Poultry Pest Management

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Social innovation, co-operation and competition: inter-organizational relations for social enterprises in the delivery of public services

There is much rhetoric concerning the need for collaboration and partnership both from policy makers and those within the sector who see the social enterprise model as being more collaborative than the private sector. However, there is limited understanding of the processes by which trust is built up and maintained in these contexts. The chapter examines the relationships between commissioners and providers, users/beneficiaries/ customers (vertical relationships) and relationships between providers (horizontal relationships). The chapter will go beyond assumptions concerning how organisations are expected to behave, and will examine the economic and social institutional contexts in which their actions are embedded. In particular attention will be given to how organisations build relationships in ‘quasi markets’ and in an environment of emerging competition for the delivery of public services. These issues are explored by looking at the case of self employment support provision in the UK

Alternative approaches to capacity building: practices in the public and private sector.

This study aims to examine alternative practices in capacity building found in the public and private sector and to examine how these can be used to benefit third sector organisations. This report is structured around three themes: a) Reviewing the different interpretations of capacity building in the public, private and third sector. b) Selection of eight case studies of public and private sector capacity building programmes that have raised the capacity of organisations supported. c) Identifying a range of alternative practice from which implications for the third sector can be drawn. The study has examined a range of approaches to capacity building in the private and public sectors, drawing on existing literature, key informant interviews and eight case studies. Key issues related to capacity building are drawn out and implications for the capacity building in the third sector are identified. Finally recommendations are made of how lessons from the private and public sector can be adapted for the third sector context. While capacity building is defined as the range of support activities that help organisations develop their skills and resources, this study examines the different types of approaches and makes a distinction between those approaches that can help organisations improve on what they are currently doing, the support that allows them to make more radical change or start new activities

Transdisciplinary environmental research: building trust across professional cultures

With the challenges of researching complex topics such as those related to environmental sustainability and land use, there is a growing interest in promoting collaboration between research and industry, between different disciplines in research, and between different types of research organisations. However there is a need to know more about how collaboration is operating and approaches to building trust in these relations. This paper uses the detailed analysis of 10 case studies of research collaborations related to sustainability and environmental land-use to examine the different professional cultures among research collaborators, the incentives they have to cooperate, and the processes of building trust. The paper shows that trust is vital when crossing professional cultural boundaries as people are opening themselves to vulnerability and risk. The results show how trust is built between university researchers, environmental NGOs, private businesses and commercial advisory companies. Trust is shown to be built by having information others, prior experience of working together, norms of cooperation, and sanctions exerted on those who might transgress norms of behaviour. Having incentives is a necessary but not adequate basis for having trust. These relationships are built up through existing relationships, building trust through progression of projects and the use of intermediaries or guarantors

Feasibility of using S-191 infrared spectra for geological studies from space

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

‘We don’t deal with courts’: cooperation and alternative institutions shaping exporting relationships of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ghana

Through an investigation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) exporting in contexts which lack a formalised institutional environment in a less developed country, this article shows how entrepreneurs cope with institutional deficiency. By drawing on an analysis of 12 SMEs exporting from Ghana to other West African countries, the findings reveal how entrepreneurs and their organisations avoid recourse to the courts and instead, use culturally specific relationships to settle disputes when exporting. Institutional forms operating in parallel to the formal legal system are examined. These are shown to be hybrid forms drawing on traditional cultural institutions such as chieftaincy and religion, combined with forms of corporations and cooperatives. Assumptions around the different roles of family and kinship also are explored. The study contributes to the ongoing development of a theoretical understanding on trust and relationship building in international entrepreneurship, and the importance of understanding cultural context

Segmenting support for small and medium enterprises: identifying and disseminating best practice. Research summary.

Segmentation can be defined as the identification of target groups of customers that share activities, attributes, behaviours, conditions or needs. This report examines the nature of segmentation with particular reference to business development services and the Business Link network. The study was commissioned by the Small Business Service’s Research and Evaluation Team, as a project within its research and dissemination project series. In order to build a baseline view of current segmentation practice, the study addressed several key questions: • What segmentation strategies are being used for the provision of services to SMEs by Business Links and related organisations? • What alternative approaches can be identified from the academic and practitioner literatures that may be of relevance? • How can segmentation frameworks and strategies be developed and applied? • What are the implications for the Small Business Service and Business Links

Innovation and social enterprise activity in third sector organisations

There is a growing interest in the role of social enterprises and third sector organisations in delivering a range of services and many claims made about their innovative potential. There is therefore a need to examine the approaches to innovation. This paper examines the different sources of innovation amongst third sector organisations that are involved in social enterprise activity. Drawing on three case studies of charities with a majority of their income from social enterprise activity, the paper explores what innovation can mean in the current policy environment and also identifies the diverse sources of innovation. These can relate to the products or services and to the process of delivering these. Social enterprise activity can also create a space for innovation in terms of positioning services for new users/funders, and can reflect a changing paradigm of delivering services. The paper concludes by raising questions regarding the extent of innovative activity and the extent to which innovation is encouraged or hindered by current political and institutional context

Gender balance in the governance of social enterprise

There are high expectations placed on social enterprises as alternative forms shaping local economies. However, little is known about how they are governed and their accountability to their local communities. The gender balance of their governing boards and representation of women is therefore an important issue. This paper makes a contribution to examining the claims of greater equality proposed by social enterprises. The results draw on an analysis of a survey of 825 social enterprises and show there is a more equal gender balance in social enterprise governance compared to the private sector. The survey also finds that women are still under-represented on boards when considered as a proportion of the population or the proportion of women’s employment in social enterprises. There is also considerable sectoral concentration and a smaller proportion of women on boards of larger organisations. Social enterprises have the potential to be alternative spaces to encourage greater representation of women in the governance of local economies, but at present there continues to be an imbalance

Social impact measurement as an entrepreneurial process.

Third sector organisations are growing in scale and scope, but little is known about how they measure their social value and report their achievements. This paper explores the process of social impact assessment in charities, voluntary organisations, and social enterprises. It looks at why organisations embark on social impact measurement; what guides their decisions about how to measure this impact, and how they use the results. It argues that these decisions are shaped by the objectives of the leadership and power relationships within organisations and, more importantly, with stakeholders outside the organisation. Impact measurement can be seen as a bureaucratic form of regulation or as a form of marketing for organisations with entrepreneurial skills. The lack of consistent approaches, and the range of assumptions that need to be made in any measurement process, provide organisations with ‘room to manoeuvre’ and a source of power to influence others. In this way, the process of measuring impact can been seen as a socially entrepreneurial process – a way to create opportunities and win scarce resources needed to make a social impact