Coordinators: Marc Jegers and Marek Hudon

Partners: Sybille Mertens, Ariane Szafarz, Dennis Young and Avner Ben-Ner

Social enterprises differ from traditional businesses in the way they finance their activity. This TL aims to develop building blocks of a coherent financial theory specifically geared towards social enterprises, taking into account their "double bottom-line", which implies financial and social performance.

It will deeply explore four blocks: (1) the relationship between equity and debt (capital structure), (2) the extension of the benefits theory by linking the operational resources to the benefits, the life-cycle stage and the model of social enterprise, (3) the existence of social banks and their role in credit markets for social enterprises and, (4) the link between the types of subsidies and the global performance of social enterprise.

This TL addresses those questions by mobilizing insights from corporate finance, public economics, micro-economics and ethics.

Sub-themes in this TL are the following:

• 2.1. Cost of capital and financing in social enterprises (coordinator: Marc Jegers)
• 2.2. Towards a benefits theory of social enterprise finance (coordinators: Sybille Mertens and Michel Marée)
• 2.3. Specific intermediaries - Social banking (coordinator: Ariane Szafarz)
• 2.4. Subsidies and performance of social enterprises (coordinator: Marek Hudon)