EMES Conference Special Issue Editorial

EMES Conference Special Issue Editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Social Enterprise Journal, Volume 9, Issue 2

About the Guest Editor

Roger Spear is Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, Member of Ciriec Scientific Committee, and founder member and vice-president of EMES research network on social enterprise. He teaches organisational systems and research methods at the Open University. He is also guest professor in the Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Roskilde University (Copenhagen, Denmark), contributing to a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship. Most recent research projects are: OECD projects on the social economy in Korea, Slovenia, and Serbia; a similar UNDP project in Slovakia; a World Bank project in Egypt on social entrepreneurship (after the Arab Spring). The main theme in his current research is the role of social entrepreneurship in a plural economy, and recent publications include: Hybridity in Co-operatives, Social Innovation and Collective Entrepreneurship, and “Civil society and the ‘Commanding Heights’: The civil economy; past, present and future” (2010) by Paton and Spear, for Report of the Carnegie Commission on the Future of Civil Society.

This special issue aims to give a global perspective on current research on social enterprise. It is based on a selection of some of the best papers presented at the EMES research conference on social enterprise “Social Innovation through Social Entrepreneurship in Civil Society”, held in July 2011 at Roskilde University, Denmark. At that conference, there were 160 participants from 34 countries (five continents), and 115 papers were presented. It was quite a challenge reviewing and selecting the best quality papers, whilst also attempting to cover different themes, and global perspectives. All selected papers were reviewed, and subsequently modified by the authors.

The EMES research network is a European research network which focuses on social enterprise in the context of the social economy and civil society (see: www.emes.net). The network was established in 1995 and has been organising international research conferences since 2001. While EMES has been primarily a European network, over the last few years it has been developing research partnerships in other parts of the world – particularly East Asia, and South America. And the conferences which are now held regularly every two years reflect this global activity; there is also a very international group of students participating in the EMES doctoral summers schools in the intermediate years. The next EMES conference will be held in Liege at the beginning of July, 2013.

Overall the EMES conference papers not only give an indication of developing trends in social enterprise research, they also give important insights into different literatures, and different experiences. a total of five papers were selected for this special issue, but many others are worthy of study.

The first paper, by Ben Huybrechts and Alex Nicholls, addresses issues of legitimacy for social enterprise–corporate partnerships in an important field of social enterprise: international fair trade. Their study takes a life cycle perspective on collaboration, exploring legitimacy issues at each phase of the collaboration. The paper reveals the risks to social enterprise of such collaborations in the context of asymmetric power relations - mainly isolation, and isomorphic tendencies towards market behaviour. However, such an evolution of cross sector partnerships is not inevitable, and considerations of organisational legitimacy help reveal alternative possibilities.

The next paper by Kate Cooney draws on data from a large number of cases to critically examine the US experience of work integration social enterprise (WISE), the field where social enterprise are best known globally. She addresses an important dilemma for WISE in their attempts to improve the prospects of disadvantage workers in their training and employment programs. This concerns the labour market niches and associated occupations which WISE utilise and develop. She finds that the majority of WISE operate in the low skill labour market, and her study raises questions about the effectiveness of such a strategy, in comparison with middle skill labour market strategies.

The paper by Charlotte Moreau and Sybille Mertens addresses an issue of growing international importance for academics, policymakers and practitioners – how to specify the distinctive capacities and capabilities of social enterprise managers, to inform learning, training and management. Their study is based on empirical evidence from exploratory interviews in an international project and theoretical considerations based on extensive literature reviews. They develop a detailed model of managerial competences, which is validated in the European research project. It provides an important benchmark for considering the distinctive skills required of social enterprise managers.

The fourth paper by Christian Lautermann, based on his PhD thesis, makes an important contribution to resolve some of the ambiguities around “social value creation” – a rather taken for granted concept in the social enterprise and social entrepreneurship literature. Based on an extensive review of relevant literature, particularly institutional theory and business ethics, the paper develops a theoretical foundation of the “social”. In the process of addressing this issue, the author develops a conceptual framework of useful categories for considering the “social”; a framework which is also more broadly relevant to entrepreneurship and enterprise in general.

The final paper by Malin Gawell is concerned with an analysis of social entrepreneurship and associated patterns of innovation. Based on several empirical case studies in Sweden, the paper provides a critical reflection both on the taken for granted nature of social entrepreneurship, and on the constructed roles and strategies of social entrepreneurs. It raises questions about the extent of innovation, in the context of institutional inertia.

Acknowledgements

The Guest Editor is grateful to members of the conference scientific committee, and colleagues at Roskilde University Centre for Social Entrepreneurship for assistance in the selection and review process for this special issue, particularly the support of Professor Linda Lundgaard Andersen.

Roger SpearProfessor of Social Entrepreneurship at the Open University, UK, and at Roskilde University Centre for Social Entrepreneurship