Empowering Social Enterprise Research

This is the third and last episode about social enterprise from a research perspective. In this episode, we lift our gaze to the context in which social enterprises emerge and operate. We explore the concept of ecosystem, which considers, on the one hand, the connections between social enterprises and other players in their field of action, and on the other hand, the institutional conditions that enable social enterprises to thrive. We also examine the notion of multi-stakeholder governance, learning about social enterprise models purposefully designed to promote it, and showing the relevance of social enterprise involvement in governance structures at different levels. Featured in this episode: Francesca Petrella, Professor of Economics at the University of Aix-Marseille and a researcher at the Institute of Labour Economics and Industrial Sociology (FR); Sílvia Ferreira, researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra (PT); and Andrés Morales Pachón, sociologist and researcher at La Rioja International University (ES).

This is the second of 3 episodes about social enterprise from a research perspective. In this episode we focus on three industries which are key to the development of sustainable societies and which social enterprise is stirring up. Those industries are: 1) health and social services; 2) integration of migrants and refugees; 3) culture and the arts. Featured in this episode: Nicole Göler von Ravensburg, professor of Socio-economics at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences; Alexander Tränkmann, gastronomy manager in Mainz, Germany, and a spokesperson for the Embrace Hotels Cooperative; Leila Giannetto, researcher at FIERI (International and European Forum on Migration Research); Rob Trimble, Chief Executive of the Bromley by Bow Centre (London, UK); Linda Lundgaard Andersen, professor at the Department of People and Technology at Roskilde University in Denmark; Jonas Hedegaard, PhD student at Roskilde University in Denmark.

This is the first of 3 episodes about Social Enterprise from a research perspective. S.E. is an incredibly diverse phenomenon and scholars from all over Europe and beyond are busy studying their local realities and connecting them to the ongoing scientific conversation. In this episode we start by asking the obvious question: what is social enterprise? We hear from leading Belgian SE scholar Jacques Defourny, and we make special room for scholars from Central and Eastern European and peripheral countries. Featured in this episode: Yulia Aray (Saint Petersburg University, Russian Federation), Jacques Defourny (Liège University), Melinda Mihály (Center for Economic and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) and Nóra Ritók (Real Pearl Foundation, Hungary).

This EMPOWER-SE Action aims at contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the diversity of SE models emerging across Europe and globally