Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises

Additional Book Details

`Its emphasis on performance measurement affords rare insights into some innovative techniques. Moreover, institutional and other theories are deployed to explore the reasons for innovation.... The book should be a prized resource for postgraduate students who seek a deeper understanding of social enterprise measurement and management practices. It covers extremely and topical issues, while the case studies offer a perspective on the complexities of real social enterprises′ - Prometheus</p>
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<p>`Recent years have seen the voluntary and social enterprise sectors embark on a tentative love affair with performance measurement. We should, it seems, be measuring, monitoring and reporting our performance for a variety of reasons - accountability, continuous improvement and self-motivation, to name a few. But has anyone stopped to consider the realities if implementing the range of tools on the market? Author Rob Paton does just this′ - Voluntary Sector</p>
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<p>Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises examines the question of what happens when performance improvement techniques originating in the private sector are applied to public and nonprofit organizations. </p>
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<p>Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises looks critically at a range of performance measurements and improvement methods, including:</p>
<p>· Outcome measurement</p>
<p>· Using financial ratios for performance comparison</p>
<p>· Social audit</p>
<p>· Process benchmarking</p>
<p>· Externally accredited standards (like `Investors in People′ and ISO 9000)</p>
<p>· Diagnostic models and other tools from the quality movements</p>
<p>· `Balanced scorecards′</p>
<p>Rob Paton offers a measured critique of the naïve realism and rhetorical excesses of the performance management movement but also shows why many of its critics are unduly pessimistic.</p>
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<p>Through a combination of theory and research, the book provides practical guidance to the problem of performance management outside of the private sector. </p>
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<p>This is an essential text for those interested in public and social enterprises, particularly MBA and Masters students in public administration/public management and non-profit management.