From Balancing Missions to Mission Drift: The Role of the Institutional Context, Spaces, and Compartmentalization in the Scaling of Social Enterprises
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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in: Business and Society, Jahrgang 58, Nr. 5, 01.05.2019, S. 1003-1046.
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
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TY - JOUR
T1 - From Balancing Missions to Mission Drift
T2 - The Role of the Institutional Context, Spaces, and Compartmentalization in the Scaling of Social Enterprises
AU - Ometto, M. Paola
AU - Gegenhuber, Thomas
AU - Winter, Johanna
AU - Greenwood, Royston
PY - 2019/5/1
Y1 - 2019/5/1
N2 - In this article, we explain the mechanisms that allow social enterprises to balance their missions, and the risk of mission drift as organizations grow. We empirically explore Incubator-BUS (I-BUS), a student organization within a private Brazilian university, which sought to incubate cooperatives for vulnerable groups. Although initially successful in balancing its missions, I-BUS then failed. We show how scaling-up can complicate the balancing of different missions within the same organization. We propose that, to balance their missions, social enterprises—especially recently formed and democratically managed enterprises—need not only “spaces of negotiation,” as suggested in the literature, but also “herding spaces” that connect an organization to its institutional context. We indicate why herding spaces are critical, but then show how scaling-up can result in organizational “compartmentalization” that undermines them.
AB - In this article, we explain the mechanisms that allow social enterprises to balance their missions, and the risk of mission drift as organizations grow. We empirically explore Incubator-BUS (I-BUS), a student organization within a private Brazilian university, which sought to incubate cooperatives for vulnerable groups. Although initially successful in balancing its missions, I-BUS then failed. We show how scaling-up can complicate the balancing of different missions within the same organization. We propose that, to balance their missions, social enterprises—especially recently formed and democratically managed enterprises—need not only “spaces of negotiation,” as suggested in the literature, but also “herding spaces” that connect an organization to its institutional context. We indicate why herding spaces are critical, but then show how scaling-up can result in organizational “compartmentalization” that undermines them.
KW - Management studies
KW - incubator
KW - mission drift
KW - scaling
KW - social enterprise
KW - spaces
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85044360458&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0007650318758329
DO - 10.1177/0007650318758329
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85044360458
VL - 58
SP - 1003
EP - 1046
JO - Business and Society
JF - Business and Society
SN - 0007-6503
IS - 5
ER -