Social Entrepreneurship

Catalog description

The class aims to help students develop and understand "how to socially innovate." Aligning social mission is more challenging than economic mission, and balancing the economic and non-economic motives of the stakeholders is an important challenge for social entrepreneurs. Though knowledge of social entrepreneurship is critical, those engaging in social innovation get a list of dos and don'ts on each step of the process. However, seldom does the context meets with the toolbox of tasks, relationships, and tactics that are central to devising social entrepreneurship solutions. Instead of relying on best practices and advice, the course aims to help students grapple with uncertainty and the messiness that is informed by practice and evidence. This course, based on Paul Light's framework focuses on: (1) five goals for creating creative disruption in the prevailing social equilibrium, (2) five tools for reaching the goals, and (3) ten associated tasks. Moving from the notion of "value capture" to creating "shared value," the class aims to scale topics on how students can engage, advocate, and pursue a variety of stakeholders to engage in social innovation.