Social Enterprises: Organizations for Transformative Innovation

Mario Calderini, Magali Fia, Francesco Gerli

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Abstract

Transformative innovation policies aim at providing systemic solutions to socio-environmental challenges thanks to their "experimental", "reflexive" and "inclusive" character. In this context, we contend that social enterprises could be catalysts for transformative innovation towards less developed territories and socially-marginalized groups. We argue that including social enterprises in transformative innovation policies mitigates negative effects of innovation-based growth, making policies more socially and territorially inclusive. Following a syncretic approach between the literature on transformative innovation policies and on social enterprises, this paper identifies key dimensions capturing the transformative innovation potential of these enterprises: from distributed territorial patterns, to a directional social inclusiveness, reflexivity in terms of participatory governance and goals' monitoring capacity, and experimental character in terms of establishing partnerships with heterogeneous actors. We assess this capacity through an explorative cluster analysis on Italian social enterprises. The results show three distinct groups within the realm of context, suggesting a variety of entrepreneurial approaches going from fully to slightly transformative. The transformative readiness of social enterprises suggests that policymakers can advance piloting experiments and that actions supporting an appropriate innovation ecosystem for these organizations are required.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Eighty-second Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management
EditorsSonja Taneja
Number of pages1
Place of PublicationBriarcliff Manor, NY
PublisherAcademy of Management
Publication date2022
Pages2241
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022
EventThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022: Creating a Better World Together - Seattle, United States
Duration: 5 Aug 20229 Aug 2022
Conference number: 82
https://2022.aom.org/

Conference

ConferenceThe Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2022
Number82
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period05/08/202209/08/2022
Internet address
SeriesAcademy of Management Proceedings
ISSN0065-0668

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