The social economy is formed by a rich diversity of enterprises and organisations, such as cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, social enterprises and paritarian institutions, sharing common values and features: Primacy of the individual and the social objective over capital Voluntary and open membership Democratic governance Combination of interests of members/users and/or the general interest Defence and application of the principles of solidarity and responsibility Autonomous management and independence from public authorities, though cross-sector collaboration is common Reinvestment of at least most of the profits to carry out sustainable development objectives, services of interest to members or of general interest Social economy enterprises and organisations have different sizes, ranging from SMEs to large companies and groups that are leaders in their markets and operate in all the economic sectors. History Third sector As a field of study, social economy studies the relationship between economy and social behavior. It analyzes how consumer behavior is influenced by social morals, ethics and other humanitarian philosophies. It examines activity that is related to economics in the community and exposes the information to the community; this includes the social enterprise and voluntary sectors. A social economy develops because of a need for new solutions for issues (social, economic or environmental) and to satisfy needs which have been ignored (or inadequately fulfilled) by the private or public sectors. By using solutions to achieve not-for-profit aims, a social economy has a unique role in creating a strong, sustainable, prosperous and inclusive society. It is important for companies to be able to independently implement their own CSR initiatives as studies have shown that this will result be much more impactful than government-mandated CSR initiatives. Successful social-economy organisations play a role in fulfilling governmental policy objectives by: Contributing to socially-inclusive wealth creation Enabling individuals and communities to renew local neighbourhoods Demonstrating new ways to deliver public services Developing an inclusive society and active citizenship Embracing competitors, as competition may indicate greater overall market productivity in achieving social goals Defining the limits of a social-economy sector is difficult due to shifting politics and economics; at any time organisations may be "partly in, partly out", moving among sub-sectors of the social economy. Social enterprise compass Organisations may be placed on the social enterprise compass, which measures enterprises and organisations on a continuum between the private and public sectors. Horizontal axis On the horizontal axis, each enterprise or organisation is categorized by its