Abstract

Many social enterprises across Seoul have been subsidised by either central government or by Seoul’s metropolitan government. This study identifies the objective methods of measuring the outcomes of such social enterprises, and applies these methods to evaluate social enterprise performance in Seoul. This research suggests a new style of social outcome indices for social enterprise. We have revised the 2012 version of the social performance indices to better capture more of the social benefits created by social enterprise and also suggest 3 different sustainability indices for social enterprise.

The minimum social outcome index (outcome to subsidy ratio) is measured as 12.9, which means that the typical social enterprise in Seoul in 2015 produced at least $12.9 worth of social outcome from each $1 government subsidy, either in the form of hiring or giving services to socially disadvantaged groups. Of the social enterprises in Seoul, 72.8% unambiguously created more social benefits than the government subsidies and hence deserve further funding. Only 3.7% of the social enterprises were not worthy of the subsidy. The value of the performance index of social enterprise in Seoul is between 12.9 and 29.5, which means that they create about 13 to 30 times the benefit from the original subsidy.

Although social enterprises have shown relatively good results, many of them are weak in terms of sustainability. This means that future government subsidies remain essential for the long term survival and performance of social enterprise in Seoul.

 

Contents

01 Introduction

1_Background and Objectives of the Study

2_Contents and Methods of Research

 

02 Review of Researches on Measuring Outcomes of Social Enterprises

1_Review of Researches on Social Enterprise Performance

2_Evaluating Methodology

 

03 Social Enterprises in Seoul

1_Gov’t Supports to Social Enterprise

2_Stylized Facts about Social Enterprises in Seoul

 

04 Outcomes of Social Enterprises in Seoul

1_Overview of Questionnaire

2_Characteristics of Seoul’s Social Enterprises in 2015

3_Measurement and Analysis of Social Outcomes of Social Enterprises

4_Sustainability of Social Enterprises

5_Policy Implications for Social Enterprises in Seoul

 

References

Appendices(Questionnaire)