The concept of social business has just recently started to attract academic attention. However, the idea of market-based solutions providing low-income or otherwise disadvantaged people with (better access to) socially beneficial products and services that improve the quality of their lives is not new. Probably, the most prominent example is the Grameen Bank that started to issue microcredits to poor people in Bangladesh in 1976 and was awarded a Nobel piece prize in 2006 alongside with its founder Muhammad Yunus.


Today, various social businesses exist. For example, companies such as BASF, Danone, Uniqlo Co. Ltd., a Japanese casual wear designer, manufacturer and retailer, and the Otto Group have started social business joint ventures. Examples of new social business ventures include Dialogue in the Dark, a platform for communication and close exchange with blind guides in total darkness, the Grameen Creative Lab, a social business consultancy or the Aravind Eye Hospital in India.

There are different types and forms of social businesses, facing different opportunities and challenges. Applying a strategic management perspective I focus on the following topics:

Growth strategies such as franchising
Competitive advantage and imitation
Business models
Investment drivers
Corporate volunteering
Management and organization theories applied to social businesses