European Business Schools Librarian's Group

IESE Research Papers,
IESE Business School

No D/546: Social entrepreneurship: What are we talking about? A framework for future research

Johanna Mair () and Ignasi Marti
Additional contact information
Johanna Mair: IESE Business School, Postal: Research Division, Av Pearson 21, 08034 Barcelona, SPAIN
Ignasi Marti: IESE Business School, Postal: Research Division, Av Pearson 21, 08034 Barcelona, SPAIN

Abstract: This paper introduces a framework to guide research and systematically enhance our understanding of social entrepreneurship. Drawing from traditional entrepreneurship literature, the paper presents social entrepreneurial "opportunities" as an important concept to differentiate social entrepreneurship from other social initiatives as well as from business entrepreneurship. It also addresses important issues -level of analysis, methods, and performance measures- that the field will have to attend to if it is to develop into an independent field of research. Finally, the paper argues that a dual approach -combining analytic and systemic thinking- is required to capture the complexity of the phenomenon.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship; opportunities

16 pages, March 9, 2004

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