Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Social Enterprise?

• Social Enterprise is either an activity associated to the trading element of voluntary sector organisations, or, as defined by the DTI:
• "Social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profits for shareholders and owners".
  Social Enterprise: A Strategy for Success, Department of Trade and Industry 2002

What is balance?

At Manchester Metropolitan University’s Centre for Enterprise we bring specialist expertise in creating on-line assessment tools to unlock potential in individuals and organisations. These are designed to plot and capture distance travelled towards goal fulfilment

• balance was created by Mike Bull and colleagues during 3 years of research with Third Sector Organisations and business support providers
• balance stimulates critical reflection by identifying stages in organisational development. Through the process Balance supports positive changes in organisational development
• balance simply draws together different parts of management life into one picture to guide solutions for ‘whole organisation’ performance optimisation without the effort and ‘number crunching’ required with statistically driven tools
• To achieve this we have built Balance around 5 important key management skills areas for Third Sector Organisations:

Who should use it?

• balance is designed for small to medium organisations. Balance is for any of the following: :
  • Charities Trading Arm
  • Community Enterprise
  • Co-operatives
  • Development Trust
  • Employee Owned Company
  • Registered Charity
  • Social Enterprise
  • Social Firm
  • Voluntary Organisation 
• balance is for managers, teams of managers and Boards

Why should we use it?

• balance is a tool to support organisational development
• balance offers a way of viewing current business practice and encourages thinking and reflection

How does it work and how long does it take?

• balance presents a number of business scenarios and uses self-assessment to identify current business practice
• balance takes about an hour to complete online
• balance generates:
  • an instant snapshot of strengths and weaknesses
  • a Strategic Action Plan outlining steps for development
  • sector focused benchmarking indicators

When should we use it?

• balance is an annual performance development tool
• balance stores (privately and securely) previous results offering a comparative benchmarking analysis, year-on-year.

How does it work and how long does it take?

• balance presents a number of business scenarios and uses self-assessment to identify current business practice
• balance takes about an hour to complete online
• balance generates:
  • an instant snapshot of strengths and weaknesses
  • a Strategic Action Plan outlining steps for development
  • sector focused benchmarking indicators

When should we use it?

• balance is an annual perfromance development tool
• balance stores (privately and securely) previous results offering a comparative benchmarking analysis, year-on-year.