Developing emerging social enterprise through capacity building

Abstract

Purpose

To study the applicability of capacity building as a technique for developing social enterprises.

Design/methodology/approach

Two emerging social enterprises, developed within the WestFocus Partnership, a consortium of seven higher education institutions, were studied in a series of capacity building sessions conducted by Brunel University Business School, UK. Reports the gathering of data for the project using participant observation, questionnaire surveys and focus groups, together with a series of capacity building sessions delivered by specialists, addressing the areas of leadership and human resources, marketing, environmental scanning, stakeholder analysis and business strategy where Session 1 addressed “Management and leadership styles”, Session 2 addressed “Strategic marketing and environmental analysis”, and Session 3 addressed “Strategy (in the widest sense)”.

Findings

The results indicated that, although capacity building could not resolve a perceived conflict between social ends and profit‐driven motives, it does play an important role in the development of successful social enterprises, even if the role is limited.

Originality/value

Propose that a capabilities approach provides a useful platform for highlighting important links between corporate social responsibility and corporate governance within social enterprises.

Citation

Todres, M., Cornelius, N., Janjuha‐Jivraj, S. and Woods, A. (2006), "Developing emerging social enterprise through capacity building", Social Enterprise Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 61-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/17508610680000713