This study provides a comparative analysis of 7 cases of social entrepreneurship that have been widely recognized as successful. The article suggests factors associated with successful social entrepreneurship, particularly with social entrepreneurship that leads to significant changes in the social, political, and economic contexts for poor and marginalized groups. It generates propositions about core innovations, leadership and organization, and scaling up in social entrepreneurship that produces societal transformation. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for social entrepreneurship practice, research, and continued development.

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In many developing countries, sustainable social and economic development depends on creating effective local organizations, horizontal linkages across sectors, and vertical linkages that enable grassroots influence on national policy-making. This paper examines the role of "bridging organizations" in creating such institutional arrangements. Examples of bridging organizations and their constituencies of various types (associations, networks, cross-sectoral partnerships, political coalitions, social movements) are described. On the basis of these examples, it is argued that bridging organizations and their constituent networks are shaped by values and visions, their tasks, member diversity, and external threats. The cases suggest that bridging organizations can play key roles in building local organizations, creating horizontal linkages, increasing grassroots influence on policy, and disseminating new visions and organizational innovations. Finally the paper argues that bridging organizations are central players in an emerging "multisectoral" development paradigm that is less subject to the flaws of the still-dominant market-led and state-led paradigms.