ABSTRACT
This chapter clarifies the confusing terminology that surrounds the social enterprise debate and to explore the challenges of developing a social procurement strategy in the construction sector. Social enterprises are not new and have a long history stretching back to the first cooperatives of the industrial revolution. The purist view of social enterprise is that they should be fully financially self-sufficient through trading activities, with zero need for grants and subsidies. Most commentators agree that social entrepreneurs are a distinctive and rare breed and not every non-profit or business leader is suited to this kind of work. There is little empirical evidence around social procurement in the construction sector. Finally, this chapter discusses how the construction sector could develop an effective social enterprise ecosystem to allow this sector to thrive, and explores the key considerations that organizations in the construction sector should make in developing a social procurement strategy to engage with this emerging sector.
