Archive for E-Magazine Issue 9

Dear Reader,

As the Social Enterprise space becomes more evolved and emerges as a complex business model that has double bottom line implications, the need for a well-rounded academic program for the aspiring social entrepreneur becomes crucial.

Creating a community of students, scholars and industry leaders devoted to improving the social sector is the aim of SocEnt business classrooms. Programs in entrepreneurship seek to educate, challenge and inspire the social entrepreneur to leverage intellectual, social, and financial capital resources with a focus on social change, innovation and impact.

Several executive programs in Social Entrepreneurship break new ground and tailor courses to meet the needs and challenges facing these change-makers across the globe.

Read about all this and more in this issue to gain insights on a meaningful entrepreneurship programs.

Happy reading and do write in to share your views or your recipe for a successful SocEnt program.

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—Chesta Shah

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Can social entrepreneurship be taught in the classroom? Yale thinks yes with its interactive course that teaches business students about real world issues faced by social enterprises.

Course Outline
Now in its third year, Yale School of Management’s (SoM) fall course on Global Social Entrepreneurship (GSE) connects student teams to five social enterprises (SEs) based in India. In partnership with Morgan Stanley and Tata Consultancy Services, the four-month course serves as a real world assignment whereby students familiarize themselves with the challenges faced by social entrepreneurs. “I try to match up the backgrounds and skills of interested students with the best of the project applications,” Professor Anthony Sheldon, Executive Director of SoM’s Program on Social Enterprise explained. Each SE worked with its own GSE team to develop a plan addressing a particular management issue. The course concluded in early January 2011 with a two-day conference in Thane, India, at which each team presented its set of recommendations and lessons from their semester working with an Indian SE. » Continue reading “Learning in Action”

By Abby Callard and Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Beyond Profit spoke to three professors about the blossoming field of social entrepreneurship in B-schools around the world.

How would you define social entrepreneurship?

PB: I would define social entrepreneurship as the triple bottom line, which is more than the financial bottom line. It is taking account of the social part – metrics and outcomes – that is more than monetary. » Continue reading “Teaching the Entrepreneurial Way”

By Abby Callard and Nisha Kumar Kulkarni

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Student demand in top business schools requires a change in curriculum. The Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey (2009), which looks at some of the MBA programs integrating social ideas, documents that shift.

19

The number of elective courses per school that feature some degree of social, environmental or ethical content. » Continue reading “Data – In the SocEnt Classroom”

By Dipika Prasad

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

These five social entrepreneurship programs at top schools around the world are empowering people with skills to bring about market-led development.

Harvard Business School’s Social Enterprise Initiative, USA

Harvard’s holistic approach includes five annual Executive Education Programs (EEP), imbibing elements of social enterprise in the MBA program and the off-campus, field-based Immersion Experience Program (IXP).  The EEPs are typically held during the summer, with durations ranging from one week to a few months, at a minimum cost of US$3400.  Interestingly, the IXP fellows working in India focused on Healthcare Delivery opportunities in 2010. » Continue reading “Global Social Entrepreneurship Programs”

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

A new book examines the 50-year history of Fabindia.

2010 marked the 50^th anniversary of Fabindia, one of the most successful companies in India. The Fabric of Our Lives by Radhika Singh follows the story of the company and its founder, John Bissell. Fabindia has been featured as a case study at Harvard Business School, and the company’s story serves as a great model for those hoping to generate both profits and social good.

Fabindia’s success and influence are indisputable—while one share sold for INR 5,000 (US$110) in 1977, today, one share is worth INR 16 million (US$350,000). Rising from one small retail outlet in New Delhi to more than 120 stores worldwide, Fabindia helped to organize the handloom sector and provide steady jobs to thousands of weavers. » Continue reading “Behind the Fabindia Story”

This story originally appeared in our January 14, 2011 e-magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Business schools should adopt an interactive classroom approach to social entrepreneurship.

Since 2008, an increasing number of business graduates have assumed positions in the social sector. It is still too early to say if this sector switch can just be attributed to the collapsing economy or if a budding interest in social enterprise was beginning its full bloom. What can be observed though is that in tandem to the altered economic climate, there is also noticeable employment migration from traditional for-profit institutions to more socially-minded businesses. B-schools are awakening to this trend, and to the rising demand of both smaller enterprises and MNCs for specialists in social entrepreneurship. » Continue reading “Designing a Social Entrepreneurship Course”