Dancing with Wolves? Social Entrepreneurship Between Promise and Challenge for the Business School and the 21st Century University

Abstract

Capitalism is at a crossroads and management education under some criticism. These circumstances present business schools with an opportunity to reposition themselves. Business schools are being called upon to serve a more humanistic form of capitalism in which social innovation figures centrally. As a consequence, several schools are realigning their mission with that of the university, embracing the promise of social entrepreneurship and aspiring to serve the common good. Other schools are unsure of how to forge this path, as social innovation and social entrepreneurship demand a fundamental redesign of traditional approaches to research and teaching. Advocates of Social Entrepreneurship (SE) are excited that it has moved center stage, but are wary that its promise may fade if business schools engage with SE more in rhetoric than content or if implementation of SE related curriculum is poorly managed. In this essay, we lay out the fundamental challenges teaching SE poses to the traditional business school and suggest that University-wide collaborations including business schools and other university departments and schools may present the greatest potential to benefit SE programs. We also propose how business schools can embrace SE without compromising its promise.