STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF SOCIAL ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT: INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS AND MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Abstract

The article examines the strategic management of social economy development in Ukraine under conditions of transformational changes and wartime challenges. The problem is substantiated by the deterioration of labor market indicators, including rising unemployment, poverty, income inequality, declining labor force participation and reduction of the country’s labor potential. The study analyzes key macroeconomic and social trends, emphasizing structural imbalances in employment, sectoral shifts and the growing importance of the social economy as a tool for integrating vulnerable population groups into economic activity and ensuring social cohesion. Particular attention is paid to institutional constraints that hinder development, including the absence of a legally defined status of social enterprises, fragmentation and inconsistency of state policy, insufficient coordination among stakeholders and the lack of a comprehensive system for monitoring and evaluating the sector. The paper reviews recent scientific contributions of domestic and foreign researchers, highlighting the fragmented nature of existing approaches to the study of social entrepreneurship and social economy. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the essence and structure of institutional mechanisms and management tools, to assess their effectiveness and to identify the main limitations of their functioning in ensuring employment and reducing socio-economic disparities. The main part of the study reveals the interaction between labor market institutions, social policy and economic regulation. Management tools are systematized into financial, organizational-economic, institutional, informational and labor market instruments. Their effectiveness is evaluated according to coverage of target groups, stability of results and impact on employment and social integration. The results show their limited scalability, insufficient efficiency, unstable financing and low level of coordination. The conclusions substantiate the need to develop a holistic model of strategic management of social economy development based on the integration and coherence of institutional mechanisms and management tools, aimed at achieving measurable socio-economic outcomes and strengthening the resilience of the national economy.