Mission
accomplished? An empirical research on the link between Social Co-operative
Enterprises’ strategic orientation and performance
Dr. Niki Glaveli1 and Dr. Konstantinos Geormas2
1 Academic Staff, Division of Business
Administration, Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, nglaveli@auth.gr
The Social Co-operative
Enterprise (SCE) is a relative new type institution of the third sector which
despite its nonprofit character, is treated as a fully entrepreneurial entity.
SCEs are called to integrate business principles into their functioning and
adopt entrepreneurial behaviors in the provision of social goods and/or
services. However, only a handful of researchers have so far investigated this
type of behavior in social enterprises. This paper seeks to contribute to a further
understanding of the strategic aspect of SCEs’ entrepreneurial behavior and
expand the current knowledge on the link between SCEs’ strategic orientation,
vision and performance. Using data from Greek SCEs, called KOINSEPs, we
examined the mediating roles of commercial and social effectiveness (as well as
direct associations) with regard to strategic orientation (SO) effects
on profitability. More precisely, based on an extensive literature review, SO is
conceptualized as a three dimensional construct consisting of the product,
customer and market/competitor aspects. The findings designate that the
customer orientation dimension, defined as an organization’s commitment to
understand and satisfy customer/users preferences, plays the most vital role in
enhancing SCEs effectiveness and subsequently profitability. Further, the
development of a clear and shared (among the SCE members) vision has positive
direct associations with SCEs performance (social effectiveness and
profitability). We conclude with a discussion of directions for future research
and implications for theory and practice.
