Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the topic of the analysis and illustrate how the overall book is going to develop. It highlights why the practice of social impact assessment is strategic for social enterprises. As for the key role that social mission plays in this kind of organizations, they have to find a way to measure and monitor the fulfillment of this mission. From this perspective, assessing social impact has both internal and external benefit: it allows to assess resources allocation and to keep stakeholders informed about achieved results. The chapter also explains some of the main barriers that could hamper the implementation of the process. The specificities of social enterprises pose the need for suited models to assess this kind of impact, as financial measurement standards are unsuitable to track social and environmental outcomes. However, a wide range of models exist that can help managers driving the process. Finally the structure of the remaining chapters is outlined.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Austin, J., Stevenson, H., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2006). Social and commercial entrepreneurship: Same, different, or both? Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 30(1), 1–22.
Bacq, S., & Janssen, F. (2011). The multiple faces of social entrepreneurship: A review of definitional issues based on geographical and thematic criteria. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 23(5–6), 373–403.
Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. R. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Sheffield: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Grimes, M. (2010). Strategic sense making within funding relationships: The effects of performance measurement on organizational identity in the social sector. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(4), 763–783.
Meadows, M., & Pike, M. (2010). Performance management for social enterprises. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 23(2), 127–141.
Nicholls, A. (2009). We do good things, don’t we?: Blended value accounting in social entrepreneurship. Accounting Organizations and Society, 34, 755–769.
OECD. (2010). SMEs, entrepreneurship and innovation. http://www.oecd.org/document/16/0,3746,en_2649_33956792_44938128_1_1_1_1,00.html.
Richmond, B. J., Mook, L., & Quarter, J. (2003). Social accounting for non profits: Two models. Non-profit Management and Leadership, 13(4), 308–324.
Smith, B. R., & Stevens, C. E. (2010). Different types of social entrepreneurship: The role of geography and embeddedness on the measurement and scaling of social value. Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 22(6), 575–598.
Yunus, M. (2008). A world without poverty: Social business and the future of capitalism. New York, USA: Public Affairs.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Grieco, C. (2015). Introduction. In: Assessing Social Impact of Social Enterprises. SpringerBriefs in Business. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15314-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15314-8_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15313-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15314-8
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)