Position paper: A Scentiss Framework

Why do some examples of social and community-based entrepreneurship (SCE) become successful in creating societal impact while remaining financially sustainable, whereas others struggle to stay afloat? Scentiss examines how SCEs relate to the (local) external environment and community they are embedded in. By mapping out the elements and actors that drive social entrepreneurship in a certain local area or community, policy makers and entrepreneurs can better understand which resources are strongly represented and which are weaker and require attention.

As part of the Scentiss project, this working paper presents a framework based on an extensive review of about 169 academic research papers on the literature surrounding social entrepreneurial ecosystems and social impact scaling, as well as input from the Scentiss consortium members. The framework integrates the established Community Capitals Framework with the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Framework that have been developed in recent years. The framework can be broken down into 26 community capital elements and 3 groups of ecosystem actors, offering social entrepreneurial ecosystem builders tools to help navigate SCEs to increase their social impact.

Our new position paper serves on the one hand as a glossary by providing a generic overview of concepts, phenomena and boundaries that are captured and discussed in the Scentiss project. On the other hand, this paper offers the overall framework that forms the basis for our further research on social entrepreneurial ecosystems typologies.

Check out the downloads section for the full paper.