ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that sustainable and resilient social enterprise ecosystems can only be achieved by creating low power distance and increasing pluralism. It demonstrates how biological evolutionary theory, social network theory, and Weberian conceptions of power can inform our understanding of social enterprise ecosystems in relation to stakeholder networks and relationships, and how power can shape these networks and ecosystem development. The chapter also argues that social entrepreneurship, like social innovation, is a loaded term that is politically and socially constructed, and that dominant stakeholders use their power to develop narratives that compel actors within social enterprise ecosystems to behave in certain ways. Private-macro ecosystems are epitomized by a dichotomy between limited state funding at the national level for social enterprise ecosystems, but significant levels of policy support and/or the creation of legal/regulatory frameworks. The Private-micro type, like its macro counterpart, is exemplified by a lack of state funding and a focus on marketization.
