The methodological approach was based on a co-operation involving the European Network for Social and Economic Research (ENSR) in the research process. These partners were responsible for the collection of the relevant information on the social enterprise sector as well as the identification and description of instruments supporting social enterprises in their country.
To gather the information required, the research partners tapped various sources and applied different methods, such as internet research, analyses of literature and documents and expert interviews. In order to ensure a uniform procedure and comparable results across countries, the process of the collection has been carried out on the basis of specific reporting templates giving the definition of ‘social enterprise’ that has been elaborated in co-operation with the Commission for this research project and determining the kind of information to be obtained.
The selection process for the cases of good practice was based on the application of selection and balance criteria and the national partners were asked to describe the cases along a reporting template. Finally, from the results of the study conclusions and lessons learned have been drawn. The working definition of the term social enterprise stemmed from the academic discussion and state of the art and should be of practical relevance, in order to arrive, as much as possible, at a clear and common (among those involved in the research mission) notion of the target group (i.e. social enterprises). Consequently, the key features that characterise social enterprises for the purpose of this study were defined as entrepreneurial spirit, social aim or purpose and not-for-profit distribution. Moreover, the study focused on social enterprises active in the fields of work-integration, personal services or local development.
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Study on Practices and Policies in the Social Enterprise Sector in Europe
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