Network Orchestration by Multiple Intermediaries in Sustainable Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Bangladesh

Sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem is an emerging topic to examine the interplay between various factors and actors embedded in a particular region that create support environments for sustainable entrepreneurs. Due to the emerging nature of the literature on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems, recent studies have devoted primarily to understanding the unique characteristics of sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems and essential components and actors. In particular, research has illuminated the role of intermediaries in building a sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. While these studies have contributed to establishing the research on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems as a distinctive domain to regional entrepreneurial ecosystems, they did not pay sufficient attention to the evolutionary nature of sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems. The research question that this study seeks to answer is: How do multiple intermediaries contribute to the emergence of an impact entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging countries? To examine ecosystem intermediaries' purposeful actions in ecosystem building, we applied "network orchestration" as a theoretical. We conducted an explorative qualitative study with a single case study of Bangladesh's sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. The findings suggest that several ecosystem intermediaries engaged in different types of orchestration practices that responded to the ecosystem's needs specific to its evolutionary stages. These orchestration practices are complementary and facilitate critical conditions for advancing ecosystem evolution. Our findings contribute to theory mainly in three ways. First, this study contributes to emerging discussions on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems by demonstrating the co-evolutionary nature between sustainable and regional entrepreneurial ecosystems in the context of emerging countries and identifying critical conditions of different evolutionary stages. Second, we also extend the literature on sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems by revealing the strategic functions of intermediaries in ecosystem evolution. Finally, this study also contributes to advancing the theory of network orchestration by theorizing how multiple hub organizations practice complementary orchestration practices.