Dialogue in the Dark: Shedding Light on the Development of Social Enterprises in China

Abstract

The application of for-profit business practices to nonprofit organizations, social enterprises are a way for nonprofit organizations to find funding in a time of rising costs, falling donations, and increased competition from for-profit businesses in the social sector. Although well established in the mature economies of the West, these enterprises are a novelty in the emerging economies of Asia and in the transitional economies of the former communist world. The experiences of Dialogue in the Dark, a social enterprise concerned with the problems associated with blindness, highlight the unique challenges that social enterprises face in China and offer lessons for entrepreneurs who may wish to embark on a similar venture.