Social Enterprise: Entrepreneurship, Management, and Growth

The first book about starting a business and running a social enterprise in Vietnam will come out on June 19, 2021, after being in the works for almost 5 years.

With long-term efforts, Assoc. Truong Thi Nam Thang and her colleagues, who are researchers and practitioners of social enterprises who are working and studying in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and Vietnam, are confident that this book can become the “bedside book” for those who love to research or want to find content, tools, and advice related to starting a social enterprise. 

What’s so special about the book?

• This is the first book on starting a social enterprise, going from theory to practice about each stage of developing a social enterprise. The book is entirely written by a group of Vietnamese authors.

• The first book on the market with in-depth research on social impact measurement, social impact scaling, and growth.

• The standardization of knowledge is based on theories of social enterprise management from around the world and real-life examples from Vietnam.

Many members of the VID Institute participated as editors of this book. At the same time, VID is also a media partner, promoting and distributing this book to Vietnamese readers who are living and working not only in the country but also abroad.

VID Institute would like to introduce the Preface of the book “Social Enterprise: Entrepreneurship, Management, and Growth” below.

 “Since my relationship with social enterprises from 2012 until now, as an ecosystem builder, diligently every year, I seek funding sources for research activities; publish national reports; build a research team by recommending; supporting young people to study abroad; organizing annual international academic conferences to keep the fire of researchers; implementing university lecturer training programs. I brought the Stanford Social Innovation Magazine (SSIR) to make the Vietnamese version, and my colleagues and I sought to make social entrepreneurship and social creativity more practiced in Vietnam.

The birth of this book took five years to prepare. The first outline of the book is still on the computer in the 2015 research folder. Major pieces of the puzzle for integrating social enterprise content into universities have been built. This book, Social Enterprise: Entrepreneurship, Management, and Growth, hopes to play an important part in helping university teachers and lecturers to be more confident in bringing the subject of social enterprise into their teaching. The editorial team is confident that the book is not only used for teaching and research, but that the contents, tools, and advice from this book are completely suitable for anyone interested in starting a social enterprise, using It’s like a start-up manual.

The book consists of 4 parts presented in 10 chapters.

Part 1: General social enterprise issues, with two chaptersChapter 1: The spirit of social entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship; and Chapter 2: Global social entrepreneurship.

Part 2: Launching a Social Enterprise, which includes three chapters.Chapter 3 is about realizing the potential of social entrepreneurship; Chapter 4 is about strategic planning for social entrepreneurship; and Chapter 5 is about social enterprise models.

Part 3: Social Enterprise Administration, with four chapters. Chapter 6: Model of social enterprise governance; Chapter 7: Social enterprise marketing activities; Chapter 8: Mobilizing financial resources for social enterprises; and Chapter 9: Measuring social impact.

Part 4: Social Enterprise Growth, with Chapter 10: Scaling Social Impact and Growing Social Enterprises.

The book has many shortcomings. With the mentality of a social entrepreneur, the editorial team considers this to be the minimum viable product (MVP), with trial, error, and adjustment. The book will be more complete in future editions. However, we are confident the book can be read, learned, and practiced.

The book would not have been completed without the efforts and contributions of so many people, who are my friends, colleagues, and students. What I am most proud of is not only the product of this book but also the inspiration and building of a successor team, following both in research, teaching, and practice in the field of social and enterprise creativity. society. The book has the participation of collaborators:

Chapter 1, Social entrepreneurship and social enterprise, Truong Thi Nam Thang, Dinh Hoang Hong Son, Dinh Hoang Hong Son

Chapter 2, Social Enterprises in the World, by Dinh Anh Tuan.

Chapter 3, Realizing the Potential for Social Entrepreneurship, Luu Thu Giang.

Chapter 4, Strategic planning for Social Entrepreneurship, Luu Thu Giang.

Chapter 5, Social enterprise models, Nguyen Thuy Linh, Phan Phuong Nam.

Chapter 6, Model of social enterprise governance, Phan Phuong Nam.

Chapter 7, Marketing activities of Social Enterprises, Hoang Thu Phuong

Chapter 8, Mobilizing financial resources for social entrepreneurship, Phan Phuong Nam.

Chapter 9, Measuring Social Impact, Truong Thi Nam Thang, Nguyen Hoang Bao Uyen, Le Thanh Tuyen,

Chapter 10, Developing the scale of social impact and growth of social enterprises, Phan Phuong Nam.

Huynh Thi Kim Yen and Nguyen Thi Hong Van from the Research Institute for Innovation and Development (VID) helped with the technical side of the book.

The book outline was suggested by Dr. Sheila Cannon, Center for Social Innovation, Trinity College, Dublin. The book is made within the framework of the Social Innovation Acceleration and Social Enterprise Project between the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CSIE), National Economics University, and the Center for Social Innovation, Trinity College Dublin, funded by the Embassy of Ireland through the Vietnam-Ireland Bilateral Educational Exchange Program (VIBE). The book is the closing activity of a multi-year collaborative project between scientists from the two countries. Looking back on the way from 2018 to now, we have become confident and accomplished a lot for ourselves as researchers, as well as for the social innovation ecosystem and social enterprise. Vietnam

I also want to express my gratitude to the social entrepreneurs, the teams working in social enterprises, and in the organizations that support and promote the social entrepreneurship sector, who have always been a source of inspiration. It inspires me and my colleagues to venture into this new field, so that we too can constantly create and innovate for a better and more inclusive world.

Hanoi, May 2021.

“Truong Thi Nam Thang”