L’usage du business plan dans des fonds sociaux : les apports du rôle de médiateur

This article analyzes the use of a business plan in a decision-making context within social venture capital funds embedded in a complex institutional environment. Previous researches consider the business plan either as an investment decision making tool that can be rationally adopted on the basis of predefined financial and economic criteria or as an institutionalized management instrument conveying a purely financial logic. In the social and solidarity oriented venture capital funds, our study postulates that another institutional role can appear the role of mediator of tensions between institutional logics. Its use is studied in two solidarity-based venture capital funds, through non-participating observations and interviews with members of the investment committees. The first case shows that the instrument is a mediator of tensions by compartmentalizing institutional logics. The second case emphasizes that the business plan allows integration. These results open up a discussion of the necessity of contextualizing the use of business plan in social venture capital funds and of the contributions of the mediator role of the business plan.