Leandro Sepulveda

Mapping social enterprises: past approaches, challenges and future directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how mapping of social enterprises has been carried out in the past, and the challenges being faced by current studies. It pays particular attention to the definitions used and how these definitions are operationalized. The challenges and future opportunities are examined, and recommendations are made for policy makers commissioning studies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a range of different approaches, namely literature reviews, interviews with key informants, focus group type discussions with social enterprise support providers and researchers in different UK regions (in 2004), and focus group type discussions with policy makers in 2008.Findings – There has been a variety of approaches with different definitions and politically‐driven interpretations of definitions, which limits the ability to compare results. A particular challenge has been in interpreting what is meant by “trading income” or “social” aims. This presents interesting pol...

Out of the shadows? Formalisation approaches to informal economic activity

Recent years have witnessed a shift in the policy debate concerning informal economic activity in the advanced industrial economies away from an emphasis only on deterrence towards the possibilities for encouraging transition into the formal economy. Such formalisation policies have a considerable history in the developing world but to date these have only weakly informed this policy debate. This article reviews the dominant conceptualisations and policy approaches towards the informal economy as these have evolved in the developing world and critically evaluates how these provide a context for the development of new policy approaches in the developed world.

Population superdiversity and new migrant enterprise: The case of London

This article aims to contribute towards an improved empirical and conceptual understanding of the recent dramatic growth in migrant enterprises within London. Taking as its starting point the emergence of increasingly diverse populations within many urban and regional contexts, the article draws upon the concept of ‘superdiversity’ to develop a contextual analysis of the development of new migrant enterprise. In the absence of existing data, the research method combines secondary materials with primary observational and interview data in relation to six new arrival communities. The results provide a description of the changing context for migrant business within London, mapping the emergence of new forms and geographies of enterprise. The analysis is developed through an examination of processes of business start up and growth, and integration into institutional and regulatory frameworks, to demonstrate how elements of ethnicity, migratory status and a range of other variables interplay with wider economic and political contexts to shape diverse new migrant entrepreneurial activities. The article concludes by considering the challenges that this new phase of diverse migrant entrepreneurship presents to existing theoretical conceptualisations of ethnic minority business and the nature of appropriate policy responses.

Urban governance and economic development in the diverse city

This paper examines the discourses and practices surrounding urban governance and cultural diversity in relation to issues of economic development and labour market inclusion. The paper sets out the conceptual and political importance of an approach to the governance of cultural diversity in relation to the urban economy that is embedded within specific historic-spatial settings, and draws together wider institutional contexts with the specificities of urban spaces and places. Through examination of recent changes in the economic governance of London, a global city characterized by a rapidly growing and highly diverse population, the paper demonstrates the conflicts and contradictory tendencies evident in contemporary governance discourses and practice towards diverse populations. The analysis presented demonstrates how governance in London has developed in face of the tensions that exist between the spatially rooted costs and benefits of diversity within the urban economic development process, and the contradictions apparent within a discourse that seeks to combine notions of community cohesion and economic inclusion with neoliberal economic practice and widening levels of inequality.

Realising the Diversity Dividend: Population Diversity and Urban Economic Development

This paper critically examines the increasing use of population diversity as a source of competitive advantage and distinctiveness within policies promoting urban economic development. Rising levels of population diversity are a characteristic feature of many urban areas and this has led to increased policy attempts to realise a so-called ‘diversity dividend’. Yet much of this policy thinking demonstrates a restricted understanding of the nature of the relationships between diverse populations and urban economic change. Through a comprehensive review of existing theoretical and policy practice in relation to population diversity, this paper identifies an often narrow focus upon higher skilled and higher income populations and their needs within much urban economic policy thinking. It is argued that a more critical and wide-ranging approach to the complex relationship between population diversity and city development is required if a more just form of urban economic development is to be achieved.

Enterprising Refugees: Contributions and Challenges in Deprived Urban Areas

The role of enterprise in addressing the problems of deprived urban areas has been an area of emphasis within recent British urban policy. Yet the potential for such policies among increasingly diverse and often highly deprived populations remains poorly understood. This issue is particularly pertinent with respect to refugees where self-employment and enterprise creation is a route pursued by some, yet there remains limited understanding of the role and impact of enterprise within refugee communities and the constraints they face. Drawing upon original primary data, this paper presents findings related to the local impacts of refugee enterprises, the constraints refugees face in starting and running enterprises, and the adequacy of existing business support infrastructure to their needs. The paper concludes with a consideration of the challenges for the future development of business support policy and services for refugees.

‘Social enterprise spin-outs’: an institutional analysis of their emergence and potential

ABSTRACT The recent phenomenon of public sector ‘social enterprise spin-outs’ is examined in order to critically assess their nature and innovative potential as providers of public services. The study utilises a theoretical model of institutional creation and change which incorporates key characteristics of ‘corporate spin-outs’ and ‘university spin-outs’ to facilitate the examination of their public sector counterparts, drawing on interview evidence from 30 newly-established social enterprise providers of health and care services in England. A main contribution of the paper is to provide a conceptual framework which sheds light on the strengths and potential vulnerabilities of social enterprise spin-outs as novel organisations that span the public, private and civil society sectors.

Capabilities for living with paradox in hybrids: the case of innovation in public service spin-out

Processes of change and innovation within organisations have long been recognised as involving tensions between competing interests and cultural logics. This paper contributes to the understanding of such dynamics by focusing on how newly emergent public service spin outs operating with hybrid governance structures, have capabilities that allow them to operate at the interstices between the public, private and non profit sectors. Case study evidence from recent UK public sector spin-out organisations is used to explore how leaders, staff and other stakeholders make sense of and respond to the challenges and tensions involved. Although such tensions can be found in many different organisations, the hybrid nature of social enterprises means that paradoxes and multiple tensions are confronted more explicitly than elsewhere. Three paradoxical tensions are examined in detail: creativity versus resistance to change, democratic versus hierarchical decision making, social mission versus commercial objectives. The...