Abstract
This thesis is based on 4 propositions stating that it is possible for non-profit social entrepreneurship organization to survive by attracting finances, inspiring the team, breaking the risks and seeking long-lasting success. The thesis argues that the non-profit social entrepreneurship is being smart since it manages surviving being non-profit.
The aim of the research is to understand and learn from nonprofit SE abilities to survive by analyzing the strategic surviving factors.
The theoretical foundation for this research is obtained from various literature sources especially focused on Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs book.
The research design of this thesis is a combination of a multiple case design with a holistic analysis, and a cross-sectional design. The data was collected by applying semi-structured interview methods of two social enterprises in the not-for-profit (NSE) and for-profit (FPSE) industries. FPSE was included in order to increase validity.
The findings of the analysis show that it is possible to survive being non-profit and suggest how to achieve the survival by attracting finances, inspiring the team, breaking the risks and seeking long-lasting success while acting in Norwegian non-profit SE sector. Thus, the propositions were proved.
These findings suggest that entrepreneurs hesitating to start non-profit organization should be inspired of the real case examples and start acting.
(Key words: Not-For-Profit Social Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Social Entrepreneurship; Strategic Surviving Factors)