ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the concept of ecosystem before explaining in detail the two components of ecosystems supportive of social entrepreneurship: key stakeholders and the environmental forces that affect the ecosystem. Key stakeholders discussed in the chapter are: intermediary organisations; public authorities; funders; universities and other training providers; incubators and accelerators; and businesses. The environmental forces affecting the ecosystem are divided into context-level and ecosystem-specific forces and the chapter describes in more detail those that have the strongest influence on social entrepreneurship. Once having explored the different components of social entrepreneurship ecosystems, the chapter summarises the characteristics of such ecosystems based on their stage of development: mature, developing, or emerging.
