Social enterprises and the pursuit of mission: form matters

Abstract

Mission drift serves as an important parameter of success not only on its own right (Epstein and McFarlan 2011), but also because it shines light on the fundamental dilemma that social enterprises face between the pursuit of a solution to the social problem (“purpose”) and financial sustainability of the organisation (‘profit”). Without contradicting the legal and resource imperatives, we argue that the choice of organisational form for social enterprises is also a strategic one, and one that has implications for the success of the organisation and its vulnerability to mission drift.