The conference’s thematic line addressed. 6. Institutionalization, scaling up and public policies
A statement of the empirical or theoretical question locating it within the scientific literature.
The paper advances a new typology to explain how hybrid organizations respond to strategic management tensions. Anchoring our analysis in the hybrid organizing and strategy-as-practice literatures, we identify the strategic management tensions encountered by organizations that aim to balance commercial, social and environmental goal achievement. The analysis is employed to develop a Mission - Relationship typology in which we categorise and explain the response strategies to strategic management tensions related to both internal and external relationships. The paper advances our understanding of strategy-as-practice and hybrid organizing.
A concise account of the empirical or theoretical methodological approach.
To begin we anchor the paper in the hybrid organizing and strategy-as-practice literatures. Next we identify the strategic management tensions arising from competing demands and use four short case studies to shed light on the outcomes of resisting and responding positively to strategic management tensions. We next advance the Mission - Relationship typology of social enterprise hybrid responses to strategic management tensions. We then discuss how our typology contributes to the strategy-as-practice and hybrid organizing literatures.
The main argument of the paper.
Social enterprise hybrids navigate a path between contributing to the common good and the financial imperative to be sustainable. In this paper we build on research that has examined the strategic practices by which social enterprise hybrids manage mission, governance and management to develop a framework to explain hybrid organization responses to strategic management tensions.
A statement of the main conclusions and their relevance to an international audience.
The paper contributes to research on strategy-as-practice and organizational hybridity. We contribute to existing literature on strategy-as-practice by showing how social enterprise hybrid strategies are crafted to respond to competing demands. This is accomplished by integrating the strategy-as-practice and hybrid organizing literatures to identify first, strategic management tensions arising from the pursuit of multiple goals and second, the practical strategies enacted by social enterprise hybrids. The practical strategies are employed to develop a new Mission - Relationship typology. We also shed light on the internal management of hybrid organizations by explicating the strategic management responses enacted by social enterprise hybrids. By showing the range of strategic responses the paper also endorses the heterogeneity and fluidity of social enterprise hybrid strategic practices. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research and implications for practice.
6. Institutionalization, scaling up and public policies
