What role can social enterprise play within the third sector? This work stream cuts across all other research programmes, aiming to identify the particular characteristics and contribution of social enterprise.
Our research includes theoretical and policy analysis which explores the concept of social enterprise, examining the extent to which it can be identified as a distinct sub-sector. We are conducting quantitative analysis to map and measure social enterprises, and our qualitative case studies contain a distinct sub-sample of social enterprises.
Key questions
- What is the role of policies aimed directly at promoting and supporting social enterprise?
- What contribution can social enterprise make to service provision? This includes analysis of initiatives that encourage enterprises to undertake contract-based delivery of public sector services - including different organisational forms and funding models, and the role of regional and local support.
- What is the distinctive role (positive or negative) that enterprise can play in promoting social inclusion and social cohesion?
Current work
1. Measuring social value in social enterprise
- how a range of social enterprises measure their impact
- a review of the SROI methodology and how it can be used by organisations and the public sector (see working paper 49)
2. Social enterprises and public service delivery
- Social enterprise in the health sector
- Social enterprises in homelessness (see working paper 5 and working paper 3) , and housing coops/self help housing
- Collaboration amongst social enterprises in the delivery of public services
- Learning and processes of innovating in social enterprises
3. Social enterprises in different local contexts: finance, networks and local government
4. Social enterprise theory and discourse
- the emergence of the concept and discourse (See working paper 46)
- how the discourse relates to data sources used by the sector
- the relationship of social enterprise to the third sector
5. Ethnicity, gender and diversity in social entrepreneurship
6. Longitudinal Qualitative Sample- ‘Real Times'
- 'Real Times' involves long term in-depth qualitative research with 15 case studies reflecting a range of third sector organisations and activities. Several of these case studies feature questions of direct relevance to social enterprise, including issues of innovation, growth and the relationship between social and economic objectives.
7. Quantitative measuring and mapping of social enterprise
- Ongoing work looking at the scale and scope of the social enterprise sector, based on a range of data sets including NSTSO, ASBS and Guidestar (see working paper
- Comparative work on earned income, with Janelle Kerlin in the US. (See working paper 47)
- Development of a data base on cooperatives in conjunction with Coops UK
Research contacts