Lean for Social Enterprises: Doing the Right Things
Abstract
Social enterprises need to meet their ‘profit’ goals in order to achieve their ‘people’ and/or ‘planet’ goals. Currently, many social enterprises seem to have a more expensive business model than their competitors, and thus rely either on charging price premiums or receiving (governmental) subsidies to remain in business. By applying the principles of Lean, and more generally continuous improvement, social enterprises should be able to improve their efficiency and productivity, enabling them to achieve their objectives. The aim of this study is to explore how social enterprises can use Lean or other continuous improvement methods in order to meet the profit goals needed to fulfil their social mission.