Social Entrepreneurship Through Collaboration: A Case Study on Sustainable and Inclusive Social Business Development in Japan

This study elucidates social entrepreneurship in social businesses created through collaboration. Although there have been some studies on collaboration based on the perspective of social entrepreneurship in recent years, the micro-level process has not been theoretically clarified. On the other hand, social entrepreneurship research focusing on collaboration has not been sufficiently theorized. In this context, this study aims to conceptualize social entrepreneurship through collaboration based on a case study analysis. Specifically, we conducted a case study of a social business that addresses two social issues: solving the problem of discarded clothing and providing employment opportunities for people with disabilities and people who have difficulty in working. This social business was created through the collaboration of diverse actors and thus is considered suitable for this study. We analyzed the case by dividing the period of collaboration into two stages: the collaborative creation stage and the business development stage. As a result, it was found that the three elements of collective social entrepreneurship (framing, convening, and multivocality) and the formation of a platform with improvisation and openness are important in the collaborative creation stage. On the other hand, in the business development stage, social entrepreneurs’ legitimization behavior and strategic compromises were observed.