Social Enterprise and the Third Sector Changing European Landscapes in a Comparative Perspective

The concepts of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship are rapidly attracting increased attention in academic spheres and from policy-makers, as well as field workers who are setting up new initiatives or reshaping their organizations. These concepts are perceived as defining innovative and dynamic responses to major global challenges in today’s societies. The debate about social enterprise is now world-wide, with lively exchanges between American and European scholars. However, the research and landscapes still differ significantly in different regions, and diversity also exists within specific regions such as Europe. This book presents the most comprehensive set of contributions reflecting the European-wide debate, but with frequent connections to developments in other parts of the world. This book is a result of work carried out by members of the EMES International Research Network, which is a pioneer in this field. Social Enterprise and the Third Sector will appeal to all researchers who focus on the third sector, social economy and social enterprise, to MBA and postgraduate students, as well as to intellectual social enterprise leaders and practitioners. It will soon become a key reference for all those who want to explore the full richness of these concepts and follow this important academic debate.

Introduction to the Social Enterprise Field (Jacques Defourny, Lars Hulgård and Victor Pestoff) Section I: The Dynamics of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship: Theoretical Foundations 1.From Third Sector to Social Enterprise: A European Research Trajectory (Jacques Defourny) 2.The EMES Approach of social enterprise in a comparative perspective (Jacques Defourny and Marthe Nyssens) 3.Social enterprise and the Third Sector – Innovative service delivery or a non-capitalist economy? (Lars Hulgård) 4.Organizational variety in market economies and the emergent role of socially oriented enterprises (Carlo Borzaga, Sara Depedri and Ermanno Tortia) 5.The social and solidarity economy a theoretical and plural framework (Jean-Louis Laville) 6.Solidarity-based Initiatives: Field realities and analysis (Laurent Gardin) Section II: Social Enterprise, Governance and Policy Issues 7.Major perspectives on governance of social enterprise (Mike Aiken, Chris Cornforth, and Roger Spear) 8.Explaining stakeholder involvement in social enterprise governance through resources and legitimacy (Benjamin Huybrechts, Sybille Mertens, and Julie Rijpens) 9. Multi-stakeholder governance in social enterprise (Isabel Vidal) 10. The associative as governance structure (Bernard Enjolras) 11. European Work integration social enterprises: between social innovation and isomorphism (Marthe Nyssens) 12. Co-production and the Third Sector: the state of the art in research (Taco Brandsen, Victor Pestoff, and Bram Verschuere) 13.Hybridity, Innovation and the Third Sector: the co-production of public services (Victor Pestoff)

Jacques Defourny is professor of third sector economics at HEC Management School, University of Liege (Belgium) where he is also a director of the Centre for Social Economy. He was a founding coordinator (1996-2001) and then the first president (2002-2010) of the EMES European Research Network. His work focuses on comparisons of social enterprise models across the world and on conceptual and quantitative analysis of the third sector both in developed as well as developing countries Lars Hulgård is professor of social entrepreneurship at Roskilde University (RUC), Denmark. He has been the president of the EMES International Research Network since 2010, and is the chair of the research group Social Innovation and Organizational Learning. He is the founder and co-director of the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and his research interests are on the relation between civil society, the third sector and social entrepreneurship as well as the role of social enterprise in the transition of the welfare state Victor Pestoff is a professor at the Institute for Civil Society Studies, Ersta Sköndal University College in Stockholm, Sweden. His research focuses on the political impact of third sector organizations and cooperatives and he has published more than a dozen books on such topics. He is also a founding member of the EMES International Research Network