We advance research on how businesses engage with the complex social problems currently known as ... more We advance research on how businesses engage with the complex social problems currently known as Grand Challenges. We study the concepts that preceded the term Grand Challenges, the connected ontologies that ground them, and the diversity of perspectives they offered. We construct a knowledge map that includes well-researched obstacles, such as governance obstacles hindering engagement and sensemaking obstacles limiting the ideation of novel and creative efforts. But we also build on prior research to identify curation obstacles, which precede engagement and define which problems receive social attention, and adaptation obstacles, which create uncertainty over workable solutions and bias the momentum of social systems toward the status quo. Our broader view on the obstacles defining Grand Challenges opens new pathways and identifies underexplored levers by which to understand and influence business engagement with complex social problems.
This article furthers knowledge on cross-sector partnerships. It distinguishes between partnershi... more This article furthers knowledge on cross-sector partnerships. It distinguishes between partnerships that produce predefined outcomes and those that produce co-defined ones. Predefined outcomes are defined by one partner prior to the formation of the partnership and could have been attained easily with alternative partners. Co-defined outcomes are defined by partners in mutual consultation and tailored to the resources and goals of the participants. The article identifies delegation as a factor that crucially defines whether partnerships produce preor co-defined outcomes. Delegation occurs when there is a clear-cut division between coordination and participation so that staff members engaged as coordinators are otherwise disengaged from the partnership. Delegated partnerships—those with coordinators engaged only in coordinating duties—are likely to produce predefined outcomes whereas undelegated partnerships are likely to produce co-defined outcomes. The article builds on a grounded ...
Scholars have argued that engaging the community is central for any organization operating at the... more Scholars have argued that engaging the community is central for any organization operating at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). This study explores the role of human resource (HR) practices in ancho...
This thesis evaluates a program to foster small firms in the state of Ceard, Brazil. The program ... more This thesis evaluates a program to foster small firms in the state of Ceard, Brazil. The program attempts to switch public procurement toward small local firms. The state government of Ceard started the program during a severe drought, in 1987, also a time of fiscal stringency. Rather than requiring extra resources, the program has allowed the state to save money, as small firms usually charged 30% lower than the price charged by former state suppliers--larger firms, most of them located outside the state. By imposing quality standards as a requirement to purchase from small firms, the program has been able to launch these firms into private markets. Even having a demand-side approach, the program also assists the firms with focused technical assistance in order to allow firms to meet quality standards. Although the technical assistance focus on specific items ordered by public agencies, firms have been able to use the learning to improve the quality of other items they sell to priv...
Entrepreneurship scholars have identified factors that frame the entrepreneurial process, such as... more Entrepreneurship scholars have identified factors that frame the entrepreneurial process, such as the gender, race, ethnicity and wealth of entrepreneurs, the technological nature of the products or services offered, or the geographic location of ventures. Ventures bridging profit and service goals in new and creative ways are mushrooming. Building on a review of current research, the author speculates that "bridging profit and service" should be added to the list of factors that define the entrepreneurial process. In doing so, she calls for caution when extending to social entrepreneurial ventures' findings on research regarding business ventures, and for more research exploring the impact of this factor on the entrepreneurial process.
We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics... more We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics in unprecedented ways) can develop and maintain their hybrid nature in the absence of a "ready-to-wear" model for handling the tensions between the logics they combine. The results of our comparative study of two pioneering commercial microfinance organizations suggest that to be sustainable new types of hybrid organizations need to create a common organizational identity that strikes a balance between the logics they combine. Our evidence further suggests that the crucial early levers for developing such an organizational identity among organizational members are hiring and socialization policies.
This chapter explores how hybrid organizations navigate the challenges (and opportunities) associ... more This chapter explores how hybrid organizations navigate the challenges (and opportunities) associated with advancing unconventional logic combinations. It draws from a study of the 180-year history of sheltered workshops in the United States. Sheltered workshops are hybrids that combine social and commercial logics to provide gainful employment to individuals with disabilities. This chapter theorizes a connection between the governance system – that is, country-based social norms and regulatory settlements – framing hybrids and the agency that allows them the discretion required to advance unconventional combinations. It introduces the term hybrid agency to describe this connection and identifies four types: upstream, midstream, downstream, and crosscurrent. Upstream agency draws from the entrepreneurial vision of charismatic founders. It allows hybrids the discretion to advance unconventional logic combinations in unsupportive times, but it also requires them to observe certain dom...
This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call be... more This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call best-practice firms, managed to grow out of backyard workshops. Suggestions for improvement of the programs supporting Small Scale Enterprises (SSEs) emerge from the histories of these firms. From these histories, I derived three areas in which the state could improve its programs: (i) Most of the firms grew by targeting the Brazilian Northeast/North market. Although many of the SSEs were targeting this market, neither the producers' associations nor the state government's marketing programs reflected this. (ii) The government promoted subsidized credit programs for SSEs, but most firms prefer not to borrow from them. (iii) The rubber-sandal sector was spontaneously growing in the state through backward linkages. The state, instead of supporting this already dynamic sector, focused on promoting almost from the growth of the leather-shoe sector through forward linkages. Finally, Cea...
This paper is motivated by a puzzling observation made when conducting a case study of ProCredit ... more This paper is motivated by a puzzling observation made when conducting a case study of ProCredit (PC), a well-known social bank. The HR practices that this social enterprise (SE) adopted to cultivate mission identification were unfavorably impacting its retention rate. Building on prior research and our analysis of the case, we argue the need for SEs to embrace HRM systems that are both mission-identification proactive and employee-retention preemptive. It theorizes that these HRM systems should be attuned to the labor market conditions (e.g., market segmentation and competition for employees) that frame how SEs develop and sustain Person-Organization (P-O) fit. Attuned HRM systems are adapted to labor market conditions and tuned to support SEs’ adeptness to operate against the grain of country and industry norms.
This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call be... more This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call best-practice firms, managed to grow out of backyard workshops. Suggestions for improvement of the programs supporting Small Scale Enterprises (SSEs) emerge from the histories of these firms.
Social innovations are urgently needed as we confront complex social problems. As these social pr... more Social innovations are urgently needed as we confront complex social problems. As these social problems feature substantial interdependencies among multiple systems and actors, developing and implementing innovative solutions involve the re-negotiating of settled institutions or the building of new ones. In this introductory article, we introduce a stylized three-cycle model highlighting the institutional nature of social innovation efforts. The model conceptualizes social innovation processes as the product of agentic, relational, and situated dynamics in three interrelated cycles that operate at the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis. The five papers included in this special issue address one or more of these cycles. We draw on these papers and the model to stimulate and offer guidance to future conversations on social innovations from an institutional theory perspective.
We advance research on how businesses engage with the complex social problems currently known as ... more We advance research on how businesses engage with the complex social problems currently known as Grand Challenges. We study the concepts that preceded the term Grand Challenges, the connected ontologies that ground them, and the diversity of perspectives they offered. We construct a knowledge map that includes well-researched obstacles, such as governance obstacles hindering engagement and sensemaking obstacles limiting the ideation of novel and creative efforts. But we also build on prior research to identify curation obstacles, which precede engagement and define which problems receive social attention, and adaptation obstacles, which create uncertainty over workable solutions and bias the momentum of social systems toward the status quo. Our broader view on the obstacles defining Grand Challenges opens new pathways and identifies underexplored levers by which to understand and influence business engagement with complex social problems.
This article furthers knowledge on cross-sector partnerships. It distinguishes between partnershi... more This article furthers knowledge on cross-sector partnerships. It distinguishes between partnerships that produce predefined outcomes and those that produce co-defined ones. Predefined outcomes are defined by one partner prior to the formation of the partnership and could have been attained easily with alternative partners. Co-defined outcomes are defined by partners in mutual consultation and tailored to the resources and goals of the participants. The article identifies delegation as a factor that crucially defines whether partnerships produce preor co-defined outcomes. Delegation occurs when there is a clear-cut division between coordination and participation so that staff members engaged as coordinators are otherwise disengaged from the partnership. Delegated partnerships—those with coordinators engaged only in coordinating duties—are likely to produce predefined outcomes whereas undelegated partnerships are likely to produce co-defined outcomes. The article builds on a grounded ...
Scholars have argued that engaging the community is central for any organization operating at the... more Scholars have argued that engaging the community is central for any organization operating at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP). This study explores the role of human resource (HR) practices in ancho...
This thesis evaluates a program to foster small firms in the state of Ceard, Brazil. The program ... more This thesis evaluates a program to foster small firms in the state of Ceard, Brazil. The program attempts to switch public procurement toward small local firms. The state government of Ceard started the program during a severe drought, in 1987, also a time of fiscal stringency. Rather than requiring extra resources, the program has allowed the state to save money, as small firms usually charged 30% lower than the price charged by former state suppliers--larger firms, most of them located outside the state. By imposing quality standards as a requirement to purchase from small firms, the program has been able to launch these firms into private markets. Even having a demand-side approach, the program also assists the firms with focused technical assistance in order to allow firms to meet quality standards. Although the technical assistance focus on specific items ordered by public agencies, firms have been able to use the learning to improve the quality of other items they sell to priv...
Entrepreneurship scholars have identified factors that frame the entrepreneurial process, such as... more Entrepreneurship scholars have identified factors that frame the entrepreneurial process, such as the gender, race, ethnicity and wealth of entrepreneurs, the technological nature of the products or services offered, or the geographic location of ventures. Ventures bridging profit and service goals in new and creative ways are mushrooming. Building on a review of current research, the author speculates that "bridging profit and service" should be added to the list of factors that define the entrepreneurial process. In doing so, she calls for caution when extending to social entrepreneurial ventures' findings on research regarding business ventures, and for more research exploring the impact of this factor on the entrepreneurial process.
We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics... more We explore how new types of hybrid organizations (organizations that combine institutional logics in unprecedented ways) can develop and maintain their hybrid nature in the absence of a "ready-to-wear" model for handling the tensions between the logics they combine. The results of our comparative study of two pioneering commercial microfinance organizations suggest that to be sustainable new types of hybrid organizations need to create a common organizational identity that strikes a balance between the logics they combine. Our evidence further suggests that the crucial early levers for developing such an organizational identity among organizational members are hiring and socialization policies.
This chapter explores how hybrid organizations navigate the challenges (and opportunities) associ... more This chapter explores how hybrid organizations navigate the challenges (and opportunities) associated with advancing unconventional logic combinations. It draws from a study of the 180-year history of sheltered workshops in the United States. Sheltered workshops are hybrids that combine social and commercial logics to provide gainful employment to individuals with disabilities. This chapter theorizes a connection between the governance system – that is, country-based social norms and regulatory settlements – framing hybrids and the agency that allows them the discretion required to advance unconventional combinations. It introduces the term hybrid agency to describe this connection and identifies four types: upstream, midstream, downstream, and crosscurrent. Upstream agency draws from the entrepreneurial vision of charismatic founders. It allows hybrids the discretion to advance unconventional logic combinations in unsupportive times, but it also requires them to observe certain dom...
This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call be... more This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call best-practice firms, managed to grow out of backyard workshops. Suggestions for improvement of the programs supporting Small Scale Enterprises (SSEs) emerge from the histories of these firms. From these histories, I derived three areas in which the state could improve its programs: (i) Most of the firms grew by targeting the Brazilian Northeast/North market. Although many of the SSEs were targeting this market, neither the producers' associations nor the state government's marketing programs reflected this. (ii) The government promoted subsidized credit programs for SSEs, but most firms prefer not to borrow from them. (iii) The rubber-sandal sector was spontaneously growing in the state through backward linkages. The state, instead of supporting this already dynamic sector, focused on promoting almost from the growth of the leather-shoe sector through forward linkages. Finally, Cea...
This paper is motivated by a puzzling observation made when conducting a case study of ProCredit ... more This paper is motivated by a puzzling observation made when conducting a case study of ProCredit (PC), a well-known social bank. The HR practices that this social enterprise (SE) adopted to cultivate mission identification were unfavorably impacting its retention rate. Building on prior research and our analysis of the case, we argue the need for SEs to embrace HRM systems that are both mission-identification proactive and employee-retention preemptive. It theorizes that these HRM systems should be attuned to the labor market conditions (e.g., market segmentation and competition for employees) that frame how SEs develop and sustain Person-Organization (P-O) fit. Attuned HRM systems are adapted to labor market conditions and tuned to support SEs’ adeptness to operate against the grain of country and industry norms.
This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call be... more This paper is based on the experience of 17 footwear firms in Ceara. These firms, which I call best-practice firms, managed to grow out of backyard workshops. Suggestions for improvement of the programs supporting Small Scale Enterprises (SSEs) emerge from the histories of these firms.
Social innovations are urgently needed as we confront complex social problems. As these social pr... more Social innovations are urgently needed as we confront complex social problems. As these social problems feature substantial interdependencies among multiple systems and actors, developing and implementing innovative solutions involve the re-negotiating of settled institutions or the building of new ones. In this introductory article, we introduce a stylized three-cycle model highlighting the institutional nature of social innovation efforts. The model conceptualizes social innovation processes as the product of agentic, relational, and situated dynamics in three interrelated cycles that operate at the micro, meso, and macro levels of analysis. The five papers included in this special issue address one or more of these cycles. We draw on these papers and the model to stimulate and offer guidance to future conversations on social innovations from an institutional theory perspective.
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Papers by Silvia Dorado