SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN BIHOR COUNTY

Researchers and socially sensitive individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset show an active interest in social enterprises as a form of potentially innovative and sustainable business. Social enterprises have also become an important public policy issue in Romania as in recent years, a great number of European Union founding programmes have targeted this area. Both the legal framework and access to funding have been made available, the latter accounting for the sharp increase in the number of entities. The presence of a measurable social mission behind the business idea is an important question from the point of view of sustainability. These circumstances serve as a starting point for our research, as well as the specific Eastern European context, which provides the framework for interpreting the characteristics of the social economy and social enterprises in Bihor County and in Romania. The coercive measures and restrictions imposed by the socialist govemment in Central and Eastern European countries, Romania included, suppressed social organization These countries have found or still find it difficult to catch up with western countries in this respect, fact which partly accounts for the slower process of promoting social economy as well as social enterprise as a business opportunity. The current study presents the findings of an exploratory research carried out in 2021 The aim of the research was to investigate the characteristics of social enterprises which fall within the social economy in Romania, more specifically in Bihor County, and paint a picture of the current situation. Research questions focused on the social aims of the social enterprises in the Bihor county region; the extent to which economic objectives surface in this form of enterprise; successes and challenges; and the way the enterprises see themselves in the socio-economic context in which they operate. We started with secondary data analysis investigating the available data in order to acquaint ourselves with the characteristics of the social economy in Romania. The next step was primary data collection using a qualitative approach: interviews with social entrepreneurs as well as with the community of experts from the region. The study highlights the fact that though social enterprises are not a new social phenomena, we have come across serious theoretical and methodologcal dilemmas in particular relating to the measurability of the economic and social mission of the enterprises. This dilemma has a strong presence in the day-to-day realities of social enterprises since the legal framework is also confined to focusing on certain aspects, concentrating more on the employment of the underprivileged. Funders also concentrate mostly on these aspects as the main aim is to create jobs. It can be concluded that the society and the business sector in Romania are not sufficiently inclined to perceive the social economy as an opportunity for the implementation of innovative and sustainable enterprises.