ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a multilevel network model that integrates and extends the frameworks recently put forth by Richard Lang and M. Fink and R. Richter. It discusses the research methods and data collection. The chapter provides an overview of the methodology and research design, the selection of cases, the applied methods, and data processing and analytical methods. It presents the several single case analyses explaining how the social enterprises mobilize the resources and reconfigure them to make a change. The chapter describes the hierarchical networks of social enterprises and analyzed how resources are obtained from bonding, bridging, and vertical social capital embedded in the network contacts. Unemployment and recession have intensified the importance of fostering self-employment and creating opportunities for generating sustainable income for small family-run farms. In the Austrian case the regional government has decided to subsidize the development and maintenance of a network of rural open technology labs.
