MMTC seminar with Karel Deneckere, Bart Henssen, Carla Machado Gonçalves, Marcela Ramirez Pasillas.

MMTC seminar with Karel Deneckere, Bart Henssen, Carla Machado Gonçalves, Marcela Ramirez Pasillas.

Karel is presenting their research project titled:  “Shared purpose? The family business as a sustainable systemic ‘irritator’ in the sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem”.

Within the context of the permacrisis, the notion of Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (SEEs) combines an ecosystem’s approach with the role of businesses in driving society’s transformation towards sustainability. And while embracing a sustainable systemic mindset is recognized as a key component to fulfilling the purpose of sustainability, little is know about how such a shared purpose is developed among stakeholders in SEEs. Starting from the premise that SEEs favor stakeholders with a systems-oriented shared purpose, this paper aims to investigate the role of the family business in inducing a change in the collective mindset of the SEE. This leads to the following question: How does a family business induce a sustainable purpose among SEE-stakeholders? To answer this, we adopt Niklas Luhmann’s systemic theory of organization and, in particular, his concept of irritation; which refers to a process in which an organization is perturbated or confused by its environment and thus stimulated to change. Our analysis focuses on the case of a Belgian family business that seeks to establish a SEE as a part of its sustainability transformation. We have conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 13 local stakeholders. Preliminary results show that the family business takes up the role of system irritator. It sought to ‘irritate’ the local stakeholders by undertaking a series of actions, which resulted form the mapping of common themes and concerns connected to the increased awareness of the permacrisis effects. The themes challenged existing meanings and ideas and raised awareness of the strength of potential joint action. Moreover stakeholders became aware that they were part of an interconnected local ecosystem.

The seminar will run in a hybrid format, you can join in room B6046 or on Zoom