Exploring the role of social enterprises within the Romanian welfare system

Abstract

Social enterprises are embedded in the local context, their organizational characteristics and operational strategies being influenced by the institutional settings, political culture and historical traditions and events. Similar to other European countries, Romania has included the modernization of the welfare systems in the development agenda of the last decade. One of the areas of interest was to better understand and promote the dynamics of the social enterprises as economic, social development actors and facilitators. From a neo-institutionalist perspective, this paper aims to explore the role of social enterprises as a component of Romanian welfare system. It starts with an overview of the history of the Romanian social enterprise, its roots and drivers; it continues with the identification of the roles, challenges and development processes of the social enterprises as welfare services. Keywords: social economy; social enterprise; welfare system.

Wiederbelebung der Ortsgemeinschaft in einer kleinen Industriestadt in Südosteuropa: Fallstudie Fieni, Rumänien

“…Alternatively, Merciu et al (2017) see tourist potential arising from urban renewal strategies. Moreover, several authors, including Petrescu (2009), Cordeiro et al (2011), Holden (2011, Pascariu and Pascariu (2013), Fathullah and Willis (2018), and Bozdağ and Inam (2021), advocate place-based solutions wherein strong community participation helps to frame planning and development processes. In another context, Sorensen (2020) brings all these themes together in his explanation of how the current fourth industrial revolution is severely reshaping the opportunities and threats facing local communities and how they might best be managed advantageously at regional level.…”