Abstract
Businesses that employ and train people with different disabilities or disadvantages increasingly have to innovate and adopt sustainable ways as governmental intervention and support on social issues is in decline. Social purpose enterprises offer an opportunity to empower people at the social margins. Taking this situation as a starting point, Social Purpose Enterprises edited by Jack Quarter, Sherida Ryan, and Andrea Chan is a timely book that consists of case studies from organizations focusing on the realization of social objectives within the Canadian social economy. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the studies examine the work of social purpose enterprises that support people working in different businesses such as food services, furniture, and microfinance.
Quarter, Ryan, and Chan bring together researchers and practitioners from a multiplicity of research fields such as social policy and social work, education, and economics. The authors want to understand “how social purposes enterprises help to address the needs, both social and economic, of marginalized persons primarily in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)” (Preface). More specifically, they want to determine the impact such enterprises have on stakeholders and the challenges the organizations face through carrying out their tasks (p. 3). It is worth noting that the research groups involved were allowed to decide on the research method and the theoretical framework (p. 18). Particularly the qualitative approaches used in this book fulfill the aim of exposing the wide variety of aspects involved in setting up and running a social purpose enterprise on different levels, while giving a voice to the individuals working in these enterprises. The book is divided into four sections which concentrate on people marginalized by stigma, women on the social margins, urban poor and immigrants, as well as at-risk youth. It concludes with a chapter that combines the findings from the case studies and suggests a modified framework for social welfare.
The first chapter introduces the reader to the concept of social purpose enterprises by providing a working definition which serves to distinguish them from other models and concepts such as social entrepreneurship or corporate social responsibility. This makes it feasible to position social purpose enterprises within the broader “spectrum of market-based approaches” (p. 7). The chapter also gives a short explanation of the historical roots of the global increase in social businesses together with the relevance of national policies for their regulation.
The following chapters describe 12 case studies in detail. Kunle Akingbola, for example, looks at the social purpose enterprise A-Way Express, a local courier business that employs people with psychiatric disabilities (p. 52). Analyzing the role of A-Way Express in promoting a mixture of knowledge, skills, and abilities for the employees, he found that the enterprise’s training enabled employees of the company to thrive and that it generally empowered them personally, or as one of them put it: “Somehow, they’ve made us smarter” (p. 66). He reports that working and training has had a significant impact on their well-being, both making them active members of society and saving the health care system money.
Looking at how low-income women entrepreneurs can sustain their local businesses through microfinancing firms such as Alterna Savings, Edward Jackson, Susan Henry, and Chinyere Amadi point out that the assistance of the borrowers via tele-classes, networking cafés, and business literacy workshops provided by Alterna Savings enabled them to “navigate the economic storm” (p. 159) in the aftermath of the financial crisis. However, it helped Alterna Savings to build a loyal customer basis, earn trust in the community, and attract new borrowers. On a macro-level, they note that microborrowers seem to have positive effects on the creation of jobs within their own community, helping to reduce the cost for social assistance and thereby saving the state and taxpayer money (p. 153).
Although the River Restaurant, a social purpose restaurant in Toronto, cannot be seen as an entirely successful example because it was closed in 2011, it nevertheless helped at-risk youths since 1998 and thereby had “a deep effect on a number of troubled lives” (p. 289). Raymond Dart provides an important insight into a restaurant that focused too much on its social mission and provided good training for at-risk and street youth but eventually failed to succeed as a profitable business. With on average less than one fifth of the total revenue coming from restaurant sales, the business model at River Restaurant depended too much on governmental grants and fund-raising. Although he acknowledges the closing of the Restaurant, Dart concludes that “in many ways it succeeded at its social mission of training at-risk youth both for finding work in the restaurant business and for coping with larger issues in life” (p. 303).
The spectrum of the other case studies presented in this book is broad and valuable, with topics ranging from how microloans support the Aboriginal community to how the economic situation and the well-being of childcare workers can be improved.
The concluding chapter summarizes the findings of the 12 case studies and suggests a modified framework for social welfare by synthesizing the economic and personal benefits on the individual level and the impact on communities and the sponsoring organization, such as the networking benefits, on the organizational level (p. 312). Quarter, Ryan, and Chan conclude that, although the results are at times mixed, disabled and disadvantaged people working within these programs benefitted inasmuch as they further developed their professional and personal skills (p. 310). The book also serves as a space for critique of the discourse on social purpose enterprises which is embedded both in the context of neoliberalism and the humanistic movement.
It is true that the book benefits from being composed by researchers and practitioners, as the authors point out at the beginning of this thoughtful and multifaceted collection of cases. And, it lives up to its promise of opening the door to better understand the challenges and obstacles encountered by social purpose enterprises in challenging economic times. Another great strength of Social Purpose Enterprises is the study of the social and economic contexts on an organizational level through the lens of theoretical concepts such as human and social capital, while providing in-depth analyses on how the individuals benefitted from the enterprises examined. However, because of its combination of theoretical concepts and empirical work, which aims at raising the awareness for this research topic at the policy level, the readership of this book is likely to be an academic one. The chapters, though, offer a treasure of knowledge by pointing out opportunities and challenges and providing thought-provoking insights into the current state of social purpose enterprises in various industries and contexts. Thus, it serves practitioners through in-depth analyzed examples, policy makers by pointing out the difficulties in setting up and successfully running an effective social enterprise, and nonprofits and foundations by hinting at opportunities for future engagement and development. Overall, the book offers an excellent starting position for researchers and practitioners dedicated to finding solutions for local social development in a rapidly growing field intended to serve people living and working at the social margins.