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The purpose of this paper is to address the emerging practice of social entrepreneurship by exploring the historical and theoretical antecedents of social enterprise and its contemporary practice. By exploring key theoretical concepts, the paper draws comparisons between “for‐profit” and social entrepreneurs. The paper seeks to discuss the contemporary practice of social entrepreneurship. Discussion of the theory of entrepreneurship and contemporary practice of social entrepreneurs seeks to create a more nuanced view of social entrepreneurship and develop greater theoretical insights into this phenomenon and its recent expansion.

A phenomenological research approach was adopted, and 80 in‐depth interviews with social entrepreneurs from across the UK identified as the most appropriate data collection tool. Data analysis sought to identify and understand similarities between the more understood and studied behaviour of “profit‐seeking” entrepreneurs and those of an emerging group of social entrepreneurs.

In‐depth interviews revealed five key themes within which the practice of social entrepreneurship could be compared and contrasted with for‐profit entrepreneurship. These included: the entrepreneurial process, in particular, opportunity recognition; network embeddedness; the nature of financial risk and profit; the role of individual versus collective action in managing and structuring enterprises; and creativity and innovation.

Findings suggest that while the contemporary practices of social enterprises share many similarities with their for‐profit counterparts, significant differences can be found when comparing these practices with extant entrepreneurship research.

The paper addresses an emerging phenomenon within the practice and theory of entrepreneurship and offers insight into similarities and differences between entrepreneurship in the profit and not‐for‐profit sectors.

Quality empowering management is to the future of renewed worldwide competitiveness what quality control, participative management programmes and zero defects were to quality improvement. Empowerment holds that promoting employee involvement empowers workers to perform as whole, thinking human beings. Empowerment is the glue by which the elements of customer focus, quality process and products, continuous improvements, self‐managing teams, quality measurement, and utilization of the total workforce abilities are held together. Self‐managing teams are one of the major keys in the innovative organization to solving complex problems, increasing productivity, and heightening creativity. For most organizations and managers, quality empowering management is a new responsibility and a radical change in style of management and change in culture requiring new methods and systems.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of an organisation-wide competency framework, linking competency ratings at selection to later development needs and job performance.

Candidates’ scores at a management selection event were compared to their performance appraisal scores on the same competencies six to 12 months later (n=58). Scores on numeracy and profit and loss tests were also collected at the selection event and related to subsequent performance (n=207) and development needs.

Competency ratings at performance appraisal were significantly lower than at selection interview. Correlations between ratings at interview and at performance appraisal were generally weak, though one (Understanding the Business) showed significant relationships with five of the seven performance appraisal competencies. In addition, competency ratings were related to employee turnover and managerial development needs.

Although competencies were clearly defined, inter-rater variations may have occurred which obscure the relationships. However, it is of interest that a single competency at selection (Understanding the Business) seems to have the greatest effect on performance, employment outcome and development needs.

A competency framework that is embedded in both selection and performance ratings can provide the organisation with a clearer understanding of what determines managerial success, as well as informing better selection decisions. This study also raises the issue that performance ratings may be influenced more by a manager's ability to understand the business than by any other competencies.

The use of a longitudinal design provides unique evidence of the relationship between competency ratings at selection and later performance, employment outcome and development needs.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Ecopreneurs are those entrepreneurs who start for‐profit businesses with strong underlying green values and who sell green products or services. This is an emerging field where research is still in its infancy. Research has been called for to understand the factors that motivate these ecopreneurs to start businesses – and that is the focus of this study. The aim of this paper is to compare the findings with results of extant literature on entrepreneurial motivations.

This study comprises 14 in‐depth case studies of ecopreneurial companies in New Zealand in 2008. Participants were interviewed in a face‐to‐face, semi‐structured format. In total, 88 secondary sources such as media reports, industry statistics, and information from company web sites were also collected.

Ecopreneurs were motivated by five factors: their green values; earning a living; passion; being their own boss; and seeing a gap in the market. Ecopreneurs appear to have quite similar motivations to entrepreneurs in general, aside from their green motivations. They had lower level financial motivations than have been found in prior research on entrepreneurs. The ecopreneurs were primarily pulled into entrepreneurship, which bodes well for their ongoing success. The paper presents a number of contributions to both the ecopreneurship and entrepreneurship literatures.

The small sample is a potential limitation and the country context may also influence the findings.

This is one of the largest samples of ecopreneurs to date. Given the emerging nature of the field of ecopreneurship, this study's conclusions require further research and testing. A total of 11 such suggestions for future research are made.

Discusses the problem of managing and empowering those employees in the USA whose employment is protected by special legislation – minority groups – when they do not work responsibly.

In “The next wave of entrepreneurship research,” Schoonhoven and Romanelli (hereafter S&R, this volume) set forth a broad-gauge review of recent work in entrepreneurship. They challenge standard debates and focus on arguments and research that explore large-scale contextual variation in complex ecologies of entrepreneurship over time. Further, their review puts networks and teams, communities of expertise and knowledge, and collective activity at the center of new directions for entrepreneurial research. They contend, in this paper and elsewhere, that the important questions going forward “concern the mass effects of entrepreneurial activity on the creation of new firms and industries, the pioneering of emerging markets, the evolution of existing industries, the development of regional economies, and even … the competitiveness of nations” (Schoonhoven & Romanelli, 2001, p. 383).