Leveraging Market-Based Action for Positive Change: A Seminar on Social Entrepreneurship (HEC 2003)

Abstract

Changing value-creation dynamics in the globalizing economy have opened up a window of opportunity for enterprising public leaders. Social entrepreneurs draw on market-based mechanisms to create positive change in the domains of education, the environment, fair trade, health, and human rights. Combining their passion to solve social problems with an entrepreneurial outlook on life, they find innovative ways to leverage scarce resources in the pursuit of social value. Providing an effective and refreshing alternative to traditional development and social policy interventions, social entrepreneurs manage to wed the qualities of the Schumpeterian investment entrepreneur with a concern for inequality and social value. This course was developed by Maximilian Martin for the HEC DEA program for the 2003 spring semester, and co-taught by Pamela Hartigan and Maximilian Martin. The course examines social entrepreneurship as an alternative paradigm that helps to organize work for positive change. To foster practical learning, the emphasis is on sharing examples of on-the-ground action. The seminar consists of three blocs. Part one introduces students to the concept of social entrepreneurship, and explores its changing conditions in a globalizing world. Part two inquires into the strategic challenges social entrepreneurs face at different moments in the entrepreneurship lifecycle - how to get started, how to find the right scale, issues of organizational governance and network building and partnering. Finally, the course asks how intermediaries between social entrepreneurs and investors can promote social entrepreneurs' quest for social value. What are the promises of venture philanthropy? What opportunities does the changing world of social entrepreneurship hold for graduate students?