Financing social enterprise in the UK: responding to new challenges in competitive markets

Social entrepreneurship activities continue to make a significant contribution to the development of the United Kingdom's (UK) economy and remain at the core of the government's strategies for ameliorating socio-economic deprivation across the country. Despite the growth of this type of business activity, a key area that requires further analysis is how social enterprises respond to the funding challenges posed by globalisation, declining state support and increased demands for social welfare interventions. These challenges also come at a time when the UK Government is encouraging communities to explore innovative ways of tackling socio-economic deprivation, through innovative and sustainable business practices. Drawing on a qualitative case study approach of social enterprises in South Yorkshire UK, this research contributes to extant literature by scrutinising the operations of social entrepreneurs in resource-constrained environments. By employing components of Kirzner's (1973) theory of entrepreneurship, the findings of this investigation highlight how opportunity spotting and innovation in financing strategies have enabled social entrepreneurs in South Yorkshire to widen their organisations' sources of financial resourcing. This study is of particular benefit to policy makers and researchers in social enterprise.