Strategic Orientations, Founding Imprints, and Social Enterprise Performance

Abstract

The dual business-social nature is fundamental to social enterprises. Drawing upon the strategic orientation arguments, we propose competitor orientation and social orientation as the strategic choices the dual nature of social enterprises manifests and relate the effects of both orientations to their economic and social performance. We further posit that consistency between founding conditions and current strategic behaviors importantly influences social enterprise outcomes. We delineate how different founding imprints, social and founder, interact with strategic orientations in affecting social enterprise performance. Results based on a sample of 230 social enterprises in China show that compatible imprints and strategic orientations enhance performance, and vice versa. Our findings advance understanding of how the dual business-social nature of social enterprises manifests in market behaviors and how an integration of the past and the present can provide a more refined picture of social enterprises.