In an interview with Feng Huang News, State Council advisor Tang Min discusses the relationship between social enterprise and profit, state-owned enterprises and making money.
Tang Min believes that state-owned enterprises should act as large social enterprises, which means their primary focus should not be making a profit, but rather maximizing social change and betterment. Since many state-owned enterprises are monopolies in their respective sector, a focus on making a profit could easily have a negative effect on the public social interest.
Furthermore, those who consider themselves social investors should not hold making profit as the purpose of their investment. Maximizing social change should be their focus, and they should not excessively pursue money making.
Additionally, to support this notion, Tang Min recommends avoiding using the term “philanthropic marketization” because it can easily lead to public misunderstanding. According to Tang Min, the word “marketization,” in the eyes of the broad public, already has a strong association with maximizing profit. Businesses seek to maximize profit, but a social enterprises do not.
