Strengthening business ecosystems by bridging social capital: An approach for social entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurship has been defined as the generation of new ventures involving economic, social and environmental value. In that sense, social impact is aimed through the introduction of products, services, technologies or processes targeted for the improvement of the well-being of the poor, access to education, health services, water, energy, among others. However, social entrepreneurs usually lack the resources to sustain their ventures; thus, inter-firm alliances are often sought for resource provision. Although such alliances are a step towards the achievement of sustainability regarding the new social venture, the main argument of this study relays upon goal alignments among all the pertaining partners towards creating community value through a business ecosystem. Then, contributions of all actors involved could be focused around visions, ideas, volunteering, and resources exchanges. This study presents a conceptual model based on the development of a business ecosystem through bridging social capital with diverse key players (e. g. universities, government, Non-Governmental Organizations, Multinational Corporations, or institutions) in order to assure resource provision for social firms. The model proposes that greater transfer of resources among the players strengthens the sustainability of the new social venture.