Volume 4 Issue 2/3 ( September 2017 )

Pages 38-49

Social or Business’ or ‘Social and Business’: Problematique of the Hybrid Structure of Community-based Ecotourism in Cambodia

Rikio Kimura

[ABSTRACT ]

This ethnographic study examines the organizational tensions of a community-based ecotourism in Cambodia by employing the theoretical framework of the hybrid structure of social enterprises. It elucidates the tensions between business and the local culture, between business and the natural environment, and between business and inclusive governance. It suggests that there need to be constant efforts to strike a balance between these tensions in order to maintain community stability, foster social inclusion, promote environmental conservation, sustain business viability, and counteract the isomorphic pressures to conform to the market economy.

Keywords:
Cambodia, community-based ecotourism, social enterprise, social capital, Karl Polanyi,
 
institutional isomorphism, mission drift, ethnography