Our exploratory study explores the configurations that determine the social innovation of formal firms in Chile, using the strategy tripod and using the FsQCA method. • First, the results show that a company that neither receives public funding nor cooperates with other companies will invest in technological innovation and belonging to a high size to achieve social innovation. • Secondly, a small company that does not have the resources to finance social innovation requires state support, public funding, and cooperation with other companies. • Third, a company with high barriers to entry and bureaucracy, typical of emerging economies, is limited in its ability to innovate socially despite its high-level size and technological innovation. Cooperation between companies as an antecedent will allow the company to allocate a high percentage of its resources to social innovation.