Managing and Measuring Social Enterprises

"How good are we at doing good?" asks this new book out of the UK's Open University Business School. Professor Rob Paton attempts to answer this by encouraging accountability in nonprofits via active and conscious performance management: an area where many nonprofits fall short or lack experience. Paton presents his "dashboard" method as a template for social enterprises to analyze five performance management components: current results; underlying performance; risks; assets and capabilities; and change projects. Managing any social enterprise brings unique challenges, considering that many of them address deep-seated cultural, environmental, and global issues. By regularly reviewing performance improvement methods, Paton says, nonprofits can constructively address their complex performance issues.