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In today’s multisector configurations, there is little clarity about whether and how public and private subsidies influence social enterprises’ pursuit of financial stability. We address the strategic role of donors in the social-business life cycle whereby social enterprise start-ups rely on subsidies, while mature social enterprises strive for independence from donors. To address the “missing middle,” we develop a typology of subsidy instruments and an intermediary signaling model to clarify how subsidies shape the evolution of outcomes for social enterprises. We argue that source variation matters for certain instruments like corporate intangibles and governmentally subsidized credit guarantees, which trigger crowding-in effects and attract commercial partners, while preventing perverse crowding-out effects, such as soft budget constraints. To illustrate this commercialization story, we draw upon a microfinance case study, demonstrating how public and private donors can induce crowding-in and crowding-out effects. In short, our subsidy typology helps unpack the signals that public and private subsidies send to commercial funders of social enterprises and how they shape the path to future financial independence., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

For more than twenty years, Bernard Lietaer, one of the pioneers of,and most emblematic leading thinkers on complementary currencies,analyzed and theorized monetary systems. Building on his historicalexpertise and contemporary experiences, he advocated monetaryplurality and the need to establish different currencies at variousscales for economic, social, and environmental purposes. In thisconversation, Bernard provides his insights on changes in themanagement of complementary currencies that he personally witnessedand accompanied, and expertly comments the growth of cryptocurrenciesand blockchain technology, and the challenges they pose.

Crowdfunding has created new opportunities for poor microentrepreneurs. One crucial question is the impact that the purpose of a loan—either business investment or basic necessities—may have on the success of a campaign. Investigating a prosocial crowdfunding platform, we find that loans taken out to meet basic needs are funded faster than business-related loans, especially for small amounts, which can be explained by the prosocial motivation of microlenders. Moreover, female microborrowers are funded faster than men, especially for basic needs loans. Our results therefore suggest an ethical blind spot, since prosocially motivated crowdlenders may unintentionally end up producing adverse effects, replicating gender role by supporting women to a lesser extent when they apply for business loans. This finding expands prosocial motivational theory in ethical finance., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This paper explores challenges a consumer food cooperative must address to combine social inclusion and embeddedness in its urban environment with the food quality standards it targets. While the difficulty in making alternative food networks (AFNs) socially accessible is well documented, little is known about organizational practices that foster inclusion in AFNs. Our research—based on over 100 participant observations of meetings held at the cooperative and on food activities with members of community organizations—has generated insight on how a participative process—through collective decisions, knowledge exchanges and workslot commitments—could facilitate or restrain social inclusion. Our results suggest that promotion of the value of equality for the largest number is hindered by differences in food, material and consumer cultures between cooperative members and non-members. The value of equality for the largest number is pragmatically applied through social inclusion regarding food supply and voluntary work participation., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) generally aim at improving the access of the poor to financial services while at the same time being financially sustainable. But what do we know about how MFIs reach and combine these two goals? We carry out a systematic review of close to 170 papers discussing the determinants of the financial and social performance of MFIs. The review shows that the most important determinants addressed in the literature are MFI characteristics (size, age and type of organization), their funding sources, the quality of organizational governance and the MFIs’ external context such as macro-economic, institutional and political conditions. The evidence on these issues is rather mixed. Moreover, the direction of the relationship between these drivers and MFI performance depends on the context, particularly the country-specific context. Finally, there is a lack of consensus in the literature on the measurement of financial and social performance. Due to the complexity of the concept, we argue that social performance should only be assessed by using a multidimensional perspective. This can be done either by applying recent and holistic social performance measures such as the SPI4, or at least by using a combination of proxies, such as outreach, gender and rural measures., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The commons is a concept increasingly used with the promise of creating new collective wealth. In the aftermath of the economic and financial crises, finance and money have been criticized and redesigned to serve the collective interest. In this article, we analyze three types of complementary currency (CC) systems: community currencies, inter-enterprise currencies, and cryptocurrencies. We investigate whether these systems can be considered as commons. To address this question, we use two main theoretical frameworks that are usually separate: the “new commons” in organization studies and the “common good” in business ethics. Our findings show that these monetary systems and organizations may be considered as commons under the “common good” framework since they promote the common interest by creating new communities. Nevertheless, according to the “new commons” framework, only systems relying on collective action and self-management can be said to form commons. This allows us to suggest two new categories of commons: the “social commons”, which fit into both the “new commons” and the “common good” frameworks, and the “commercial commons”, which fit the “common good” but not the “new commons” framework. This research advances a new conceptualization of the commons and of the ethical implications of complementary currencies., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

ContextThe provision of food from agricultural inputs to distribution, contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and exert an important pressure on natural resources. Reforming food systems towards greater sustainability is therefore essential for a transition towards a low-carbon and resource efficient society.ObjectivesThis project aimed to explore the role of the transformation of motivations, values and visions in the transition of the agri-food system and specifically of the instrumentality of hybrid governance arrangements—arrangements in which both actors of the mainstream agri-food system and actors fromniche/grassroots innovations participate. We identified three transition pathways for which we formulate recommendations: (1) change led by grassroots innovations, (2) change led by mainstream actors and (3) hybrid arrangements.Conclusions Our research has demonstrated that 1) successful in-depth transformation depends on the embeddedness of initiatives in the broader social network of organisations experimenting and learning on in-depth lifestyle changes for sustainable agri-food systems. 2) the observed mismatches between the practices of local producers and those of large-scale retailers and fast food chains could be dealt with by moving back the sourcing and marketing of local goods, decision-making power to the level of the store, fostering so a higher degree of individual initiative and institutional entrepreneurship by store managers and employees in reconfiguring new practices .3) Overall, our analysis confirms that in order to increase the transformative potential of agri-food system initiatives, hybrid governance arrangements between different types of actors need to be established. They should aim at allowing more voice for marginalized interests upholding ethical values currently missing in the conventional supply chains, soas to foster the dissemination of a more systemic ethics of food system reform., BR/121/A5, info:eu-repo/semantics/published