Recent work by Sarasvathy and Venkataraman (Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 113-135, 2011) suggest that entrepreneurship may offer an alternative to the scientific method in solving some of the increasingly complex problems facing modern society. This paper adopts an entrepreneurial method framework to explore how social enterprises (SEs) can more efficiently and effectively provide goods and services to the needy. SEs have the potential to improve efficiency and effectiveness by innovating new products, processes, strategies, and/or business models to better meet their beneficiaries' needs. Three case studies of SEs are used to explore the process and the outcomes of the entrepreneurial method. In addition, propositions are developed to illustrate the social and economic performance advantages of SEs and offer managerial implications for enhanced practice.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	social enterprisen entrepreneurship as method, case study
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
Research Field:	Entrepreneurship
Objective Division:	Economic Framework
Objective Group:	Management and productivity
Objective Field:	Management
UTAS Author:	Miles, M (Professor Morgan Miles)
ID Code:	82446
Year Published:	2012
Web of Science® Times Cited:	10
Deposited By:	Management
Deposited On:	2013-02-04
Last Modified:	2013-08-12
Downloads:	1 View Download Statistics