Measures of performance in the context of international social enterprise

Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-57)Social entrepreneurship is poised to be the next generation in the evolution of international development and aid. While these organizations and companies all share an affinity for the mission and creating social wealth; they are all very different in the way they operate and how they measure their performance. This study identified, analyzed and attempted to uncover themes of performance measurement within the different typologies of social enterprises defined by Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, and Schulman. This thesis was developed to further the understanding of social entrepreneurship but more specifically gain an understanding of how these social ventures measure performance. A deeper understanding of performance measurement of social enterprises will not only improve the overall understanding of social entrepreneurship; it will allow for impact investors, donors and social entrepreneurs to further understand their impacts. The purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory analysis on how international social ventures measure performance. The findings indicated that the typologies of social enterprise were in fact using different performance measurement techniques. This study contributes to the literature on social entrepreneurship in three key ways. First, it presents current data and examples on how social enterprises are measuring performance. Interviews with social entrepreneurs provide a rich understanding of the process of determining performance metrics as well as the measurement techniques and tools they are currently employing. The research builds off the theoretical base used by Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, and Schulman to define the three typologies of social enterprises. Second, this study was designed to uncover trends and patterns of performance measurement among different types of social ventures. This study presented ways in which social enterprises are currently measuring performance and how that related to or deviated from the literature. Finally, it adds to the framework provided by Zahra, Gedajlovic, Neubaum, and Schulman by creating another level of differentiation through performance measurement techniques