Beyond Structural Governance: Tension Moments and the Preservation of Core Values in Hybrid Organizations

摘要

This article introduces a subtype of hybrid organizations, namely, democratic enterprises that are characterized by a high degree of stakeholder participation. More specifically, the article looks at enterprises that are active in commercial markets and, at the same time, closely attached to social movements. Second, the research focuses on governance particularities of this kind of organization. Tension moments in the history of three organizations are analyzed to uncover dominant stakeholder groups and their function as preservers of the core values of the organizations. The analysis thereby moves away from a structural perspective to a content-based investigation of governance in hybrid organizations. The conceptual differentiation introduced in this article, the "socio-economic lighthouses" as sub-types of hybrid organizations, enhances the precision of the analysis and allows comparability within the broad field of hybridity.