ABSTRACT
Consciousness regarding human impacts on the planet, as well as issues related to social exclusion and poverty, has increased rapidly in recent decades. To make the world more sustainable, various types of initiatives have emerged, including in markets. This chapter focuses on social corporations (i.e., fully-fledged limited companies legally committed to a social mission) governing commons. It aims to assess under which conditions social corporations can govern commons and, by doing so, become commons enterprises. Drawing on Ostrom’s institutional analysis and development framework, three management principles applicable to social corporations are proposed. They are based on the companies’ rules-in-use, the characteristics of the individuals active at each level of rule making, and the social norms they convey. In particular, social corporations governing commons need to be strongly involved in organizing various forms of collective action with their internal or external stakeholders when contributing to the provision and maintenance of the commons. The main argument conveyed is that commons enterprises evolve in a strongly nested environment, a specific condition for effective governance of the commons.
