Page 135 - Social Enterprise A New Business Paradigm for Thailand

business. Allies and partners in the ecosystem include public and private organizations that offer
advisory services, conduct impact evaluations, or support research and development (R&D) to

promote innovation and verify product quality.

4.1.2 Variations in Ecosystems

The nature of a social business ecosystem differs by country depending on cultural context,
economic foundations, and legal frameworks. Broadly, there are two major types of social
enterprise ecosystems:

1. Market-Driven Ecosystem
This type is found in the United States and the United Kingdom, where social enterprises are
viewed as hybrids, blending profit-oriented business models with non-profit social objectives.
These ecosystems typically feature strong and well-developed capital markets and rely on clear

impact assessment systems to enable private-sector investors to make informed decisions based
on concrete evidence and measurable outcomes.

2. State-Supported Ecosystem
Common in continental Europe, this model is rooted in the concept of the solidarity economy,
where social enterprises are seen as part of the broader social economy. Under this approach,
governments commission social enterprises to produce goods and services for the public or local
communities and to employ marginalized groups. In Italy and Spain, for example, social
enterprises are often organized as social cooperatives, which operate under a broader mandate

than cooperatives in Thailand, which tend to focus only on member benefits. Italian cooperative
law accommodates cooperatives that operate explicitly for the public good, not just for their own
members.

The legal frameworks that support and regulate these two ecosystem models, as well as the
various forms of social enterprise in the U.S. and Europe, were already discussed in Chapter 3. In
Western contexts, the terms "social business" and "social enterprise" are generally considered
interchangeable.

This chapter will now focus on the funding sources and financial instruments found in the first
type of ecosystem, the market-driven model. This model has increasingly evolved into a form of
international fundraising. This opens up opportunities for Thai social enterprises to tap into
foreign market-based ecosystems as potential sources of support.

102