The Essential Role of Enterprises for an Inclusive and Sustainable Development: Towards a New Uniform Model Law for the Social Enterprise?

This article provides a general overview of several new types of hybrid entities, blending for-profit and not-for-profit purposes, which have been introduced in the United States, Europe and Latin America with the objective of providing social entrepreneurs with a proper vehicle for the conduct of their mission-driven business activities. Among them, the most famous hybrid form is the benefit corporation, born in Maryland in 2010, currently adopted by thirty-five states of the US (including Delaware) and transplanted in Italy and Colombia. France also developed a new similar legal status, the one of ‘entreprise à mission’. It seems that we are facing the birth of a new uniform hybrid entity model for the social enterprise (SE) movement. The adoption of a uniform model statute, such as the ‘for-benefit’ model, capable of solving the problems arising from the governance structure of a dual-purpose company, can serve the fundamental purpose of offering domestic legislatures a uniform point of reference in implementing domestic regulation of hybrid companies. From the European Union perspective, the introduction of a European SE model statute can provide the necessary legal framework to foster the development of a strong European fourth sector, establishing harmonized conditions for SEs all over the EU and thus facilitating cross-border investment and trading in this sector.