Exploration of components of endogenous competitiveness in marketing for social enterprises

Social entrepreneurship is considered a relevant component for the effective generation of jobs and economic development in underdeveloped countries (Guzmán & Trujillo, 2008; Harding, 2004). There has been a growth of this type of organization during the last decades due to the slow response of the state to social needs and the outsourcing of social services by public administration, together with the expansion of values associated with solidarity within society (Salinas & Rubio, 2001, pp. 86–87). Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the factors that affect the internal marketing competitiveness of social enterprises. To achieve this objective, a content analysis was conducted on studies related to the characterization and conceptualization of social entrepreneurship, as well as on the concept and components of competitiveness, which constitute the conceptual and theoretical development section of the document. The discussion of the results made it possible to establish that there are three factors influencing internal marketing competitiveness: marketing capabilities, innovation, and entrepreneurial management. Based on the above, the following factors are proposed as key elements influencing the marketing of social entrepreneurship organizations: identification of the social offering, structuring of marketing capabilities, entrepreneurial management, and social innovation.