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The paper aims to analyse the narrative that promotes “social enterprise” and “social entrepreneurship” as innovative ways of obtaining economic growth, social development and environmental sustainability for all people on the planet. It assesses their influence on current debates on the development agenda and explores some critical issues that can contribute to re-politicizing the agenda beyond the Millennium Development Goals (MGD).

Using a conceptual approach, the article identifies the discourses on which the central elements of the dominant discourse on “inclusive business” in development rest, and the empirical evidence on the results obtained from this focus. It subsequently employs different critical theoretical approaches to reformulate some of the debates and objectives that would make it possible to re-orientate the agenda from a perspective of social justice and sustainability.

As it is posed, the idea of “inclusive business” for development does enable advance in a direction that would revise the premises on development, include the normative dimension in debates, and present a new evaluative space for economic activity from the perspective of equity, social justice and human development. Making the best use of this opportunity involves deepening the proposals of the solidarity economy in continuous dialogue with other emancipatory experiences and currents of critical thought.

The paper questions some central elements of the orthodox conception of inclusive business and introduces analytical perspectives that are not commonly found in the literature on the topic.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nuanced understanding of the diverse practices social enterprises engage in to fulfil their commitments of delivering social/environmental goods and/or services while earning income to sustain their activities.

This research paper is based on an empirical investigation which used an ethnographic approach to study the social economy in two distinct city regions in the north of England.

Against a common-sense view of social enterprises being able to balance (with ease) social and economic goals, this paper suggests, based on empirical insights, that such a harmonious rendition tends to neglect the messiness at the heart of such organisations. Heeding ongoing reflections, explanations and negotiations as key ingredients in keeping social enterprises “balanced”, this paper argues that negotiating tensions is a constantly dynamic process.

Using an ethnographic approach, this paper offers insights into the complexities and tensions social enterprises constantly deal with and it shows these tensions must be constantly renegotiated.

In this book chapter, we analyse social entrepreneurship (SE) development in the Western Balkans and present a regional overview. SE has become a globally known contributor to alleviating societal, economic, social, and environmental concerns. Its influence on increasing people’s quality of life has put the concept on a pedestal, and the Balkans are no different. The new advances have increased the efforts from the third sector in advocating for increased visibility, recognition, and support for social enterprises (SEs) as contributors to the development of resilient communities and facilitating the countries’ recovery from economic, social, and environmental crises. To provide a regional development overview, we use the institutional perspective. We base the analysis on data by applying qualitative methods, including document analysis, conference speeches, round tables, consultations, and other impactful events conducted over the last decade. The evidence suggests that the Western Balkan countries are similar in their development and lack a clear vision, a strategic pathway, and sustainable solutions to accelerate the sector’s growth. The awareness of the SEs’ contributions is still low, hindering their impact and potential scalability. Raising awareness campaigns is much needed to increase SEs’ visibility, recognition, revenues, and financial sustainability. Intersectoral collaboration is not at a suitable level, and the coordination and partnerships between the SE actors are lacking. The region needs to make a significant and consistent effort to facilitate the sector’s development and support SEs to provide the expected societal impact.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature about the emergence of social enterprises in the world through the case of Chile by proposing the associative–business–cooperative approach as a new inclusive approach to organizational models of social enterprise that complements Kerlin’s conceptual framework.

This work included a literature review of the theoretical frameworks developed by Kerlin (2013) and Salamon and Solokowski (2010), and field work that included 20 in-depth interviews of members of the Chilean social enterprise community and three expert group discussions about the specific dynamics of Chilean social enterprises.

The emergent phenomenon of social enterprise in Chile has two distinctive features that appear to indicate that Kerlin’s conceptual framework does not fully capture how social enterprise is currently conceptualized in Chile: the long-term dynamics of convergence and (re-)emergence of different organizational models of social enterprises and the participation and evolution of different organizational models of social enterprise over the course of history and their lasting impact.

The lack of data is the main limitation of this research.

Capture the emergent phenomenon of social enterprises in Chile at an early stage of development with an inclusive approach that considers the diversity of the main organizational models of social enterprise and the profound institutional changes happening in Chile during the past decades.

A deep understanding of the Chilean institutional context in the development of social enterprises.

The management of an organisation and the context within which this organisation evolves are recognised as two important aspects of any organisation. Few studies have been conducted however on the management function within the specific context of social enterprises, organisations that mix social goals and economic imperatives. This paper aims to examine the specific competences of management in social enterprises, by constructing a competence model, the emblematic tool of competence‐based management, relevant to the management of social enterprises.

The authors hypothesise that certain competences required of managers in social enterprises are specific, regarding the particular internal and external context of social enterprises, the governance model, etc. The methodology used is based on four main steps: a review of the literature and the conducting of exploratory interviews, the construction of a first draft of the competence model, the conducting of group interviews with managers of social enterprises in six European countries as this research takes place within the framework of a European research project on lifelong learning, and the final adaptation and validation of the competence model.

Seven main competences specific to the context of social enterprises emerge, each one being further developed as knowledge, skills, and competences.

The paper illustrates the interest in building up a competence model for the management of social enterprises.

This paper aims to document the nature of social enterprise models in Australia, their evolution and institutional drivers.

The paper draws on secondary analysis of source materials and the existing literature on social enterprise in Australia. Analysis was verified through consultation with key actors in the social enterprise ecosystem.

With its historical roots in an enterprising non-profit sector and the presence of cooperative and mutual businesses, the practice of social enterprise in Australia is relatively mature. Yet, the language of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship remains marginal and contested. The nature of social enterprise activity in Australia reflects the role of an internally diverse civil society within an economically privileged society and in response to an increasingly residualised welfare state. Australia’s geography and demography have also played determining roles in the function and presence of social enterprise, particularly in rural and remote communities.

The paper contributes to comparative understandings of social enterprise and provides the first detailed account of social enterprise development in Australia.

The social economy – including not-for-profits, cooperatives, mutual organisations and social enterprises – is playing a stronger role than ever in the delivery of public policy. Yet, these organisations are often anecdotally viewed as relatively inefficient providers. The purpose of this paper is to compare the profitability and labour productivity of social enterprises in the State of Victoria in Australia with that of small- and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) in the same state. This paper found that, although social enterprises generally generated smaller profits and, therefore, could be less profitable, their relative level of labour productivity (value added and income to labour employed) was comparable or higher than that of SMEs. This paper responds to the need for comparative insights about social enterprise performance and considers the implications of these findings for new public governance.

The social economy – including not-for-profits, cooperatives, mutual organisations and social enterprises – is playing a stronger role than ever in the delivery of public policy. Yet these organisations are often anecdotally viewed as relatively inefficient providers.

This paper found that, although social enterprises generally generated smaller profits and, therefore, could be less profitable, their relative level of labour productivity (value added and income to labour employed) was comparable or higher than that of SMEs. This paper responds to the need for comparative insights about social enterprise performance and considers the implications of these findings for new public governance.

This is the first work that has been done of this sort that has looked specifically at Australia circumstances.

This paper aims to contribute to better understanding of where and how network concepts, theories and perspectives, organisational networks, and networking practices, are being studied and deployed in social enterprise research. This is done through a systematic review of social enterprise and networks literature in business and management journals. Key trends and developments in this literature, and gaps and limitations, are identified, culminating in discussion of what next for social enterprise and networks research. The papers in this special issue on “Social Enterprise and Networks” are introduced.

A systematic review was undertaken of social enterprise and networks literature in business and management journals. Journals sampled included all those in the Entrepreneurship and Small Business subject area of the Association of Business Schools (ABS) Academic Journal Guide 2018, the journals in the Financial Times 50 research ranking, and selected wider business and society, non-profit management and public administration journals.

Analysis of publishing patterns of social enterprise and networks research finds that such research is growing, and that varied network perspectives, concepts and theories are being deployed. Social enterprise and networks are also being studied globally, using different methodologies. Nevertheless, there remains scope for deeper theoretical engagement, and for a wider range of network theories to be used. More even geographic coverage is also needed, and further insights can be gained through use of alternative methodologies.

Discussions in this paper have implications for research through outlining systematically the state of current scholarship on social enterprise and networks. In so doing, insight is provided on what is known about social enterprise and networks. But also on what is not known and where further enquiry is needed. Direction is thus provided for future social enterprise and networks scholarship.

In this paper, how, and the extent to which, social enterprise and networks scholarship offers implications for practice and policy is considered.

This paper makes a valuable contribution to social enterprise scholarship. It outlines the state of current knowledge and research on social enterprise and networks, identifying where and how relationships between social enterprise and networks have been studied, whilst also providing insights for what next in future social enterprise and networks research.