Understanding Social Enterprise, Social Entrepreneurship and the Social Economy in Rural Cambodia

Isaac Lyne
Chanrith Ngin
Emmanuel Santoyo-Rio

This article critically assesses Western views on the social economy against everyday realities in rural northern Cambodia. Three enterprises with different characteristics were selected, giving insight into a social business providing family planning services, cooperativism and post-capitalist possibilities represented by a women-run agricultural and savings cooperative, and the reasoning of an Indigenous community that relies heavily on the forest. It draws conclusions about the direction of the rural social economy in Cambodia, giving insights of value to the designers of programs or projects to support social enterprise working within international development agencies and non-government organisations. For academics it is offers critical insight into Westernic-centric assumptions emanating from management literature pertaining to social enterprise and social entrepreneurship. 

Suggested citation

Lyne, I., Ngin, C., and Santoyo-Rio, E. 2018. "Social Enterprise, Social Economy and Local Social Entrepreneurship in Rural Cambodia." Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy 12(3): 278-298