Social impact is not about the activities a company carries out, but about the results they generate. While the activities – products, services, events – implemented by a social enterprise are essential to achieving the objective, the implementation of the activities does not in itself mean that the objective has been achieved.
Impact measurement cannot be universal and there is no single system that reflects the impact of any social enterprise, to represent benefits or improvements, as social enterprises in Latvia are very diverse organizations in terms of size, specificity, scope, number of employees, objectives and other variables. Therefore, each social enterprise has to decide within the organization how social impact will be captured and measured, how often and who will be responsible for this process.

Social impact assessment plays a strategic role in social entrepreneurship, helping social entrepreneurs to understand the extent to which their social mission has been achieved. Social impact measurement is also strategic for the development of the enterprise itself, provided that it is used and put to use, presented to the wider public and is an important input for policy makers and funders.
While any company or organisation can and does create social impact, the priority for social enterprises is to create social value by addressing social and/or environmental problems, thereby creating social impact. Social enterprises are expected to focus specifically on creating social impact rather than commercial or financial impact.