ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the lack of a typology of social enterprise (SE) models that would combine three key strengths. These include: it would be rooted in sound theoretical grounds, allowing for a wide diversity of SE models within each country and across countries. These also include: it would be supported by strong empirical evidence, provided by statistical exploitation of the data resulting from a survey carried out in the same way in many countries; and it would highlight the specificities of Latin America in a worldwide perspective. The chapter proposes a theoretical framework to identify a few major SE models, relying on two building blocks: “principles of interest”; and “resource mixes”. It describes the key dimensions to be captured and the methodological choices that were at the heart of a unique survey carried out in 2015 and 2016 on 721 social enterprises in some 40 countries across the world, in the framework of the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models Project.
