Social Entrepreneurship as a Cluster Concept: Is a Cricket Farming Start-Up a social enterprise?

This research examines social entrepreneurship in accelerating circular economy. The case company, Entocube, farms and develops farming technology for cricket farming. We examine the company with a cluster concept of social entrepreneurship proposed by Choi and Majumdar (2014) and show that the company fulfills the criteria of a social entrepreneurship.

However, according to the Finnish law, this company is not considered as a social enterprise. The company’s mission is built on sustainability goals, it seeks to create social value, it’s innovation is driven by finding alternative sustainable solutions to global food production and the entrepreneurs are strong advocates of creating environmental, social and economic value.

The results of the study contribute to existing literature on social entrepreneurship definitions and it provides new perspectives on law and regulation around social entrepreneurship.

Authors: Hanna Lehtimäki, Ville-Veikko Piispanen, Subhanjan Sengupta

Published: http://www.asiaentrepreneurshipjournal.com/JAESVolXVIMay2020.pdf