ABSTRACT

This chapter tests statistically, at the enterprise level, the relevance of the typology of social enterprise (SE) models on the basis of a dataset resulting from a field survey carried out on social enterprises in more than 40 countries across the world. It presents the methodology adopted for the empirical survey that is at the very heart of this statistical work. The chapter describes the key dimensions of social enterprise that were captured and the methodological choices that were made for this survey, which was carried out on 721 social enterprises operating in various world regions. It presents the hierarchical cluster analysis that the authors carried out on the basis of such an outstanding dataset, before discussing the empirical results obtained, especially regarding the existence of four theorised SE models. Finally, the chapter concludes with comparisons between the various regions to better apprehend specificities of SE models in their respective contexts.