Effectiveness and Efficiency of Social Economy Organizations

The social economy is a sector that contributes significantly to job creation, sustainable development and income generation as well as equitable distribution of wealth. It is a sector capable of combining profitability with social inclusion within the system of democratic governance, work in the public and private sectors as adjustment of service provision to social needs. Within the social economy there are many different organizations that are usually referred to as social enterprises. SE as a specific mechanism for delivery of goods and services within the existing socio-economic system may not disregard the effectiveness and efficiency. The relationships between effectiveness and efficiency are very complex but, nevertheless, are one of the main issues dealt with by economic sciences. Currently, we can observe equating of the two terms, or rather treating them as complementary dimensions of the assessment of an organization activity. Combining both components we can talk about organizational effectiveness, i.e. the ability of a company to current and strategic adaptation to changes in the environment, as well as to productive use of resources in order to implement the adopted structure of objectives [38]. Activities of social economy organizations (social enterprises) should take into account appropriate relationships between the purpose, effect and effort. Therefore, the issues of efficiency and effectiveness should be treated as foreground elements in the process of implementing their social mission.