Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropic Strategy (HSG 2007)

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 2007 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 four parts. Part one sets the stage by introducing the core conceptual material on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy. It also introduces the student semester projects. Part two looks into the issue of scale and 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). Part three provides a conceptual introduction to corporate social responsibility, and asks for win-win situations for business and social enterprise to collaborate. Part four 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. Students present the status of their projects in class during the last regular class session.