How do social enterprises measure social impact: the case of cirkle, "neighborhood house" and Färm

Details

Supervisors

Denis, Sabine

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences de gestion

Abstract

This thesis examines the field of measuring social impact within the context of social enterprises. This topic receives more and more attention because it significantly influences such organizations’ future. Concretely, different measurement methods (Social Return on Investment and Most Significant Change) are assessed and compared to each other. To do so, firstly an extensive literature review enables a clear overview of the most important concepts: social entrepreneurship, social impact and social impact measurement. Secondly, a case study is performed to analyze three social enterprises and compare why and how they perform such measurements. The qualitative data is gathered through interviews who enable a comparison between theory and practice. Thirdly, the obtained results are discussed and analyzed. These results show that social enterprises should choose their measurement method carefully. Different methods can namely change the perception of the impact and should match with the company’s objectives. In addition to this, the compared methods present differences which make them more appropriate for specific cases.