Inside the hybrid organization: An organizational level view of responses to conflicting institutional demands

This paper explores organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. An inductive comparative case study of four social enterprises that scaled their organization while embedded in competing social welfare and commercial logics suggests that, when facing competing organizational templates imposed by their institutional environment, organizations attempt to strike a balance at the organizational level by adopting a combination of intact practices from both logics instead of balancing at the practice level by resorting to strategies such as decoupling. In addition, we find an important legitimating effect of founding origins: in a sector where the social welfare logic is ultimately predominant, organizations originating from the social sector benefited from an a priori legitimacy capital, which allowed them to borrow freely from both social and commercial practices. In contrast, organizations emanating from the commercial sector, suffering from an a priori legitimacy deficit, had to display their conformity with social templates in order to secure their acceptance in the field and therefore adopted predominantly social practices. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of hybrid organizations and point to the founding origins of organizations as an important determinant of the pattern of hybridization strategies.

Inside the hybrid organization: An organizational level view of responses to conflicting institutional demands

ESSEC Working paper. Document de Recherche ESSEC / Centre de recherche de l'ESSEC ISSN : 1291-9616 WP 1101This paper explores organizational responses to conflicting institutional demands. An inductive comparative case study of four social enterprises that scaled their organization while embedded in competing social welfare and commercial logics suggests that, when facing competing organizational templates imposed by their institutional environment, organizations attempt to strike a balance at the organizational level by adopting a combination of intact practices from both logics instead of balancing at the practice level by resorting to strategies such as decoupling. In addition, we find an important legitimating effect of founding origins: in a sector where the social welfare logic is ultimately predominant, organizations originating from the social sector benefited from an a priori legitimacy capital, which allowed them to borrow freely from both social and commercial practices. In contrast, organizations emanating from the commercial sector, suffering from an a priori legitimacy deficit, had to display their conformity with social templates in order to secure their acceptance in the field and therefore adopted predominantly social practices. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of hybrid organizations and point to the founding origins of organizations as an important determinant of the pattern of hybridization strategies

Evaluer l’impact social d’une entreprise sociale : points de repère

Cet article propose des points de repère essentiels à la compréhension des enjeux de l’évaluation de l’impact social pour les entreprises sociales. Il fait état, notamment, des différents types d’objectifs poursuivis. Il présente les grandes familles de méthodes, ainsi que leurs limites et leurs atouts respectifs. Il accompagne aussi la réflexion relative au choix d’une méthode en proposant d’aborder l’évaluation de l’impact social comme un processus contextualisé, motivé par des objectifs et des questions précises, formulés par les acteurs eux-mêmes.This article covers a few key points indispensable for understanding the issues involved in measuring the social impact of social enterprises. In particular, it discusses the different types of objectives pursued during an evaluation. It presents the main groups of methods as well as their respective limitations and advantages. In addition, the authors suggest that measuring the social impact is a process with a particular context, motivated by particular objectives and precise questions, defined by the people involved, and based on particular methods.Este artículo propone los puntos de referencia esenciales para la comprensión de los asuntos de la evaluación del impacto social para las empresas sociales. Establece, particularmente, los diferentes tipos de objetivos perseguidos a través de la evaluación. El artículo presenta las principales corrientes metodológicas, y sus límites y ventajas respectivos. Acompaña también la reflexión sobre la elección de un método, proponiendo primero abordar la evaluación del impacto social como un proceso contextualizado, motivado por los objetivos y las demandas evaluativas específicas, expresadas por los propios actores, al servicio de los cuáles algunos métodos pueden ser movilizados

Changer d’échelle : Vers une typologie des stratégies d’expansion géographique des entreprises sociales

Développer des initiatives sociales réussies sur de nouveaux territoires constitue un enjeu stratégique important pour les entrepreneurs sociaux. Au travers de l’étude approfondie des stratégies d’expansion géographique de vingt et une organisations à vocation sociale, cet article propose une typologie des modèles de développement utilisés par ces organisations, identifiant quatre modèles, caractérisés par des degrés de contrôle et d’ancrage local divers : développement par « dissémination », développement par « essaimage souple », développement par « essaimage en franchise » et développement « centralisé ». Des porteurs de projet au financement, des liens juridiques et financiers à la gouvernance, les caractéristiques stratégiques et organisationnelles des différents modèles sont présentées. Les auteurs identifient également les principaux déterminants stratégiques qui permettent de guider les entrepreneurs sociaux dans leur choix pour l’un ou l’autre de ces modèles.Developing successful social initiatives in new places is an important strategic issue for social entrepreneurs. Through an in-depth study of the geographical expansion strategies of 21 organizations with social objectives, this article proposes a typology of the growth models used by these organizations. It identifies four models characterized by different degrees of local control and embeddedness: growth through “dissemination,” growth through “flexible replication,” growth through “franchising,” and “centralized” growth. The strategic and organizational characteristics of the different models are presented—from project leaders to project financing and from legal and financial relationships to governance. The authors also identify the main strategic factors that can influence social entrepreneurs in their choice of models

Cognitive Training for Visuospatial Processing in Children Aged 5½ to 6 Years Born Very Preterm With Working Memory Dysfunction

Importance Compared with term-born peers, children born very preterm generally perform poorly in executive functions, particularly in working memory and inhibition. By taking advantage of neuroplasticity, computerized cognitive training of working memory in those children could improve visuospatial processing by boosting visual inhibition via working memory. Objective To evaluate the long-term effect of cognitive working memory training on visuospatial processing in children aged 5½ to 6 years born very preterm who have working memory impairment. Design, Setting, and Participants This multicenter (18 French university hospitals), open-label randomized clinical trial with 2 parallel groups (EPIREMED) was conducted from November 2016 to April 2018, with the last follow-up during August 2019. Eligible children from the EPIPAGE 2 cohort were aged 5½ to 6 years, were born between 24 and 34 weeks’ gestation, and had a global intelligence quotient greater than 70 and a working memory index less than 85. Data were analyzed from February to December 2020. Intervention Children were randomized 1:1 to standard care management and a working memory cognitive training program (Cogmed software) for 8 weeks (25 sessions) (intervention) or to standard management (control). Main Outcomes and Measures The primary outcome was the visuospatial index score from the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, 4th Edition. Secondary outcomes were working memory, intellectual functioning, executive and attention processes, language skills, behavior, quality of life, and schooling. Neurobehavioral assessments were performed at inclusion and after finishing training at 6 months (intermeditate assessment; secondary outcomes) and at 16 months (final assessment; primary outcome). Results There were 169 children randomized, with a mean (SD) age of 5 years 11 months (2 months); 91 (54%) were female. Of the participants, 84 were in the intervention group (57 of whom [68%] completed at least 15 cognitive training sessions) and 85 were in the control group. The posttraining visuospatial index score was not different between groups at a mean (SD) of 3.0 (1.8) months (difference, −0.6 points; 95% CI, −4.7 to 3.5 points) or 12.9 (2.6) months (difference, 0.1 points; 95% CI, −5.4 to 5.1 points). The working memory index score in the intervention group significantly improved from baseline at the intermediate time point (difference, 4.7 points; 95% CI, 1.2-8.1 points), but this improvement was not maintained at the final assessment. Conclusions and Relevance This randomized clinical trial found no lasting effect of a cognitive training program on visuospatial processing in children aged 5½ to 6 years with working memory disorders who were born very preterm. The findings suggest that this training has limited long-term benefits for improving executive function. Transient benefits seemed to be associated with the developmental state of executive functions. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0275779