Growing pains: the sustainability of social enterprises

This paper establishes the growing perception of the importance of the social enterprise sector in the UK, and notes that it is currently government policy to encourage growth. However, social enterprises, in common with many small businesses, find growth difficult, and this could impact negatively on their sustainability. The author goes on to explore the reasons for that difficulty, and concludes by suggesting how best to support social enterprise. It is suggested that orthodox growth stimulated by further marketization of this sector could be to its detriment. The paper aims to contribute to knowledge of the social enterprise sector and to the evidence base required by the policy-making community.