Posted by:
Steve Dubb
Paper submissions due Jan. 30, 2009
The EMES Network owes its name to its research program on “the emergence of social enterprises in Europe”. More generally, it studies social enterprise and related forms of economic organization which variously go by such names as the third sector, the social economy, the civil and solidarity-based economy ("e’conomie solidaire"), the non-profit sector, and voluntary organizations. Created in 1996, the Network organized the 1st EMES International Conference, titled “Social Enterprise. A comparative perspective,” at the University of Trento in 2001. Now, eight years later, EMES is holding its second international conference (July 1-4, 2009), once again in Trento, Italy.
Researchers worldwide are encouraged to send their submissions. All abstracts for paper sessions should be prepared in A4 MS Word format (Times New Roman, size 12 fonts, single-spaced) and be no more than 500 words in length. Authors’ full title, name, address, organization and e-mail address should be included at the end of the abstract. The Conference also welcomes PhD students interested in sharing their research ideas with the wider research community through PhD paper sessions. The aim of these sessions is to provide a specialized space to PhD students. Abstracts for PhD paper sessions should be prepared in A4 MS Word format (Times New Roman, size 12 font, single-spaced) and be no more than 300 words in length. Students’ full name, university, address, e-mail address, thesis title and main research topics should be included in the abstract. Advanced PhD students may prefer to submit abstracts for regular paper sessions.
The title of the communications and abstracts in English should be submitted (by e-mail only) by January 30, 2009 to the following e-mail address: emesconference@euricse.eu. Contributors whose applications are accepted will be notified by February 28, 2009. Final papers should be submitted by May 30, 2009. For more information about the Conference, please contact emesconference@euricse.eu.
All topics related to social enterprises and social entrepreneurship are welcome. Nonetheless, the conference will mainly focus on:
1) Conceptual aspects
2) Legal frameworks and public policies
3) Theoretical analysis across disciplines
4) Innovation, entrepreneurship and social enterprise
5) Management issues
6) Governance models
Further detail on each of these themes is included below:
Theme 1: Conceptual aspects
Definitions of social enterprise at the international level vary considerably, and a number of authors use the notions of social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and social entrepreneur interchangeably. This complexity can be ascribed to the country-specific nature of this phenomenon, which is itself linked to the various sociopolitical cultures that prevail at the national level. Contributors are encouraged to focus on conceptual aspects with the goal of identifying the main characteristic of social enterprises and promoting comprehensive conceptual frameworks that can overcome idiosyncratic national features.
Theme 2: Legal frameworks and public policies
From a legal point of view, social enterprises are still poorly or not acknowledged at all in a considerable number of countries; this is particularly true in transition and developing countries. But despite this
overall lack of regulations, some interesting practices can be found in various countries of all continents, where innovative legal frameworks and support policies specifically designed for social enterprises have been introduced. Contributions should focus on relevant legal aspects and public schemes that can play a role in either favoring or jeopardizing the development of
social enterprises.
Theme 3: Theoretical analysis across disciplines
Whereas traditional theoretical studies have so far paid little attention to the role played by organizations that pursue goals other than profit-maximization in promoting the interests of stakeholders other than
investors, innovative contributions have been provided by scholars who question the main assumptions of mainstream economic theory. There is a still a need for contributions seeking to synthesize the main
findings of recent theoretical developments, including for instance the social, political and economic rationale of social enterprises and social entrepreneurship as well as their competitive advantages/limitations in comparison to alternative institutional settings (i.e. public and for-profit enterprises).
Theme 4: Innovation, entrepreneurship and social enterprise
Social enterprises have emerged throughout the world as innovative organizations, both in terms of services supplied and processes adopted. They are engaged in a number of fields of activity that are most often related to both market and government failures. Whereas social service provision and work integration are being developed in many regions, news fields of activity, such as fair trade, culture and environmental services are increasingly explored and are witnessing innovative practices of social entrepreneurship. In some developing or transition countries, the provision of general-interest services (such as water, electricity and gas supply) appears to play a crucial role. Contributions may focus on the social innovation processes brought about by social enterprises and social entrepreneurship in their various fields of activity as well as on the specific characteristics of the services supplied. Analysis of early-stage entrepreneurship in the creation of these innovative services is also encouraged.
Theme 5: Management issues
Specific management theories and strategies, tailor-made for social enterprises and social entrepreneurship, have been developed in recent years in order to exploit the specific features that distinguish these
enterprises from traditional firms. Contributions are most welcome to foster the dialogue around management issues (i.e. human resources management, marketing and communication, etc.) as well as to discuss tools with the goal of improving the performance of social enterprises.
Theme 6: Governance models
In social enterprises, ownership rights and control power can be assigned to a single category of stakeholders (users, workers, or donors) or to more than one category at a given time - hence the existence of both single-stakeholder membership models and multi-stakeholder membership models. In some regions of the world, the state plays a central role in fostering social enterprise. In the latter the question of its influence in the governance cannot be avoided. Contributions are expected to focus on governance models for social enterprises, including partnership structures open to external stakeholders.
The above list of themes is not exhaustive. Submissions that analyze other topical issues are also welcome (for instance, interactions between social enterprises and other third sector organizations such as cooperatives, non-profit organizations and foundations).