Social Firms UK

Guy Kawasaki is the CEO of Garage Technology Ventures, a venture capitalinvestment bank for high technology companies, and a columnist for'Forbes'. A noted speaker and the founder of various personal computercompanies, Guy was one of the individuals responsible for the success of theMacintosh computer. He is also the author of seven books including 'Rulesfor Revolutionaries', 'How to Drive Your Competition Crazy', 'Selling theDream' and 'The Macintosh Way'. His presentation accompanies an audio recording, available on loan on either a tape or CD. Be prepared to laugh!

This policy brief arises from the work carried out in the Social Economy theme of EQUAL, which involved over 400 projects across the majority of EU member states. It addresses the issue 'how best to support work integration social enterprises (WISEs) as a tool to create employment and tackle exclusion?'

This is a recording of Jed Emerson's presentation at the 5th Gathering of the Social Enterprise Alliance. Jed Emerson, twice selected by 'The Non-profit Times' as one of its '50 most influential people in the non-profit sector' (USA) does what he does best - challenge the audience to think about the transformation of the sector in new and different ways. Jed is a Senior Fellow with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. He is also Lecturer in Business at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. His work involves an array of issues related to the development of investment strategies that leverage the greatest value from both philanthropic and market-rate capital in pursuit of a Blended Return on Investment (which includes financial, environmental and socialreturns/metrics). This recording accompanies the slides,as well as the publication, 'The Blended Value Map'.

"The Linz Appeal" outlines why there should be more Social Firms for disabled and disadvantaged people across Europe. The document makes a series of recommendations to the European Union for how the growth of Social Firms can be encouraged, in line with their employment and social exclusion agendas. The publication was launched at the 20th CEFEC Conference in Linz, Austria in October 2007. CEFEC (The Confederation of European Social Firms, Employment Initiatives and Social Co-operatives) and its members across many EU countries have gathered a wealth of experience over the last twenty years on Social Firm development. The issue of how to create paid employment for disabled and disadvantaged people, especially those with mental health issues, remains a challenge for all EU countries. Social Firms which operate on the open market have shown a successful way of integration and inclusion.

In a time when companies are outsourcing abroad, Habitat International, a Tennessee-based carpet manufacturer, has managed to achieve superior levels of productivity at home, often two to three times greater than its competition. Habitat's business has grown enormously, with much of its new business coming from work outsourced to them by competitors who could not come close to matching its productivity.

Habitat's secret: they hire the people no one else will.  At Habitat three of every four workers have a physical or mental disability. They earn normal wages and are cross-trained on every job. They work harder, with less supervision, lower turnover and an unparalleled level of loyalty.  The challenges have been significant; the rewards extraordinary.