Buying for good - business acquisition

Drawing on experiences from across the UK, Europe and Australia this report sets out a model for encouraging business acquisition as a means of starting Social Firms. The model is also easily transferable to the development of other types of social enterprises. Key to success of the approach is commercial acumen and experience.

The report sets out a series of recommendations for those wanting to develop Social Firms as well as for funders and policy makers interested in supporting the employment of people who are severely disadvantaged in the labour market.

The key recommendations are as follows:

Acquisition may be a quicker route to establishing a Social Firm, but it does not address the issue that in the UK, there is an ongoing lack of focused government resources for the creation and maintenance of supported employment in Social Firms for severely disadvantaged people.
Funders and investors need to take an engaged approach to resourcing Social Firms to acquire businesses linking support with their investment.
Business support agencies and intermediaries advising potential Social Firms should orientate their advice and support resources around acquisition as an important potential development route.
Policy makers should work with the private sector and encourage the development of more pro-active corporate social responsibility policies that would see the development of pro-bono support for business acquisition along similar lines to what has been developed in Australia.
A 5-year pilot programme of 6 - 10 Social Firm acquisitions in Scotland should be resourced, promoted and evaluated, with a view to developing a detailed model for future use by potential Social Firms across the UK.

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