Market-Oriented Social Enterprises Employing People with Disabilities: A Participants’ Perspective.

The paper focuses on the participants’ perspective of social enterprises, particularly those providing employment for a variety of handicapped populations. It argues that when dealing with such populations with the goal of integrating them into society, contrary to present policy and practice, a market orientation of the organizations employing them, provides, under certain circumstances and with certain populations, advantages and opportunities not awarded in nonprofits or public agencies. It bases the argument on two conceptual frameworks: (1) thesocial model of dealing with disabilitiesand (2) thestrength-based practice in social work. When translated into the realm of work, both of these suggest that handicapped persons have capabilities to contribute to the economy, to society as well as to themselves, provided they are granted appropriate opportunities to do so. A market-oriented social enterprise framework, designed on the basis of the concept of‘shared value’, can potentially provide such opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]