Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Viable social enterprise: an evaluation of business support to social enterprises

Viable social enterprise: an evaluation of business support to social enterprises Purpose – To identify the challenges faced by UK social enterprises in their attempts to develop the kind of support needed to achieve their social, economic and environmental objectives. Design/methodology/approach – The history of social enterprise development in the UK is traced, focusing on some of the key problems of definition and complexity within the social enterprise sector. Examines some of the current problems facing social enterprises in terms of the provision of business support. Reports the results of a survey of 28 key informants working in 30 social enterprises (20 drawn from Triodos Bank’s client list, 10 non‐Tiodos Bank clients) to gather data relating to: business profile; technical profile; business support; evaluation of business support; and the role of social businesses in the UK and the quality and level of support available to the sector. Includes results for five organizations from two specific industry sectors for more detailed research (electrical and electronic waste refurbishment sector, care sector). Findings – The results indicated that the current needs of social enterprises are not being met by the current provision for such organizations since such provision fails to address the strategic tension that exists between social and business purpose. Concludes with recommendation for providers of business support and advice to the social enterprise sector. Research limitations/implications – The sample was skewed towards organic related businesses (farming, wholesale/retailing of organic products) and fewer care‐related businesses than anticipated from national statistics were included. Originality/value – Provides important results based on research commissioned by Triodos Bank, an ethical and social bank that lends to social enterprises across the UK. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Social Enterprise Journal Emerald Publishing

Viable social enterprise: an evaluation of business support to social enterprises

Frances Hines
Social Enterprise Journal , Volume 1 (1): 16 – Mar 1, 2005
Download PDF
16 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/viable-social-enterprise-an-evaluation-of-business-support-to-social-l2Px2jcEkc

References (0)

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1750-8614
DOI
10.1108/17508610580000704
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – To identify the challenges faced by UK social enterprises in their attempts to develop the kind of support needed to achieve their social, economic and environmental objectives. Design/methodology/approach – The history of social enterprise development in the UK is traced, focusing on some of the key problems of definition and complexity within the social enterprise sector. Examines some of the current problems facing social enterprises in terms of the provision of business support. Reports the results of a survey of 28 key informants working in 30 social enterprises (20 drawn from Triodos Bank’s client list, 10 non‐Tiodos Bank clients) to gather data relating to: business profile; technical profile; business support; evaluation of business support; and the role of social businesses in the UK and the quality and level of support available to the sector. Includes results for five organizations from two specific industry sectors for more detailed research (electrical and electronic waste refurbishment sector, care sector). Findings – The results indicated that the current needs of social enterprises are not being met by the current provision for such organizations since such provision fails to address the strategic tension that exists between social and business purpose. Concludes with recommendation for providers of business support and advice to the social enterprise sector. Research limitations/implications – The sample was skewed towards organic related businesses (farming, wholesale/retailing of organic products) and fewer care‐related businesses than anticipated from national statistics were included. Originality/value – Provides important results based on research commissioned by Triodos Bank, an ethical and social bank that lends to social enterprises across the UK.

Journal

Social Enterprise Journal – Emerald Publishing

Published: Mar 1, 2005

Keywords: Social enterprises; Business support services; Small to medium‐sized enterprises; Social responsibility; Public administration; Small enterprises; United Kingdom

There are no references for this article.