Social and Commercial Enterprise Interactions: Insights from UK Business Incubators
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University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2021 Social and commercial enterprise interactions: Insights from UK business incubators Browne, Eleanor http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/17297 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. Copyright Statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE INTERACTIONS: INSIGHTS FROM UK BUSINESS INCUBATORS By ELEANOR BROWNE A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Art, Design and Architecture MAY 2021 Acknowledgements This thesis came about from encouragement to creatively explore the interplay between business incubation and social enterprise. For that, I have to thank my Director of Studies, Prof. Mike Phillips and fellow supervisors Prof. Alessandro Aurigi, Prof. Wendy Purcell, Dr Nikolaos Apostolopoulos. Thank you for your constructive support through my PhD journey. Thanks to Prof. Wendy Purcell for seeing potential in my passion for social entrepreneurship and incubation, and the University of Plymouth for their sponsorship. Thanks also to my colleagues at The University of Queensland for their support to complete this thesis during its final stages. My special thanks go to the entrepreneurs that kindly gave their precious time to participate in this study, without which this thesis would not have been possible. I am grateful to the many colleagues in incubation, social entrepreneurship and arts who provided words of wisdom, insight and support that kept the research moving forward. In particular, thanks to Prof. Gideon Maas, Prof. Paul Jones, Dr Birgitte Aga, Dr Jonathan Bone and Christ Hunt. I was fortunate to be part of the supportive EMES PhD community and at the University of Plymouth, the research communities of i-DAT and the Responsible Entrepreneurship & Social Innovation group. On a personal note, the PhD journey is one that has stretched me to new limits. When faced with the challenge of recovering from a life-changing accident part- way through, my partner, John, encouraged me to realise my ambitions. Thank you, John, for always being so supportive, patient and encouraging. This wouldn’t have been possible without you. Author’s Declaration At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the Doctoral College Quality Sub-Committee. Work submitted for this research degree at the University of Plymouth has not formed part of any other degree either at the University of Plymouth or at another establishment. This study was financed by the University of Plymouth. Relevant scientific seminars were regularly attended at which work was often presented. Presentations at conferences: The future of business: designing business incubators for a fair economy. Incubator and Accelerator Network Conference. London, UK: 8-9 February 2018. The role of incubators in improving the long term sustainability of social enterprises. 4th Conference on Systemic Entrepreneurship: An Entrepreneurial Renaissance in Africa. Stellenbosch, South Africa: 18-20 May 2014. Word count of main body of thesis: 53,954 Signed.………………………………………………………………. Date……22.05.2021.…………………………………………… Social and Commercial Enterprise Interactions: Insights from UK Business Incubators Eleanor Browne Abstract With numbers of social enterprises in the UK continuing to grow and innovate, this research responds to the scarcity of information surrounding social and commercial enterprises co-located in business incubators, and asks: how and why do social and commercial enterprises interact in a business incubator? The research provides qualitative insights for a rich understanding of the network dynamics, subtle interactions and influences that occur amongst peer groups of mixed social and commercial enterprises during business incubation. Drawing on social capital theory, the study utilises multiple methods through a practice-led, qualitative methodology. Employing novel observation techniques in business incubation and semi-structured interviews with social enterprise founders, themes of learning, interaction, and identity are explored. The themes are analysed in the context of new evidence on the scale of social and commercial enterprises co-locating in UK business incubators. This thesis contributes to the business incubation literature with an enhanced incubator typology and a narrative of social enterprise in a business incubation context that has not previously been addressed, revealing a complex reality of factors that influence their selection of and engagement in business support, environment, and network. A novel observation technique was adapted from the cultural sector and tested in a business incubator for the first time. Findings revealed that many of the social enterprise startups were adopting a bricolage approach to their sourcing of business support and using a combination of strong and weak ties to strengthen and extend their network and access to knowledge. The importance of their incubatee peers fluctuated depending on the level of maturity of the enterprise. This exploratory study indicates the potential for an emerging research agenda within the real-world mixed ecosystem where social and commercial startups co-exist. While the incubation sector and other startup programs continue to offer specialist social enterprise support, this research concludes that incubators supporting both social and commercial enterprises enable social enterprises to address the significant challenges associated with balancing their commercial and social objectives. In so doing, the outcomes are of importance to policymakers, social enterprise support organisations and incubation managers in the planning and development of business incubation and support for social enterprise. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 1 1.1 Rationale for the study .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Aims and objectives ..................................................................................2 1.3 Research niche .......................................................................................... 3 1.4 Expected contribution .............................................................................. 3 1.5 Delimitations .............................................................................................4 1.6 Defining Terms .........................................................................................4 1.7 Thesis structure ......................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 Literature review ................................................................................ 7 2.1 Chapter introduction ................................................................................ 7 2.2 Social enterprise ....................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Business support .............................................................................. 12 2.2.2 Bricolage ........................................................................................... 25 2.2.3 Networks ......................................................................................... 26 2.2.4 Social-commercial tensions and identity........................................ 29 2.3 Business Incubation ................................................................................ 37 2.3.1 Evolution of incubation .................................................................... 37 2.3.2 Incubator networks ......................................................................... 43 2.3.3 Bringing the research fields together ............................................... 51 2.4 Review summary .................................................................................... 60 Chapter 3 Methodology ..................................................................................... 65 3.1 Chapter Introduction .............................................................................. 65 3.2 Research philosophy and theoretical underpinning .............................. 65 3.3 Research questions ................................................................................. 75 3.3.1 Assumptions ..................................................................................... 77 3.4 Methodology ...........................................................................................78 3.4.1 Iterative research path ..................................................................... 79 3.4.2 Conceptual framing ......................................................................... 81 3.5 Methods .................................................................................................