While I believe the label "social enterprise" extends to far more types of ventures than those identified in American Public Media's Marketplace article (e.g. nonprofits are social enterprises and they may operate social enterprises as well), the article does a nice job discussing both the strategic, promotional and branding opportunities that arise from using the "moral high-ground" value proposition and positioning strategies unique to these entities.
Two important points were made: First, consumers may be attracted to vendors and their offerings when both are positioned as being on the higher moral plain. Second, you still need to have a great product or service.
The article also notes that the higher moral position may offer a meaningful value to prospective investors. This positioning has been used effectively with some corporate investors (like a Ben & Jerry's) but not so much with main-stream investors. Perhaps this is a strategy that might be emulated more frequently.
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