Open AccessEvaluating indicators of social enterprises under the Vietnam Enterprise Law 2014 based on the European Research Network (EMES) ideal-type social enterprise model
Author(s) -
To Thi Dong Ha
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
khoa học và công nghệ: kinh tế - luật - quản lý
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2588-1051
DOI - 10.32508/stdjelm.v4i2.628
Subject(s) - social economy , social enterprise , business , corporate governance , social sustainability , empirical research , social network (sociolinguistics) , ideal type , sustainability , economic system , public relations , sociology , political science , economics , social science , law , ecology , finance , philosophy , epistemology , social media , biology
In recent decades, social enterprises have flourished as a solution to social and environmental issues through their business models. However, basic theoretical issues of social enterprises, such as its definition and characteristics, have not attained a global consensus yet. Among the social enterprise concepts, that of the European Research Network (EMES) is supposed to lay the first theoretical and empirical foundation for social enterprise analysis. Through analyzing, reviewing, and comparing research methods, the article focuses on assessing the indicators of social enterprises under the Enterprise Law 2014 in relation to the "ideal-type" social enterprise model proposed by the EMES. The study shows that the indicators of social enterprises under the Enterprise Law 2014 only meet the economic and social dimensions as defined by the EMES while lacking the third dimension of governance, which is crucial to the sustainability of social enterprises. From the research results, the article suggests that Vietnam should recognize cooperatives (with social and environmental goals) as a legal form of social enterprises since they exhibit all of the three sets of indicators of social enterprises. The article also specifies the necessity of modifying some of the provisions in the Enterprise Law 2014 to ensure the participatory governance in social enterprises, which is also a potential topic of research.