query: social enterprise development

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed:  those of you working in CED and non-profit production may be able to
help with this query.]

From: "William A. Ninacs" <ninacs at ivic.qc.ca>

Bonjour,

I have been asked by the Community Development Programme, Centre for Adult
Education and Community Studies, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa,
to contribute a chapter on North American social enterprises in a book on
social development that will be published simultaneously (I think) in that
country and in the U.S.  [For info on the book, please contact Dr. Eleanor
Wint <winte at MTB.und.ac.za> directly.]

I have defined social enterprise in the following way:

Social enterprise development generally refers to the setting up of
financially viable, usually non-profit, ventures that create real jobs for
low-income individuals while generating much, if not most, of its revenues
from the production and sales of goods and services.  Social enterprise
development also refers to certain for-profit ventures, such as
wholly-owned subsidiaries of public agencies and non-profit organisations,
or community-owned businesses, when these have been set up to provide jobs
to the unemployed.  Social enterprises go beyond the provision of training
opportunities, attempting instead to create an alternative job market for
people with special needs.  They differ from most non-profit commercial
initiatives by specifically incorporating job creation as a primary goal,
not simply revenue enhancement, and by pursuing other economic objectives.

Using examples of social enterprises, mainly from the United States and
Canada but also from Europe and Australia, this chapter will provide
elements of a theoretical framework for such practices, and by doing so, it
will suggest how social enterprise development is inherently tied to both
social development and economic development.  It will then examine social
enterprise development on both practice and policy levels in a North
American context.  On a practice level, this chapter will provide an
overview of the business planning process and will endeavour to relate each
specific component of a business plan (marketing, operations, organisation,
financing) to this particular type of enterprise.  It will then explore a
number of issues relating to public policy and programmes and other forms
of regulatory support for the type of simultaneous social and economic
intervention found in social enterprises.  This chapter will conclude with
a discussion on where social enterprise development fits into comprehensive
development strategies at the local level such as community economic
development.

I'm looking for recent publications on the subject as well as interesting -
and documented, since I have little time for research - case studies that I
might refer to as examples.

Merci beaucoup in advance.

Bill Ninacs

William A. Ninacs
C.P. 92
Victoriaville (Québec)
G6P 6S4

(819) 758-7401
télécopieur : (819) 758-4822

répondez à l'adresse suivante, s'il-vous-plaît : ninacs at ivic.qc.ca
Please reply to:  ninacs at ivic.qc.ca