Many immigrants are either underemployed or unemployed in Lapland, and indeed many of them are long-term unemployed. This unemployment rate among immigrants varies from region to region in Finland. As a disadvantaged group in the labour market, sometimes they are pushed into establishing a business; however, their motivation to do so is weak, due to a lack of market understanding along with other socio-cultural factors. As an alternative way of doing business and gaining access to the labour market, social enterprise could be another instrument for employment. We studied whether Social Entrepreneurship (SE) represents an exceptional mindset among the group. SE invention for this group of people is a less-studied area of research in Finland compared to many other European countries such as Sweden and Scotland. Our research examines whether SE could be a way to facilitate the integration of immigrants, particularly immigrant women, who are at risk of marginalisation, into the Finnish labour market in the near future, with Lapland as a case study. We analyse the factors that can be taken into account to enable immigrants to conduct their business under the guidance of a social enterprise in the northern part of Finland, thereby shaping their employability for the future.

Jobseekers, considered as long-term unemployed in Lapland, are under the risk of social exclusion. This group of people is lacking ways for identifying the advantages of relevant networking opportunities in the society with respect to access to the labour market. In particular, this article explores the opportunities for facilitating and enhancing public services in customers’ demands and promoting employment services during the transition of the target group via establishing social enterprise (SE)/cooperatives (coops). The research focuses on the concept of coproduction and network theory for supporting social innovation in the Arctic city. The objective of this explorative research is to analyze the combine recourses of coproduction and network modelling for achieving the necessary sociopolitical determinants for SE/coop to function as an alternative instrument for employment in Lapland. This research article suggests a sustainable social network model for identifying collective social beliefs and values for hindering long-term unemployment by operating SE/coops successfully in the sparsely populated Arctic region.

One tendency among co-operatives is to establish co-operatives not only for the purposes of business but also for the purposes to teach collaboration practices in business education. This study investigates and compares traditional business co-operatives and educational co-operatives as the environments of entrepreneurial learning communities. The data, which consist of interviews with members of both types of co-operatives, have been analyzed using the content analysis method. The main outcomes show that in both types of co-operatives sense of community and creativity are manifested as the parts of the entrepreneurial learning process. When considering if the learning processes were manifested as single- and double-loop learning – and the development of collective creativity – some differences were observed between educational co-operatives and business co-operatives.

Typically, creativity and institutionalism are not closely related. However, when talking about cooperatives (or co-ops), the authors introduce, in addition to the paradoxical tension between institutionalism and creativity, perspectives and cases in which institutionalism is a channel for creative production. People often associate cooperatives with institutional characteristics because of their collective manifestations in history, such as agricultural or financial cooperatives. Furthermore, co-ops typically consist of several entrepreneurs working under the same "umbrella" organization. However, according to the outcomes of the chapter, cooperatives could also be a source of, or at least a channel for, contemporary creativity. In this chapter, the authors introduce Finnish cases in which the planners and designers of creative industries have established cooperatives successfully. These cooperatives have already created sustainable paths in their business activities to provide younger and youthful entrepreneurs with business possibilities and at least modest profitability. They also consider neo-cooperatives and light cooperatives, which provide services to cooperatives and allow them to focus on their main area of creating and innovating new business. Creativity cannot flow if there is no time or will to secure large investments and financing, or if the marketing and brand-building are problematic and the decision-making slow. Cooperatives could provide a suitable arena for innovative and creative business if there is a will to change and renew the idea of cooperative institutions, law, and practice.

One tendency among co-operatives is to establish co-operatives not only for the purposes of business but also for the purposes to teach collaboration practices in business education. This study investigates and compares traditional business co-operatives and educational co-operatives as the environments of entrepreneurial learning communities. The data, which consist of interviews with members of both types of co-operatives, have been analyzed using the content analysis method. The main outcomes show that in both types of co-operatives sense of community and creativity are manifested as the parts of the entrepreneurial learning process. When considering if the learning processes were manifested as single- and double-loop learning – and the development of collective creativity – some differences were observed between educational co-operatives and business co-operatives.