Entrepreneurial Solutions for Social Challenges: The Promise of Social Entrepreneurship and Strategic Philanthropy (HEC 2005)

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. 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. The course was developed and taught by Maximilian Martin for the HEC DEA program in the 2005 spring semester. The course is divided in three parts. Day one sets the stage by introducing the core conceptual material on social entrepreneurship and philanthropy, deploying case studies to render the challenges concrete. Day two takes a case-based approach, including a field visit to a Geneva-based NGO and a guest lecture on microfinance. Day three asks how we can strategically orchestrate social innovation through specific projects. Which roles do intermediaries (civil society vehicles that service grassroots social entrepreneurs) play? How can we formulate effective social change strategies?