Accreditation System for Social Enterprise and Business Strategies of Social Enterprises in South Korea

Purpose –The purpose of this study is to analyze how the accreditation system affect the selection of business strategies in social enterprises, which create social value rather than maximize profits. Design/methodology/approach – This study collected survey data from 40 accredited and 53 non-accredited social enterprises. This research employs a Fuzzy-set/qualitative comparative analysis to compare the combinations of factors that affect a social enterprise's performance Findings - The results show that for accredited enterprises organizational capabilities are significantly more important than networking capabilities, whereas for non-accredited enterprises internal communication, governance capacities and networking competencies are most important capabilities to improving their social performance. And also The accreditation systems for social enterprises would entice social enterprise away from business strategies based on with local society, which is differentiated with commonly accepted social enterprise model. Research implications or Originality - This research suggests that the accreditation system for social enterprises should be redesigned for enticing social enterprises in Korea to be more localized to meet local needs in terms of positive changes of local society