The Third Sector, Social Enterprise and Public Service Delivery

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social or environmental purposes designed to create value for the clients of the business, and to reinvest surpluses into the business or community. They serve as social innovation laboratories, and frequently collaborate with governments or other nonprofits to serve their communities and clientele.

The chapters in this book discuss the development and flourishing of social enterprises in eight countries around the world, including China, India, Great Britain, the United States and the Czech Republic. Specifically, the authors cover how social enterprises are managed, how they operate with their national and local governments, and the contributions they are making to service delivery and social innovation. Different theoretical lenses are used to assess the roles that social enterprises play in the different countries, and how they relate both to the nonprofit world and their governments.

This book will appeal to all students, researchers and scholars who focus on the third sector, social economy, public policy and social enterprise, as well as to intellectual social enterprise leaders and practitioners. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Public Management Review.

Madeline Powell is Lecturer of Marketing in the School for Business and Society at the University of York, UK. She is on the editorial board for public management review and is an associate editor for the social enterprise journal. Her research specializes in social enterprises, public management and marketing.

Frances Stokes Berry is Professor of Public Administration and Askew Eminent Scholar Chair at Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University, USA. She is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and has served as President of the Network of Associated Schools of Public Policy, Affairs and Administration; and the Public Management Research Association. Her expertise is in public policy, policy and management innovation and diffusion, programme evaluation, strategic and performance management, and state policy.