from the business plans of social-entrepreneurial firms/projects prepared by the graduates of the executive education program “Project Management in Social Entrepreneurship”, conducted in 2012–2013/2013–2014 at the Graduate School of Management St. Petersburg State University with the support of Citi Foundation. The obtained results allow to broaden the understanding of the main types of business models applied in social entrepreneurship and, thus, make a step forward in the analysis of social entrepreneurship.