A Turning Point for Unlocking Social Value in Scotland’s Supply Chains?

In 2022, we took a closer look at how social procurement—the use of supply chains and buying power to deliver social value—can benefit the social enterprise sector, public and private buyers, and communities across Scotland. We’ve also looked at the barriers and challenges facing efforts to expand these practices and to effect lasting change.

Several entrepreneurs and academics have also been investigating social procurement as a new frontier in generating social value. One of these is Alan Aitken, a lecturer and researcher at Glasgow Caledonian University. He argues that progress on social procurement, which continues to be chequered despite considerable legislative efforts, has been undermined by the fact that it represents a ‘wicked’ problem. By this, he means a problem in which the aims are indefinite and hard to measure, and the solutions are constrained by practical limits and competing interests.

We spoke to Alan about his views on the ‘wickedness’ of social procurement, as well as the potential solutions. In his latest paper, Aitken analysed the progress made by policymakers seeking to engage social entrepreneurs in order to further social value within public sector supply chains. He acknowledges the progress that’s been made in Scottish legislation, but identifies three causes of its limited implementation: the lack of formal collaborations and partnerships between social enterprises and other organisations; the failures of training events; and the lack of involvement of social enterprises in the early stages of design and commissioning of public services.

Aitken believes that these issues contribute to the problems policymakers face further down the track, in terms of seeing policy translate into successful bids by social enterprises, (and ultimately, into increased social value for Scotland’s communities). He suggests that the lack of joint-ventures relates to ‘concern regarding the long-term prospects for social enterprises’. This precludes the skill-pooling and scale which partnered bids can provide. Based on broader research into this problem, Aitken recommends that policymakers create ‘common platforms’ through which organisations can come together on bids. This idea of standardisation and access also echoes what we’ve heard from social enterprises themselves, and reflects the government’s own research.

Similarly, the gap in training and knowledge amongst social enterprises has been a recurrent message. Through his research, Aitken has come to believe that training events often lack effective organisation and engagement. In explaining this, he stresses the need for initiatives to better acknowledge the resource endowments and capacities of social enterprises. If the smaller scale and scope of some participants is overlooked, programmes risk satisfying policy commitments without actually providing any practicable advice.

For Aitken, theory also falls short of practice when it comes to early engagement around service design. Just as with education and training, fulfilling official commitments can amount to an empty gesture if the work hasn’t been done to make it accessible and realistic for social enterprises. If public sector buyers were to bring in social enterprise representatives to co-design service provision and advise on tendering challenges, social enterprises would be far better equipped to win and deliver on contracts.

Aitken’s work reveals the causes and possible solutions to some of the most intractable and commonly faced challenges for social enterprises. What emerges from his research is a view that policymakers must fundamentally adapt procurement processes in order to affect genuine change. The Public Services (Social Value) Act and other crucial pieces of legislation are an important start, but to fulfil the spirit of these laws, more must be done. Aitken’s view of social procurement as a ‘wicked’ problem for policymakers captures this view (that the fundamental structures of public procurement will need to be reformed if social enterprises are to be authentically included).

At Social Enterprise Scotland, we’re doing everything we can to work towards the achievement of real social value across the procurement landscape. Our ‘Buy Social Scotland’ campaign seeks to influence buyers and consumers across the country to consider social value in all their spending decisions. In particular, the Corporate Challenge seeks to provide a unique platform for shifting supply chains towards the social enterprise sector. By onboarding corporate (and public) partners and consulting on their supply chains, providing research on buying patterns and social value, and developing resources for buyers and social enterprises alike (including a free B2B directory), we are seeking to act upon the observations of Aitken and others.

By providing dedicated spaces which enable social enterprise participation and education for buyers, and by actively consulting with organisations to help change attitudes and practices at every level, we believe that we can help avoid the ‘wicked’ trap which often undermines well intentioned policy. Through these efforts, and through speaking with social entrepreneurs and researchers such as Aitken, it seems that a turning point is approaching in terms of understanding and unlocking social value across Scotland’s supply chains. And in an economic context in which families across the country are suffering renewed hardship and isolation, pursuing that turning point couldn’t be more urgent.

You can support the Corporate Challenge by emailing buysocial@socialenterprise.scot.