How does internationalising affect operational management of SEs?

Many of the analysed Social Enterprises had been operating internationally from the start and therefore they had only known that scale of operational management. For others the tasks associated with management and international operation were rapidly aligned.

Some participants said that although they were a social enterprise, the process of exporting was very commercial – they didn’t have any different requirements from mainstream businesses looking to export.

FROM SOCIAL ENTERPRISE TO SOCIAL FRANCHISE AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO ACHIEVING SCALE THROUGH REPLICATION,

2016 Employment and Social Development Canada / Centre for Social Innovation. Source

However, internationalisation did have an effect on day to day management for smaller organisations, especially if they were reliant on project work or if they had to produce a large number of products for an event or an order.

Regarding the operational management, there are organisations that have built in different management systems into their subsidiary, licensing and franchising operations.

Some stated that being a part of a larger franchised or licensed organisation means that there needs to be regular communication with the head office which can become an issue. Since they were expanding at a fast rate, they were aware that new employees joining the team will lead to less direct relationships. The solution they found was to do a project with a branding agency to set the brand manual.