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Business & Economics General

Businesses with a Difference

Balancing the Social and the Economic

by (author) Laurie Mook, Jack Quarter & Sherida Ryan

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2012
Category
General, General, General
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781442642645
    Publish Date
    May 2012
    List Price
    $85.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781442611474
    Publish Date
    May 2012
    List Price
    $44.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442694477
    Publish Date
    Dec 2012
    List Price
    $78
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442694460
    Publish Date
    May 2012
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

Market-based social economy firms such as social enterprises, social purpose businesses, co-operatives, credit unions, and community economic development corporations aim to meet distinct social needs while making money. Do these types of businesses have the potential for growth in the modern economy? Are they destined to function only in areas where conventional firms cannot achieve a sufficient rate of return? Or will the role of social economy organizations change as businesses begin placing more emphasis on corporate social responsibility?

Building on the popular 2010 collection Researching the Social Economy, Businesses with a Difference explores the challenges and opportunities faced by firms that seek a genuine balance between their social and economic objectives. Through international case studies, including comparative analyses, this innovative collection highlights the unique issues that must be addressed when associations are accountable not to investors and shareholders, but instead to ordinary people.

About the authors

Laurie Mook is the co-director of the Social Economy Centre at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Laurie Mook's profile page

Jack Quarter is a professor and co-director of the Social Economy Centre at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He is the author of Canada's Social Economy and Crossing the Line. He edited How to Start a Worker's Co-op and co-edited Partners in Enterprise: The Worker Ownership Phenomenon.

Jack Quarter's profile page

Sherida Ryan is a post-doctoral fellow, co-director of the Social Economy Centre and faculty member with the Adult Education and Community Development Program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

Sherida Ryan's profile page