Bryan Mills
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Social Enterprise - yea right!.........

10/16/2011

4 Comments

 
Social Enterprise................

I have been considering the growing phenomena of social enterprise recently.  There was a time things fitted neatly into private, public, charity, co-op and association/club but now we have, partly I thing due to the introduction of CIC, the addition of social enterprise.  Not a charity, not a democratic organisation and not a for profit business.  With this has come a flurry of modules, books, papers, conferences and consultants.  But I’m worried.

I’m worried because for one I think many who have travelled this route do not realise what they have done, they do not realise they are creating an enterprise they cannot sell, cannot cash in on retirement.  I think the general lack of trust in capitalism has seen this as a popular ‘alternative’ but I am concerned as to how alternative it actually is.

Let’s look at the differences (if any):  a private enterprise needs customers, finance, people management and operational skills.  Any profit made belongs to the owner and can be reinvested and capitalised or taken.  Either way there is an increase in personal wealth.  With a social enterprise there is a need for customers, finance, people management and operational skills.  Any profit made belongs to the enterprise and there is no increase in personal wealth except for salary.  Where I am stuck is that the first four are identical to private enterprise, customers, money, people, and organisation.  Skills and knowledge developed in private sector is immediately transferable.    The only difference is the founder has no increase in wealth linked to company success (beyond salary).  What then do the text books, papers, consultant etc teach that is not already in the public domain? 

What also do founders of social enterprise hope to achieve?  If it is access to public money and access to public contracts – restricted to social enterprises – then fair enough – eyes wide open and all that.  It is a way of leveraging money from the public purse – perhaps of offering better value for money than the public sector.  However if these individuals imagine that they are somehow opting out of the pressures of business, of the need to aggressively pursue opportunities, to mange staff effectively and to balance the books they are mistaken.  They are also mistaken if they think that their hard work and re-investment will result in ‘their’ company increasing their wealth.  

4 Comments
Lucy Findlay link
10/16/2011 09:34:20 pm

Hi Brian - I am MD of the Social Enterprise Mark Company and partner of your old mate Mat Collins!

The whole idea of social enterprise is that personal wealth is not a key motivator - its about taking a business approach to deliver benefits to society and/or the environment - its a different driver, not about opting out of anything.

Reply
Paul Reilly
10/16/2011 11:39:01 pm

Hi Brian. I agree, there are some conflicting issues, but I guess the model focuses more on accumulation of well-being amongst a broader spectrum of society, as opposed to unlimited accumulation of individual wealth (which is usually to the detriment of other stakeholders)A very relevant article though.

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Bryan Mills link
10/17/2011 03:20:27 am

Lucy - hi :) as Mat will tell you I can be provocative at times. As you and Paul both seem to have spotted I am not attacking SE, in fact i have served as treasurer, chair and member of three different ones and work now with another. I do find though that when I am advising people they are often telling me that excitedly they are launching a SE as if it is somehow 'alternative' without seeming to realise the implications with regard to ownership. One group comes to mind that were quite sold on the idea, until the eldest in the collective talked about ‘selling his stake in ten years to retire’.
When it comes to enabling community based groups or communities of interest or practice to work together in a legal entity that offers structure and protection whilst also offering easy trading I am a strong supporter. I like the way your company is going and will add a link. It is essential that SEs are able to communicate their purpose to customers and you ‘Mark’ seems to help that significantly.
My other point was of course that I am not convinced there is a need to separate marketing, finance, etc from private enterprise theories and models. Whilst the mission/vision is different it is still a mission/vision.

Reply
hentai link
7/10/2012 05:30:25 am

Took the day off and was just reading up some blogs and thought I would post here

Reply



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    Dr Bryan Mills

    "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die" Hunter S Thompson describing the author in 1971.

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