Sheltered workshops (SW), as social enterprises, need to be efficient and maintain a balance between social aspects and economic prosperity. An important part of research on the subject has been focused on measuring the economic value created by these entities. In this study, we analyzed performance of SWs in Galicia (Spain), from the point of view of efficiency, combining social and economic aspects and investigating its key determinants. Using panel data from 609 entities from 2008 to 2017, we followed Simar and Wilson’s two-stage approach (2007). Specifically, we used data envelopment analysis (DEA) at the first stage to estimate efficiency scores and then used truncated regression estimation with double-bootstrap to test the significance of explanatory variables. Our results show that SWs have high levels of performance, higher in economic than in social terms, and we found that several factors, such as size and age, positively influence total, economic and social efficiency individually. We also found a positive, significant relationship between social efficiency and economic profitability.

Social enterprise pursues both social and economic goals and is recognized as a formula for achieving sustainable development. Sheltered workshops (SWs) are a manifestation of this phenomenon, their main objective being the labor market integration of disabled people. In this paper, the efficiency of SWs has been studied taking into account the operational and the core social aspects, as well as their distinct nature, namely for-profit or non-profit status. Additionally, we have analyzed the relationship between the social efficiency and the economic returns of these entities. To do this, a semiparametric methodology, combining different data envelopment analysis (DEA) models with truncated regression estimation has been used. It is the non-profit and top-performing SWs that achieve the best social and economic efficiency. For-profit and low-performing SWs show further reductions in social efficiency as a result of the economic crisis and uncertainty in subsidy-related public policies. Their extensive social proactiveness and high economic strength in the crisis period positively influenced their social and economic efficiency. We have also proven that it is the most profitable SWs that have the greatest social efficiency. We consider that our results constitute a useful complement to other evaluation models for social enterprise.

Las empresas sociales, en tanto que empresas híbridas, necesitan modelos alternativos para la gestión y medición de su desempeño social y económico, como apoyo a la toma de decisiones y para garantizar la rendición de cuentas ante sus grupos de interés. En los últimos años, han surgido diferentes metodologías para evaluar su desempeño e impacto social. En este contexto, el presente documento pretende hacer una revisión de la literatura académica existente, relacionando estos modelos de medición de su impacto social, con otros instrumentos de rendición de cuentas como las memorias de sostenibilidad y la información financiera tradicional.