Purpose – This paper aims to present the findings from a small study of social enterprise governance in the UK, taking a case study approach to uncover the experiences of internal actors who are involved in their board-level management. Design/methodology/approach – The study took a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline the findings of a quantitative study of Social Firms between 2006 and 2007. In doing so, it examines the challenges that boards and managers in these organisations face. Design/methodology/approach – In order to test propositions developed...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the Board of Directors in encouraging entrepreneurship as a strategy for goal achievement among newly formed social purpose organizations. Design/methodology/approach – In the absence of empirical work on board behaviour, a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the governance of “fair trade social enterprises” (FTSEs), i.e. the organisations exclusively dedicated to the import, distribution and/or labelling of fairly traded products. The aims are to describe and categorise the types of persons and...

Purpose – Prevailing concepts of corporate governance that are based on external shareholder interests have been challenged by a number of authors over the last three decades. The purpose of this paper is to outline the core assumptions of communitarian philosophy and values, together with the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the importance of taking into account contextual factors when building governing mechanisms, so that the subsequent processes and structures are appropriate and sustainable. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises the singular...