Community-Centric Business Ecosystem (CCBE) Theory

The integration of business management principles into nonprofit and community-centered organizations has become increasingly critical in the United States, particularly in urban contexts where socioeconomic inequalities persist. While existing frameworks such as stakeholder theory, resource-based view (RBV), and transformational leadership provide insights into organizational effectiveness, none adequately capture the hybrid nature of community centers that function simultaneously as social service providers, nonprofit entities, and economic actors. This article introduces the Community-Centric Business Ecosystem (CCBE) Theory, a novel conceptual framework that positions community centers as hybrid business ecosystems whose sustainability relies on the interplay between leadership practices, economic viability, social impact, and community empowerment. Using APNA Brooklyn Community Center, COPO (Council of Peoples Organization), and Humanitarian Relief Organization in Brooklyn, NY, as exploratory case contexts, the CCBE framework highlights how community-based leadership can balance financial sustainability with long-term social value creation. The article makes three contributions. First, it conceptualizes community centers as hybrid ecosystems, filling a gap in management theory where nonprofit institutions are rarely analyzed as business actors. Second, it develops the CCBE pyramid and ecosystem maps, which demonstrate the causal linkages between leadership practices, economic sustainability, social impact, and empowerment outcomes. Third, it formulates empirically testable hypotheses that extend leadership and management scholarship into the domain of community-based organizations in the United States. The implications for theory, practice, and policy suggest that CCBE can serve as a replicable model for sustainable community development both within Brooklyn and across diverse urban contexts.