Prof Laura McCauley & Dr Isobel Cunningham, Ulster University Business School, Ulster University.
This presentation addresses Northern Ireland’s social economy, a key economic and social pillar in Northern Ireland, which is growing in size, breadth and impact. It contributes £933 million to the Northern Ireland economy and delivers €2.34 billion of impact in the Republic of Ireland, supporting nearly 100,000 jobs across the island of Ireland, (Department for Economy, 2025; Department of Rural and Community Development, 2023). Drawing on an all-island qualitative academic research study involving 25 social enterprises with and without direct experience of using a “Shared Services Model” approach, the presentation shares findings from the study that are relevant to Assembly deliberations on forthcoming bills, such as the Regional Jobs, Skills and Investment Bill and the Good Jobs Employment Bill.
The presentation provides context, highlighting how the social economy is underpinned by a diverse array of social enterprises, varying significantly in their scale, sectoral focus, geographic context and economic resilience, presenting challenges and significant opportunities for economic development in Northern Ireland, with potential to help deliver regional balance, employment, enterprise and economic impact region wide. It explains how social enterprises growth supports Community Wealth Building, a key economic development mechanism, delivering jobs and investment in communities in the region (Regional Jobs, Skills and Investment Bill priority) and showing how such growth delivers regional balance as social enterprises often employs those furthest from the labour market (Good Jobs Employment Bill priority). And whilst those positive impacts occur, the presentation identifies operational and strategic barriers faced by many social enterprises, such as limited administrative capacity and skills, fragmented business processes and financial and human constraints hindering their ability to scale, grow and maximise their potential and impact.
To address those barriers and enable social enterprise clustering, collaboration, reduced operational costs, enhanced competitive potential and contributions for economic and social support, the presentation proposes a Shared Services Model (SSM), which is innovative and nuanced. The SSM adapts an established model of Shared Services used in some industries and organisations, developing it as a mechanism for growth and sustainability in the social economy, to transform resource-constrained social enterprises into resilient, scalable and resource-rich entities, helping them to contribute to the delivery of regional economic balance and inclusive growth. It also enables the sharing of common functions across clustered organisations, based on collaborative networks/clusters, where enterprises share resources and expertise, such as human resources, finance, IT and/or marketing, to achieve organisational goals.
The presentation also shares insights regarding the barriers and perceptions of shared services and how a SSM may vary depending on the developmental stage of the social enterprises. Moreover, it identifies key factors for a SSM that successfully supports effective clustering in the social economy and informs a six-stage SSM development framework.
This seminar took place on 3 June 2026.
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