From shareholders-value creation to corporate social entrepreneurship

The aim of the paper is to understand how Corporate Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) is an important logical and operative step to take after realizing the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, in order to drive the entrepreneur to both economic and social value creation. The firm’s need to consider and satisfy in a balanced way the needs and interests of all stakeholders had already been amply highlighted by economists belonging to the behaviorist school (Simon, 1961; Cyert & March, 1955). In this sense, and especially with regard to medium- and large-sized enterprises, the creation of value, a typical goal of stockholders, should be considered in the process of optimizing an objective function that is larger and more complex, resulting from a "political compromise" regarding the aims of the different classes of stakeholders. In particular, this function must be compatible with the needs of the external environment, taking into account the influence of cultural roots in a context of CSR (Mella & Gazzola, 2005). Entrepreneurship is the “art of the start”, or the ability to start up a profit-seeking venture and then grow it into a business that makes great financial profits for the shareholders. Corporate Responsibility is the art of managing already operating for-profit businesses in ways that are beneficial to others stakeholders beyond the company founders and investors: employees, operating partners, consumers, entire communities and even our natural world, or global environment. Social entrepreneurs embed corporate social responsibility into the start-up business model. They start the companies with a culture based on the building of a team with employees and other stakeholders. They aim to improve the environment by driving net-positive social impact results. They impose a wider shareholder vision from outputs to outcomes that add a mandate beyond shareholder value creation to value creation for stakeholder groups. CSE can drive companies by bringing business, social, and sustainability goals together, making the world a better place, while creating business opportunities at the same time. They see how these two goals are not different, but can be aligned and translated into outcomes for a sustainable impact. This study aims to describe ways of identifying the principles of Corporate Social Entrepreneurship that allow a more meaningful understanding of the behavior of modern corporations. The analysis of the international literature will be accompanied by the results obtained from empirical research extended to Italian companies.