Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropic Strategy (HSG 2006)

Abstract

This course takes a strategic perspective on social change. It asks how emerging leaders - social entrepreneurs and strategic philanthropists - can stimulate systemic change through local interventions and collaboration. The course was developed and taught by Maximilian Martin at HSG for the 2006 fall semester. Combining their passion to solve social issues with an entrepreneurial outlook on life, social entrepreneurs find innovative ways to leverage scare resources in the pursuit of social value. To be practical, the course deploys a variety of case studies. The course is divided in five parts. Part one sets the stage by introducing the core conceptual material on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy. Part two looks into the issue of leverage - "where a lot of good comes from a little bit of good, where the positive social returns vastly exceed the amount of time and money invested" (Jeff Skoll) - and introduces the student semester projects. Part three asks how social change strategies can gain greater traction through attention to the efficiency of resource allocation in the areas of finance and the production of a good or service. Part four examines relevant trends for social entrepreneurs in the domain of finance: mission-related investment, alternative investment strategies, and spin off. Part five unifies the different course themes, asking what the frontiers in social entrepreneurship are, and what they mean for social change, as well as providing a conceptual introduction to corporate social responsibility. Students present the status of their projects in class during the last regular class session.

Keywords: Social entrepreneurship, syllabi, social enterprise

JEL Classification: L31