Social enterprise as a vehicle to promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the food and beverage industry: a comparative study of Singapore and Thailand

The lack of employment opportunities for people with disabilities (PWD) has been proved to cause negative consequences to countries’ economic growth and disintegration in societies. This study proposes that Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) is a feasible Social Enterprise (SE) model to help promote employment opportunities for PWD, focusing on a case of Singapore and Thailand, Southeast Asian countries where cultural barriers contributing to negative societal perceptions of PWD’s capabilities are prominent. Based on the literature review and case studies of WISEs from Singapore and Thailand, WISEs’ roles undeniably contribute to promotion of PWD employment in the F&B industry. Nevertheless, their performance in doing so can be enhanced or compromised by organizational, legal, and cultural factors. While development of SE legislation and ecosystem impacts WISEs’ ability to grow businesses and social impacts, government policies on PWD and cultural barriers also shape PWD empowerment and acceptance from society, which inevitably affect capability and opportunities for WISEs to achieve their missions. Analyzing the case studies of WISEs in the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry in Singapore and Thailand, this study suggests Thai WISEs to utilize support from both domestic and international capacity builders. At the same time, public awareness of SEs and their roles in addressing social problems must be promoted in Thailand to enhance SEs’ ability, not only to sustain businesses during uncertain times but also to grow their operations as well as social impacts in general.