Collective capabilities of community organisations: a social entrepreneurial orientated approach to place regeneration
Neil Powe, Danny OswellPurpose
Faced with structural decline and significant constraints to regeneration, this paper aims to explore the collective capabilities of community organisations to the process of regenerating dysfunctional local property markets. While previous research has been insightful, it has been under conceptualised. Community organisations are conceptualised as providing a social entrepreneurial orientation which enhances collective capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
A case study of Dumfries High Street (South-West Scotland) provides practical illustration, combining desk-based research, key actor interviews and town centre surveys.
Findings
Combining theory and practice, a community development organisation in Dumfries has adopted a social entrepreneurial orientation to find new uses for long-term vacant high street properties. The Dumfries case is an extreme/deviant case in terms of the scale of the mission and the short/medium-term collective outcomes for the High Street. Illustrating community organisation collective capabilities, these outcomes were because of a collaborative process originating within an artists-based community organisation, whose catalyst leadership led to the formation of the community development organisation. In terms of long-term building regeneration, however, the case illustrates a more typical slow and incremental regeneration.
Originality/value
Social entrepreneurial research has gradually matured from a focus on heroic entrepreneurs to organisations. Extending to a place mission level, the collaborative orientation in Dumfries illustrates the potential for successful organisations to provide a catalyst for further “spin-off” organisations/activities, each with their own collective capabilities for dealing with what might be otherwise viewed as intractable challenges. Future research at the mission level may further highlight the importance of this alternative level of analysis.