Social Enterprise is more than just a different kind of organisation it's a different way of thinking. There are often multiple bottom lines. Every organisation need to make a financial surplus in order to survive but in a Social Enterprise the social purpose may be equally important. It is perhaps worth making a distiction between two different models of Social Enterprise. Firstly a charity may set up a Social Enterprise as it's trading arm. The trading arm has more freedom about it's trading activities than a charity has. The purpose of such a company is to return a profit to the charity and so is more akin to a conventional company than the second model. This is a company that is trading for a social purpose, for example to give employment to disabled people. The provision of employment is thus the prime reason for the organisation's existence and its success is measured in terns of how well it is achieving that aim. It can be argued that businesses such as "The Body Shop" fall into that category, although the purist might disagree.

There are some people setting up a Social Enterprise in order to trade without the personal profit motive. They want to focus on providing a service or delivering a product paying more attention to a wider selection of stakeholders. Company Law makes achieving shareholder value the most important focus of the organisation. Not having shareholders relieves directors of that obligation. In some ways Social Enterprise can be revolutionary!