Social ventures: exploring entrepreneurial exit strategies with a structuration lens

Abstract

Social venturing is an emerging field of research for entrepreneurship scholars. The question of how these firms differ from more traditional entrepreneurial firms is an important, yet underexplored, question. In particular there is a dearth of theory driven research focusing on the entrepreneurial exit of social ventures. Drawing upon structuration theory as our lens, we explore exit for social ventures in the discovery, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities. Our discussion is illustrated with rich examples from the stories of exit decisions by the founders of Tom's of Maine, The Body Shop, Patagonia, Ben & Jerry's and New Belgium Brewing Company. We offer a foundation for future empirical exploration of entrepreneurial exit strategies of social ventures.