Comparative Analysis of Social Entrepreunership in the Republic of Croatia and Selected European Countries

Društvo se suočava s problemima poput socijalne isključenosti, siromaštva, nezaposlenošću mladih te osoba s određenom vrstom invaliditeta. Jedan od načina kako ublažiti socijalnu isključenosti u društvu te ostvariti bolju integraciju marginaliziranih skupina je poticanje razvoja socijalnog poduzetništva. Pojam socijalno poduzetništvo označava ekonomski pojam te kao takav zahtijeva prisutnost ekonomskih elemenata, ali i onih socijalnih. Glavni cilj socijalnog poduzetništva je zadovoljiti potrebe društva, odnosno briga za društvo te pokušaj djelovanja u svrhe zadovoljavanja javnog interesa. Cilj rada je istražiti koliko socijalno poduzetništvo doprinosi gospodarstvu Republike Hrvatske, ali i odabranim zemljama Europe. Na osnovi već postojećih istraživanja istaknuta je i važnost razvijenosti određene zemlje kako bi i samo djelovanje socijalnog poduzetništva bilo istaknutije. Komparativnom analizom socijalnog poduzetništva u Hrvatskoj i odabranim zemljama Europe pokušalo se ukazati kako praksa pojedinih zemalja može biti dobar primjer Hrvatskoj da iskoristi potencijal socijalnih poduzeća i tako doprinese razvoju hrvatskog gospodarstva. Stoga se primjenom kvalitativne metodologije došlo do informacija i stvarnih podataka od osoba koje se nalaze na određenim položajima u socijalnim poduzećima, udrugama i zakladama. Socijalni poduzetnici u Hrvatskoj ukazali su na prepreke i poteškoće na koje nailaze, ali i rješenja koja pronalaze. Time su pokazali da svojim predanim radom uspijevaju ostvariti sve ciljeve unatoč svim preprekama na koje nailaze.Society faces problems such as social exclusion, issues of poverty, youth unemployment and people with a certain type of disability. One of the ways to alleviate social exclusion in society and achieve better integration of marginalized groups is to encourage the development of social entrepreneurship. The term social entrepreneurship means an economic term and as such requires the presence of economic elements, as well as social ones. The main goal of social entrepreneurship is to meet the needs of society, that is, care for society, which is trying to act to satisfy the public interest. The aim of the paper is to investigate how much social entrepreneurship contributes to the economy of the Republic of Croatia, but also to selected European countries. Based on already existing research, the importance of the development of a certain country was highlighted so that the activity of social entrepreneurship itself would be highlighted. Through a comparative analysis of social entrepreneurship in Croatia and selected European countries, an attempt was made to show that the practice of certain countries can be a good example of Croatia to use the potential of social enterprises and thus contribute to the development of the Croatian economy. Therefore, through the application of qualitative methodology, information and real data were obtained from persons who are in certain positions in social enterprises, associations, and foundations. Social entrepreneurs in Croatia pointed out the obstacles and difficulties they encounter, but also the solutions they find. With this, they showed that with their dedicated work, they manage to achieve all their goals despite all the obstacles they encounter