Getting Up After Falling Down: A Tale of Three Communities

Abstract

Drawing on rich longitudinal data covering a period of more than 15 years, our study highlights specific affective and non-financial components of the entrepreneurial process in the context of community- based entrepreneurship (CBE). Without an understanding of the concrete role of the community in exit, re-entry, and growth, community members of such ventures may lack the awareness and resources to engage in a perennial venture. Despite the importance of community ventures in fostering economic development and growth, little is known about the antecedents, context and processes of entrepreneurial exit and re-entry in the realm of CBE. We, therefore, address this gap through an in-depth case study of a community-based initiative in the Cauca region of Colombia. We investigate how three distinct cultural communities reach successful collaboration after overcoming an initial organizational death. Our findings illustrate that exit was the result of several factors including the lack of a strong sense of community identity. However, over time the community members developed a solid sense of belonging, trust and reliance as they tackled difficult events such as exit and market struggles on one hand and engaged in positive community building events on the other hand. Moreover, the sense of belonging that the three different communities developed are comparable to a unique extended family business, whereby the non-financial aspects of the enterprise meet the communities’ affective needs. We term this affective component “community socio-emotional wealth”.