The Social Case as a Business Case: Marking Sense of Social Entrepreneurship from an Ordonomic

This article discusses how the theoretical perspective of ordonomics provides a frameworkfor better understanding and advancing the practice of social entrepreneurship.From an ordonomic perspective, the concept of social entrepreneurship offers a semanticinnovation (at the ideas level) whose potential for social innovation can be fullyreaped only if it is used as a heuristics for social structural change (on the institutionslevel). Social entrepreneurs recognize relevant social problems, interpret them as anentrepreneurial challenge, and succeed in turning what was a social case into a businesscase in a broader sense. Using the real-life example of a successful eco-social entrepreneur,the article demonstrates that such win-win solutions can be reconstructed as thesophisticated management of social dilemmas. It sketches a strategy matrix for the practiceof social entrepreneurship and distinguishes four paradigmatic strategies social entrepreneurscan employ to create win-win scenarios by changing the rules of the gameto overcome undesirable social dilemmas. The article concludes by discussing socialentrepreneurship in the context of new governance processes and highlights key similaritiesand differences to the concept of corporate citizenship.