The Economist.com on social enterprise at the crossroads

This week’s Economist.com notes the growing influence of social entrepreneurs. However, it goes on to observe:

In some ways, social entrepreneurship has reached a crossroads. As it has become better known, expectations have been raised; the next few years will show whether these expectations are justified and these social entrepreneurs can deliver. This will depend on them mastering the nitty-gritty of managing a growing organisation, including everything from a proper budgeting process and human-resource policies to succession planning and corporate governance.

While being innovative and challenging in some areas, the third sector has also been known to lag behind too – for instance in good governance. Getting that right is vital if social enterprises - and the third sector generally - are to be able to sustainably play a part in delivering public services.