THE INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISE AND SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY: CASES OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN THAILAND

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study the integration between the concepts of social enterprise and sufficiency economy, and to develop an integrated model of social enterprise and sufficiency economy. The researcher used qualitative research methodology to study the contexts and processes resulting in the integration between the two concepts. The sources of information used for the research were 4 case studies; all of which were social enterprises successfully integrated with the concept of sufficiency economy in Thailand. The case studies in four areas of Thailand included (1) Leung Krai Orchard, Suk Somboon Village, Wang Nam Khiew District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province; (2) Garbage Bank for Social Benefits Enterprise, Din Daeng District, Bangkok Metropolis; (3) Thai Craft Fair Trade for Social Benefits Enterprise, Sathorn District, Bangkok Metropolis, and 4) Meechai Pattana School for Social Benefits Enterprise, Lam Plaimat District, Buriram Province. The research informants were 29 people; the main informants were 4 social entrepreneurs representing the case studies, 20 informants who were closely related to the case studies, and 5 experts in the field of social enterprise and sufficiency economy. The researcher employed semi-structured in-depth interviews, observation, and cross-cases comparison for data collection. The data were qualitatively analysed with content analysis with the use of inductive reasoning to formulate conclusions on research findings.
Research findings were as follows: Firstly, the integration of social enterprise and sufficiency economy at the conceptual level requires the recognition of similarities and differences between the two concepts prior to any attempt in the integration process. Therefore, the integration should begin with adopting the concept of sufficiency economy as the starting point then undertaking the integration at the social entrepreneur level, followed by the social benefits enterprises and organizations within the network, and subsequently expand to wider networks. It could be viewed that the knowledge of sufficiency economy represents the “core” and social enterprises are the “mechanism” from the integration perspective. Secondly, the integrated model of social enterprise and sufficiency economy requires “contexts” including environmental context, social entrepreneurial context, organizational and network context, and lastly the expansion context. These contexts must be present throughout the integration process. The integration process is divided into 3 different phases starting with the pre-integration phase, followed by the integration phase, and lastly the expansion phase, each subsequent stage of integration will successively intensify the degree of integration.