Class 1 (Sept 13): Definitions and Examples of Social Entrepreneurship
Theory: What is social entrepreneurship? What distinguishes social entrepreneurship from traditional entrepreneurship?
Practice: What is social enterprise? How is it different from social entrepreneurship? How does it differ from traditional business?
Readings:
- “Social Entrepreneurship: The Case for Definition”, by Roger L. Martin & Sally Osberg (e-reserve) http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/social_entrepreneurship_the_case_for_definition/
- “The Meaning of ‘Social Entrepreneurship’”, by J. Gregory Dees (e-reserve) http://www.impactalliance.org/ev_en.php?ID=19890_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
- “Social Entrepreneurship: A Content Analysis”, by Wendy Cukier, Sara Rodrigues, Susan Trenholm and Sean Wise (e-reserve)
http://usasbe.org/knowledge/proceedings/proceedingsDocs/2009/PaperID187.pdf - Seelos, C. & Mair, J. (2005). “Social Entrepreneurship: Creating New Business Models to Serve The Poor”, Business Horizons, 48(3), p. 241-246. (e-reserve)
Class 2 (Sept 20): Motivations and Drivers for Social Entrepreneurship
Guest Speaker: Bill Young, Founder and CEO/President, Social Capital Partners
Theory: What are the motivations, drivers, and strategic intentions of social entrepreneurship?
Practice: What are the implications of these drivers on social enterprise (business) models? How are social ventures blending business and social objectives?
Readings:
- “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas”, by David Bornstein. Part 1. (Textbook)
- “The Benefits of Using the Social Entrepreneurism Model”, Chapter 2 of “Social Entrepreneurship: The Art of Mission-Based Venture Development” by Peter C. Brinckerhoff (course kit)
- Hart, S.L. (2010) “Capitalism at the Crossroads: The Unlimited Business Opportunities in Solving the World’s Most Difficult Problems.” Wharton School Publishing, Pearson Education, Inc., Chapter 1, From Obligation to Opportunity. (course kit)
- “Mission Orientation and Motives”, by Sutia Kim Alter. (e-reserve) http://www.4lenses.org/setypology/semo
Class 3 (Sept 27): Business Modelling for Social Enterprise
Guest speaker – Assaf Weisz, Executive Director, Young Social Entrepreneurs of Canada (YSEC)
Theory: What models exist for social enterprises? How do these models inform the structure and operations of the social venture? What are the key issues, tensions and considerations that make these models applicable to specific contexts?
Practice: How can business model development be applied to the development of a social enterprise?
Readings:
- “Business Model Generation”, by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. Chapter 1 (Canvas). (course kit)
- “The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World”, by John Elkington, Pamela Hartigan and Klaus Schwab. Chapter 3 (Creating Successful Business Models). (course kit)
- “Social Enterprise Typology”, by Sutia Kim Alter. Chapter 4 (Operational Models) and Chapter 5 (Social Enterprise Structures). (course kit): http://www.4lenses.org/setypology/models and http://www.4lenses.org/setypology/structures
- “The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide, 2nd Edition”, published by the Enterprising Nonprofits Program. Chapter 4 (Idea Identification and Feasibility Analysis): http://www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/sites/www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/files/uploads/SEGUIDE_Web_Chapter_Four.pdf
Class 4 (Oct 4): Identifying Business Potential
Guest speaker – Hedvig Alexander, Founder and CEO, Jali Designs
Theory: How do social entrepreneurs assess the business potential of their ideas?
Practice: What are the challenges associated with collecting and synthesizing market research data, and applying this data to making business decisions?
Readings:
- “Business Model Generation”, by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur. Chapter 2 (Patterns). (course kit)
- “The Process of Social Entrepreneurship: creating opportunities worthy of serious pursuit”, by Ayse Guclu, J. Gregory Dees, and Beth Battle Anderson. (e-reserve) http://www.impactalliance.org/ev_en.php?ID=22738_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
- “Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs”, by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson, Peter Economy. Chapter 3 (Recognizing and Assessing New Opportunities) (Textbook)
- “The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide, 2nd Edition”, published by the Enterprising Nonprofits Program. Chapter 4 (Idea Identification and Feasibility Analysis): http://www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/sites/www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/files/uploads/SEGUIDE_Web_Chapter_Four.pdf (course kit)
Class 5 (Oct 18): Costing Analysis for Social Enterprises; Financial and Investment Considerations for Social Enterprise
Live case study/working session
Theory: How do you monetize your business potential? What are the key financial and investment considerations?
Practice: How do you conduct a costing analysis for social enterprises? What are the types and sources of investments you will require for your social enterprise?
Readings:
- “Guide to Financing for Social Enterprise”, published by Western Economic Diversification Canada and Small Business BC, Pages 5 – 30: http://www.csef.ca/guidetofinance_june05_eng.pdf
Class 6 (Oct 25): Operational, Human Resources, Financial/Financing and Legal Considerations
Guest speaker – Christine Ho, Well of Change
Theory: What are the unique HR and operational considerations that social entrepreneurs need to incorporate in their social enterprise? What are some key debt and equity financing considerations unique to social enterprise? Why is legal form such an important issue for social enterprise?
Practice: What strategies and techniques can social entrepreneurs apply to effectively execute the operational and HR aspects of their social venture? What are the various types of financing that social enterprises require, and how does this vary over the lifecycle of the business? What legal forms can social enterprises assume, and what are the pros and cons for each form?
Readings:
- The “People Who Work for You” section of CCH’s Business Owners Toolkit. (e-reserve) http://www.toolkit.com/small_business_guide/sbg.aspx?nid=P05_0000
- “The Challenges of Staffing and Leading a Social Purpose Business”, by John Braer and Michelle Tatos. (course kit) http://www.redf.org/download/boxset/REDF_Vol1_4.pdf
- Financing Options for Social Enterprise”, by MaRS Discovery District. (e-reserve) http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Financing-Options-for-Social-Enterprises-non-profit
- “Financing Options for Social Purpose Businesses”, by MaRS Discovery District. (e-reserve) http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Financing-Options-for-Social-Purpose-Businesses-for-profit
- “The Canadian Social Enterprise Guide, 2nd Edition”, published by the Enterprising Nonprofits Program. Chapter 7 (The Legal Context): http://www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/sites/www.enterprisingnonprofits.ca/files/uploads/SEGUIDE_Web_Chapter_Seven.pdf
- “Legislative Innovations and Social Enterprise: Structural Lessons for Canada”, by Richard Bridge and Stacey Corriveau. (e-reserve) http://www.centreforsocialenterprise.com/f/Legislative_Innovations_and_Social_Enterprise_Structural_Lessons_for_Canada_Feb_2009.pdf
Class 7 (Nov 1): Impact Investing and Social Capital Markets
Guest panel – Serge Levert-Chaisson, Vice President, Sarona Asset Management, & Adam Spence, Founder, Social Venture Exchange (SVX)
Theory: How is finance being directed to achieve a combination of social and financial returns? What are the key trends and issues being addressed in the development of social capital markets?
Practice: What range of organizations are actively engaged in social finance in Canada and overseas? How are investors assessing the tradeoffs between risk, return and impact?
Readings:
- “Investing for Social and Environmental Impact”, by Monitor Institute. (e-reserve) http://www.monitorinstitute.com/impactinvesting/
- “Impact Investing: Harnessing Capital Markets to Solve Problems at Scale”, by Antony Bugg-Levine and John Goldstein. (e-reserve) http://www.frbsf.org/publications/community/review/vol5_issue2/bugg_levine_goldstein.pdf
- “The Capital Curve for a Better World” by Matthew Bishop and Michael Green. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization Winter 2010, Vol. 5, No. 1: 25–33. (e-reserve) http://tech.ashoka.org/sites/tech/files/INNOVATIONS_Invention_Led_Development_Bishop_Green.pdf
Class 8 (Nov 8): Marketing Considerations
Guest speaker – Jon Packer, Principal Idea Workshop
Theory: What are the unique marketing challenges that social enterprises face?
Practice: How have social enterprises applied marketing principles in the real world to market their social venture?
Readings:
- “Mission-Based Marketing: Positioning Your Not-for-Profit in an Increasingly Competitive World”, by Peter C. Brinckerhoff. Chapter 2 (Marketing: The Competitive Edge) and Chapter 3 (Being Mission-Based and Market-Driven). (course kit)
Class 9 (Nov 15): Managing for Social Impact
Guest speakers – Cheryl May, Skills for Change; Gwen Hughes and Diane Popovski, Canadian Youth Business Foundation
Theory: What are the unique challenges of managing a social enterprise? How do social entrepreneurs manage for social impact?
Practice: How do you grow or scale up a social enterprise? How do social enterprises assess their social impact, and balance the various facets of “blended value creation”?
Readings:
- “Generating and Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income”, edited by Oster, Massarsky and Beinacker, Jossey-Bass, 2004. Chapter 3 (“Leadership Strategies for Managing a Nonprofit Enterprise”, by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Maxwell Anderson) and Chapter 13 (“Fundamentals of Implementation”, by Patricia Caesar and Thomas Baker). (course kit)
- “The Five Critical Factors of Social Enterprise Profitability”, by Social Capital Partners. (e-reserve) http://socialcapitalpartners.ca/images/uploads/docs/SCP_5_Factors.pdf
- “Business Planning for Social Enterprises”, by Sutia Kim Alter. (e-reserve)
http://www.tgci.com/magazine/Business%20Planning%20for%20Social%20Enterprises.pdf - “Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs”, by J. Gregory Dees, Jed Emerson, Peter Economy. Chapter 10 (Business Planning) (textbook)
- “Simple Measures for Social Enterprise”, by Brian Trelstad. (e-reserve) http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/itgg.2008.3.3.105
- “Measuring Innovation: Evaluation in the Field of Social Entrepreneurship”, by the Skoll Foundation. (e-reserve) http://www.fsg-impact.org/ideas/pdf/353_MeasuringInnovation-EvaluationintheFieldofSocialEntrepreneurship.pdf
Class 10 (Nov 22): The Enabling Environment for Social Entrepreneurship
Guest speakers – Allyson Hewitt, Director, Social Innovation Generation at MaRS, and Elisha Muskat, Competition Manager at Changemakers, Ashoka (SiG@MaRS)
Theory: What are the various constituent parts of an “ecosystem” required for social entrepreneurship to flourish?
Practice: What is the range and nature of activity related to social entrepreneurship across Canada?
No Readings
Class 11 (Nov 29): Student Pitches to Social Investors
Student teams will present their social enterprise pitch to a panel of social investors.
No Readings
Class 12 (Dec 6): Student Pitches to Angel Investors
Student teams will present their social enterprise pitch to a panel of Angel investors.
No Readings