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The purpose of this paper is to investigate public partners’ motives for seeking and/or accepting partnerships with third sector organisations.

The approach is to seek to identify and explain motives from different perspectives; as responses to government failure or voluntary failure, as related to governance structures, and/or as driven by resource dependencies. The empirical material was gathered through semi-structured interviews with public employees in Swedish municipalities. The aim of the interviews was to grasp the public partners’ motives for partnerships with third sector organisations. Each interview started with questions on the presence and forms of partnerships, thus creating a backdrop for the motives, both during the interview and as a map of the partnership landscape.

The most prominent motives for public engagement in partnerships with third sector organisations are related to democratic values, the need to solve concrete problems, and economic rationality. The motives vary with the type of partnership of which there is considerable variation in scale, content and contribution; the types of partnership vary with different policy fields and services. Different perspectives highlight different motives but none of them excludes other perspectives.

The main contribution of the paper is the empirically based findings of a multi-layered public–third sector partnership landscape where policy fields, forms and complex motives are intertwined.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of regeneration on one community – Speke in Liverpool, indexed as the most deprived area in England with a population of 9,000 people. The focus is on the role, activity and capacity of the third sector as part of the regeneration effort.

The study period was 2000‐2009. A “practitioners point of view” was sought. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted and triangulated method followed using NVivo.

There is no evidence to indicate the success of national third sector policy and its intent to improve the capacity of the sector at the local level. Service delivery is largely being led by public sector delivery structures. The local third sector is found to have significantly weakened. Community representation in regeneration is also weak, with no community forums in place. As a model, Social enterprise is underdeveloped.

The findings are contribution to theory, policy and practice and provide a practitioners view of third sector delivery at a local level. The evidence is of use to the researchers host organisation to undertake a lead role in developing as a fully representative area development trust.

Twelve years ago, the concept of social enterprise was rarely discussed in Europe, however it is now making significant breakthroughs in European Union (EU) countries. Within this context, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize major evolutions experienced by social enterprises across Europe and the key challenges they are facing; and specific members of the EMES European Research Network provide a more in‐depth update as to current trends and debates in their respective countries

This paper is based on a comparative analysis of the different institutions (legal frameworks, public policies, supporting structures, public procurement policies …) which support the development of social enterprises in the different EU countries. To delimit the field, the paper relies on the “ideal‐type” social enterprise as defined by the EMES network: “Social enterprises are not‐for‐profit private organizations providing goods or services directly related to their explicit aim to benefit the community. They rely on a collective dynamics involving various types of stakeholders in their governing bodies, they place a high value on their autonomy and they bear economic risks linked to their activity”.

It was found that although the concept of social enterprise itself has not gained the same recognition in all EU countries (and is even still poorly understood in several of them), the reality is that growth and social enterprise are being experienced in most EU countries.

If the concept of social enterprise is on the public agenda of several EU countries, the understanding as well as the institutions to support their development vary from one country to the other. This paper provides a comparative analysis of this heterogeneous but rich landscape.

This study aims to explore the opportunities and challenges Self-directed Support policy has presented to Scottish social enterprises, thereby increasing understanding of emerging social care markets arising from international policy-shifts towards empowering social care users to self-direct their care.

This study used guided conversations with a purposive sample of 19 stakeholders sampled from frontline social care social enterprises; social work; third sector; health; and government.

An inconsistent social care market has emerged across Scotland as a result of policy change, providing both opportunities and challenges for social enterprises. Social innovation emerged from a supportive partnership between the local authority and social enterprise in one area, but elsewhere local authorities remained change-resistant, evidencing path dependence. Challenges included the private sector “creaming” clients and geographic areas and social enterprises being scapegoated where the local market was failing.

This study involved a small purposively sampled group of stakeholders specifically interested in social enterprise, and hence the findings are suggestive rather than conclusive.

This paper contributes to currently limited academic understanding of the contribution of social enterprise to emerging social care markets arising from the international policy-shifts. Through an historical institutionalism lens, this study also offers new insight into interactions between public institutions and social enterprise care providers. The insights from this paper will support policymakers and researchers to develop a more equitable, sustainable future for social care provision.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the emergence of social enterprise in Japan by looking at the predominant types of social enterprise in the country, their industries and target groups, their challenges and strength.

The paper adopts an analytical approach, building on previous work; it is grounded on the social construction theory, which has the advantage of apprehending social phenomena from different viewpoints.

The study identifies three different conceptual approaches to explain the emergence of social enterprise in Japan. It then demonstrates that there exists a link between the approaches identified and the emerging social enterprise types in the country. Furthermore, it discusses the strategies used by those emerging social enterprise types in choosing their particular legal forms (in the absence of a specific legal form for social enterprise in Japan) and shows how this choice is normally determined by the constraints associated with those organisational forms. From this perspective, the paper outlines the major contemporary issues affecting social enterprises in Japan and focuses on two key challenges: the systems of regulation and the financial viability. In discussing the financial challenge it presents the dual attitude of the Japanese government towards the development of the social enterprise sector.

This paper builds up the theoretical foundations for the understanding of the social enterprise sector in Japan and it will stimulate further researches on the future development of the sector.

The purpose of this paper is to inquire into the role that sexuality plays in faith-based programs for the prevention and care of problematic drug use.

This paper conducts 25 semi-structured interviews with institutional staff and another 31 with people undergoing treatment in spiritual and religious drug rehabilitation programs in Argentina.

First, within these therapeutic devices, different sexual experiences are considered initial catalysts for drug use. Also, within these institutions, certain morally condemned sexual behaviors are seen as associated with consumption. Second, these institutions establish diverse rules and recommendations about intimate relationships for people in recovery to improve the outcome of treatments. Third, therapeutic institutions produce gender stereotypes related to the sexuality of drug users. Fourth, institutions assume heterosexuality within their target populations, thereby reinforcing the heteronormative frameworks of these therapeutic interventions.

This is a small qualitative study conducted in Argentina. Although its results cannot be generalized, they serve as a preliminary empirical input to analyze drug treatment programs in the country and other regions of the world.

This study addresses the relationships between problematic drug use, rehabilitation and sexuality from the perspectives of both professionals and men and women who consume drugs. This paper adopts a critical perspective on gender and sexual diversity to analyze how therapeutic institutions reproduce certain gender stereotypes and heteronormativity. In doing so, the research intends to contribute to discussions that can lead to more comprehensive policies regarding problematic drug use.

In recent years, third sector–school partnerships have become more common and received increasing research attention. Yet, the ethical aspects of third sector–school partnerships have not been discussed in-depth. As a result, the field lacks a conceptual framework that makes possible in-depth understanding of the ethical characteristics involved in partnerships between public schools and the third sector. The purpose of this paper is to fill this lacuna.

An integrative review of the general literature on stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility, cross-sector partnerships (CSP) and strategic alliances, as well as of empirical studies on partnerships between schools and the third sector, offers insights on ethical conduct in these partnerships and their antecedents.

Based on the general literature on CSP and the educational literature on third sector–school partnerships, the authors offer a conceptual model and propositions about ethical conduct in these partnerships and its antecedents.

The innovative conceptual model makes possible a re-evaluation of existing knowledge on third sector–school partnerships, and can support direct research of ethical aspects in these partnerships. In addition, the model provides conceptual language for administrators for managing practical ethical dilemmas in these partnerships.

This study examines unexplored horizontal accountability types between public, private and third sector actors within a hybrid organization. The case organization was applying a novel alliance model to generate service paths for heterogeneous clientele consuming cultural, educational, health and social services. It was first to do so in Finland.

This research is on a case study that used documents and interviews to examine the design of the horizontal accountability. The descriptive analysis focused on identifying what type of formal accountability system was designed (i.e. who is the account holder, and who is accountable and for what and why).

An imbalanced accountability system was identified because accountability obligations were unevenly distributed between public, private and third sector actors. The private sector was the most accountable for performance, and the third sector (i.e. voluntary sector) was the least accountable. As account holders, the public, private and third sector actors were judging their conduct as account providers. This created a biased horizontal accountability system. The hybrid's accountability system was dynamic because the contracts made to establish the hybrid included opportunities to change horizontal accountability if future changes to the external environment affect too drastically the potential to achieve the hybrid's goals.

Three new concepts are proposed for studying dysfunctional accountability systems: dynamic, biased and horizontally imbalanced accountability.

Looks at the 2000 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference held at the University of Cardiff in Wales on 6/7 September 2000. Spotlights the 76 or so presentations within and shows that these are in many, differing, areas across management research from: retail finance; precarious jobs and decisions; methodological lessons from feminism; call centre experience and disability discrimination. These and all points east and west are covered and laid out in a simple, abstract style, including, where applicable, references, endnotes and bibliography in an easy‐to‐follow manner. Summarizes each paper and also gives conclusions where needed, in a comfortable modern format.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mismatch between the language and rhetoric used by UK Central Government departments to promote particular policy options and initiatives and the experiences of Third Sector organisations engaged in such programmes. The paper provides an overview of policy development involving the Third Sector in the UK and seeks to provide a practice and political context to facilitate the analysis.

The paper draws upon empirical research undertaken with Third Sector and public sector agencies in specific initiatives in England. The methodology adopted includes an analysis both of the policy documents and official guidance notes provided as well as qualitative data drawn from interviews with key participants in the process.

The paper observes that for both parties in the process the relationships/experience was uncomfortable. The diversity, size, ethos and shape of the Third Sector were not fully understood by public sector agencies and the implications of the governance and decision making processes were not fully grasped by either party.

While the policy and practice implications are explicitly discussed in the paper it is rooted in the particular organisational structures/culture of the UK (and England in particular). While comparisons are possible they are to be found in the discussion on processes.

The paper adds to the analysis/understanding of the policy and practice relationship(s) between the Third Sector and central/local government and points to ways in which these relationships are likely to become more significant over time.

The paper adds to the literature on the Third Sector but is significant because of its focus on specific policy initiatives.