Non-Commercial Activity among Young Craft Entrepreneurs in the City of St. Petersburg

Abstract

In the present article, non-commercial activity is considered a social responsibility practice. Such practices, in their turn, are classified as hybrid forms of social entrepreneurship. The empirical base of the research included 58 interviews with young entrepreneurs engaged in business projects in the craft industry of St. Petersburg. In this business area, the role of the owner comes to the fore in selecting and supporting non-commercial activities for a project. They are implemented relying on recourses accessible for small entrepreneurs: knowledge, skills, space, products (goods, service), and money. Young co / owners engage in non-commercial activities and contribute to changing the balance in education, culture, youth entrepreneurship culture, ecology and supporting those in need. As the analysis of the interviews in this research has shown, young entrepreneurs in the area of craft production attach different meanings to implemented non-commercial activities within the business project. Selecting non-commercial activities, which are based on the personal need of the owner or its implementation of new business standards, are considered to be social responsibility practices. In the first case, they rely on the personal initiative of the owner who puts effort in but does not demand the same from others. In the second case, the individual’s values merge with the mission of the business project and support the changing of business standards. For such co / owners, what comes to the fore in both cases is the social aspect of the project along with a contribution to changing the balance in any given sphere. The transformation of business standards, in turn, enables the scaling up of a business project and the creation of new business communities based on open horizontal cooperation. The social responsibility practices of young small entrepreneurs, therefore, can change the established balance, both in the selected social sphere, and in business.