The comparisons on incubation between social and business enterprise: Same, different or both?

This study aims to compare the similarities and differences between business enterprise incubation and social enterprise incubation, and propose a more inclusive incubation framework. To understand the selection of social enterprise incubation and the business support, a semi-structured interview was employed in this study. There were 9 interviewees, 4 of which were the managers of social enterprise incubation and the other 5 were social enterprise investors. MAXQDA10 is employed as data analysis tool. This study found that on the selection of social enterprise incubation, it is primarily "social mission" and "economic goal", followed by "customer oriented" and "resource oriented". Business support was seen as a continuum from "refusal" to "strong intervention". Based on the consensus of the double bottom line, "company" and "customization" may be used in incubation support. On the contribution to theory, this study proposes the trait of social enterprise incubation is mainly the balance of the double bottom line. On the contribution to practice, this study revises the incubation framework, and recommends that social enterprise incubators may set aside the mindset of business enterprise incubation and develop the potential social enterprise market.