Author Description

`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′ - <b><i>Prometheus</p> <p></b></i></p> <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′<b> - <i>Voluntary Sector</p> <p></i></p> <p>Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises</b> examines the question of what happens when performance improvement techniques originating in the private sector are applied to public and nonprofit organizations. </p> <p></p> <p><b>Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises</b> 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> <p></p> <p>Through a combination of theory and research, the book provides practical guidance to the problem