Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development : The Role of Business Models

Faced with challenges raised by sustainable development, several nations, and within which in particular organizations and other social actors, are questioning their roles and wish to take proactive approaches of social responsibility. However, in general they have few means to achieve their objectives.The purpose of this communication is to show that social entrepreneurship, as an assistance tool for the government and applied to the resolution of social problems, can provide a analysis framework in order to provide a response to the challenges of sustainable development. In order to achieve this, we have to show the usefulness of the different business models developed in social entrepreneurship, particularly in the European context. We conclude that social business models constitute a basic relay that allows social entrepreneurs to contribute actively to sustainable development