Cogent Business & Management

Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Social innovation and entrepreneurship represent dynamic approaches to addressing some of the world’s most complex and persistent challenges—including poverty, inequality, climate change, health disparities, and access to education. These approaches involve the development of novel solutions, business models, and organizational forms that generate social and environmental value alongside economic returns. Unlike traditional ventures, social entrepreneurs prioritize systemic change, community empowerment, and long-term sustainability. They often operate in resource-constrained environments, leveraging creativity, collaboration, and deep contextual understanding to drive impact. As these practices evolve, they are reshaping the boundaries of markets, redefining the role of business in society, and challenging conventional metrics of success. The rise of social entrepreneurship signals a paradigm shift—blurring the lines between nonprofit and for-profit models, public and private sectors, and grassroots and institutional action. This Article Collection seeks to explore these trends through a multidisciplinary lens, offering a platform for innovative scholarship at the intersection of enterprise, ethics, and social transformation.

The global landscape is increasingly shaped by urgent societal and environmental challenges that require innovative, cross-sectoral solutions. Social entrepreneurship has emerged as a promising approach for tackling these issues by combining entrepreneurial principles with a strong commitment to social impact. As governments, investors, and civil society actors place greater emphasis on inclusive and sustainable development, there is a growing need for evidence-based insights to guide policy, funding, and practice. However, the academic literature has yet to fully capture the complexity and diversity of social innovation models, particularly in terms of their sustainability, scalability, and interaction with institutional frameworks. Key questions remain underexplored, such as how social ventures can achieve lasting impact, navigate scaling while preserving their mission, and effectively measure intangible outcomes. This Article Collection calls for contributions that address these gaps and deepen our understanding of the structures, strategies, and systems that enable transformative change through entrepreneurship.

We welcome study submissions on related topics, such as:

• Design and evaluation of social innovation frameworks, methods, and indicators
• Scaling strategies: replication, franchising, digital platform models, and their trade-offs
• Hybrid organizational forms: NGOs, B Corps, cooperatives, social enterprise spin-offs
• Finance and funding: catalytic philanthropy, social impact bonds, blended finance models
• Policy and ecosystem analysis: regulatory sandboxes, public-private partnerships, community participation
• Place-based and marginalized entrepreneurship: Indigenous, rural, refugee, urban poor-led ventures
• Social innovation in crises: how entrepreneurs respond to emergencies like pandemics, climate disasters
• Measurement and evaluation: impact metrics for intangible social outcomes, mixed-methods case studies
• Education and capacity building: experiential programs, accelerator/incubator impact on social entrepreneurs
• Technological innovation and inclusion: digital platforms, fintech, agritech, telehealth for underserved populations

This is a non‑exhaustive list, and authors are encouraged to propose complementary approaches aligned with the theme.

Dr. Marcus Goncalves is an international business researcher, focusing most of his work on international entrepreneurship and internationalization modes of entry for multinational enterprises (MNEs), particularly concerning Lusophone-African and frontier markets. A focus point of his research is the impact of local macroeconomic and geopolitical contexts on the internationalization strategies of these MNEs. Recent and ongoing research explores Lusophone-African MNEs and their modes of entry to internationalization within Africa and beyond. Dr. Goncalves has been awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa degree at the Universidade Privada de Angola in Luanda, Angola, for his work on the internationalization of MNEs in Lusophone-African countries. He has published more than forty books by various leading publishers in the US, and many of these have been translated into several languages. He is a frequent contributor to leading magazines and journals in the US, Nigeria, Brazil, and China. He has been very active in the enterprise application integration industry, holding CxO positions in several companies, securing a patent in cloud computing, and authoring several published books and journal articles. Under his leadership as CTO for Virtual Access Networks, a cloud-based technology product was awarded the Best Enterprise Product at Comdex in 2001 and was subsequently acquired by Symantec.

Alexandre Lobo: Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation. Associate Professor with Academic Aggregation / University of Saint Joseph, Macau, SAR China. Founder of the Laboratory of Applied Neurosciences (LAN/USJ). Chief Academic Advisor of the National Research Base of Intelligent Manufacturing Services at Chongqing Technology and Business University, China. PostDoctorate and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leicester - UK. Visiting Associate Professor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) - Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technologies (SIAT). PhD in Engineering, Federal University of Ceará (2010). COO at Centrovita Clinic (2015-2016) Academic Director at Aliança Executive Training Center (2014-2017). Associate Professor and Software Department Chief at University Gregorio Semedo (UGS), Angola (2016). Associate Professor at University Lusiada of Angola (2009-2015). Master in Artificial Intelligence UFC (2007). Electrical Engineering UFC (1996). Has large experience in Project Management, Artificial Intelligence, Bioengineering, and Applied Computer Science, focusing on signal processing. RESEARCH AREAS - Neuroscience applied to management (marketing, leadership, performance) - Business Analytics - Big Data Applications - Theory of Constraints - Project management (frameworks, approaches, risk analysis techniques) - Digital Signal Processing - Bioengineering / Computer-Aided Diagnostic Systems - Artificial Intelligence - Deep Learning - Nonlinear analysis and dynamic systems.

Mateus Cecílio Gerolamo is Associate Professor at the University of São Paulo (USP). Between 2006 and 2007 he participated in a doctorate exchange at the Berlin Institute of Technology (TUB), the same place where he had a postdoctoral experience between 2007 and 2008 in the field of sustainability. He has 20 years of experience in research, teaching and consulting projects. His current areas of interest involve Change Management, Organizational Culture, Leadership, Innovation, Industry 4.0, Digital Transformation and Engineering Education. He was a coordinator of a SME cooperation network in a project financed by SEBRAE / FIESP (2005). He has published books in the areas of Quality Management and Project Management, as well as several published articles, and he is a reviewer of national and international academic journals. He has a CPIM (Certified in Production and Inventory Management) professional certificate by APICS (The Association for Operations Management) and a CTT (Cultural Transformation Tools) certificate by Barrett Values Center.

The Guest Advisors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

For more information about this Collection, contact the Commissioning Editor, Dr. Molly Cole, at molly.cole@taylorandfrancis.com.