This dissertation studies the origin of new organisational forms. It focuses on organisations that challenge existing institutional boundaries, specifically the boundaries between for profit and not for profit providers of financial services. It builds on research on the origins of the microfinance industry in Bolivia; and particularly on the creation and development of BancoSol and Los Andes, the two pioneering organisations. This research involved in-depth interviews and analysis of industry-specific documents and newspaper files. / The study builds on three research streams: collective strategy, institutional theory, and evolutionary entrepreneurship. It proposes an overarching process-model that bridges these three bodies of work and advances our understanding of three key dynamics in the creation of new organisational forms: (1) the combination of hitherto unconnected principles and practices; (2) the leverage of support and acceptance for new organisational forms; and (3) the development of endurance for the new form. / The study argues that these three dynamics occur within a nonlinear process that includes three overlying stages. The first stage involves the creation of an entrepreneurial team to launch the organisations. This team includes individuals from fields with divergent principles and practices (e.g. for profit and not for profit). The second stage involves negotiations with institutional actors to leverage support and acceptance for the novel organisational form. The third stage involves decisions, actions, and interactions that promote internal coalescence and defend the organisations from external challenges. I have labeled this process-model social entrepreneurship. The process is predominantly social as the three dynamics are defined by the social assets and relations of actors. It is predominantly entrepreneurial as it destroys existing boundaries across fields and generates an enduring combination of principles and practices previously unconnected.

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This thesis attempts to measure the growth of the Bolivian informal sector. The study estimates the growth of the informal sector by defining it as the difference between the formal sector's reported real gross national product (GNP) and forecasted values of real GNP. The first chapter describes the Bolivian economy, defines its informal sector, and presents reasons for this sector's growth. Related research in informal activity, theoretical discussions, and perspectives are presented in the second chapter. Chapter III describes methodological research used in the analysis of the data. Chapter IV describes the results of the investigation. Conclusions and recommendations for the informal sector are provided in chapter V. The results show that it is possible to measure informal activity in a macro setting

This thesis investigates the emergence of an indigenous middle class between 1975 and 2010 in Bolivia - a country characterized by poor and unstable long-term economic growth, high inequality, and enduring ethnic and class cleavages. The study takes a two-tiered approach. It focuses first on tracing the emergence of the middle class by highlighting the main drivers of socio-economic improvement for individuals. Based on a longitudinal examination of a Socio-Economic Index (SEI) - upon which the middle class is operationally defined in this thesis - I explain the emergence of the middle class as the result of two distinct but interconnected processes: (i) a massive urbanization process that reached a peak in the mid-1980s, which brought individuals closer to areas favoured by state policies; and (ii) an institutional change in the mid-1990s, consisting of a new national framework that allocated resources more efficiently throughout the country. In addition, my analysis uncovers the different occupational trajectories that middle-class individuals followed to gain access to the new structure of opportunities and to prosper and become part of the middle class. Based on inter- and intra-generational analyses of occupational mobility, I find that in a context of an over supply of labour and with limited skills and economic capital, migrants found the means to thrive socially and economically in commerce, transport, and construction activities. Secondly, I explore the extent to which the emergence of the new middle class has opened-up opportunities for indigenous peoples. I conduct a periodic headcount of indigeneity based on spoken languages (indigenous and/or Spanish) and self-ascription to indigenous groups. Two messages emerge from this exercise. First, the new middle class has provided opportunities for individuals who are monolingual in indigenous languages, whether they ascribe themselves or not to an indigenous group. Second, individuals' ethnic identities become fuzzier as they move into the middle class. This is revealed by indigenous language loss and a significant decrease in self-ascription that happened in a markedly stratified manner over just ten years. I tackle the intricacies of middle-class ethnic identity by drawing on a social identity conceptual framework that allows me to integrate synergistically the discussions on class, ethnicity, and modernization. By approaching social identities through the analysis of differentiated lifestyles, I find that new middle-class individuals have hybrid and segmented identities. That is, individuals combine indigenous/traditional and modern forms of living that vary according to their socio-economic level, but do not necessarily move towards cultural assimilation. I contend that the creation of new status symbols and forms of recognition based on indigenous idiosyncrasies in the new middle class constitutes a categorical break with historical, ethnic-based forms of social, economic, and cultural exclusion and discrimination. In summary, this thesis advances the conceptualization and understanding of the middle class, contributing to the burgeoning literature on emerging middle classes in developing countries by offering a more complex picture of its expansion and identity construction.