Increasing social value in growth process

The purpose of this study is to pave the way for deeper understanding on the modes with which social enterprises seek to increase their social impact and distribute their solutions. Research on social enterprise growth has... [ view full abstract ]

The purpose of this study is to pave the way for deeper understanding on the modes with which social enterprises seek to increase their social impact and distribute their solutions. Research on social enterprise growth has mostly focused on analyzing the organizational level of growth; on describing success recipes, growth models and models of open dissemination. Outcomes of growth has remained untouched topic. For now, positive outcomes are rather assumed than proven. Social mission is known to be both a driver and a barrier of social enterprise growth, but more detailed knowledge concerning the role that social mission plays when social entrepreneurs identify, evaluate and exploit growth opportunities is needed. In social enterprise context, growth process is featured by the attributes that make growth opportunities attractive to social entrepreneurs, the way those opportunities steer growth process, and a wide spectrum of roles that networks take. This study suggests that by applying and adapting theories and concepts from entrepreneurship research, social innovation diffusion literature and structuration theory, it is possible to better capture and understand these distinctive features. Furthermore, accumulating knowledge on hybrid growth models built on collaborative networks can contribute back to the firm growth literature and help to understand the heterogeneity of firm growth, in general.

Keywords: social enterprise, growth, scaling, growth model