COURSE NUMBER: MBA 292N.1

 

COURSE TITLE: Social Entrepreneurship

 

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

 

INSTRUCTORS: Jim Schorr

 

E-MAIL ADDRESSES:  schorr@haas.berkeley.edu

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu

 

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Thursday, 4:00-6:00PM

 

PREREQUISITE(S): none

 

CLASS FORMAT:  Lecture/discussion, cases, and guest speakers. 

 

REQUIRED READINGS:  Articles and cases.  No text. 

 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:  Mix of papers (2 @ 2-3pp), groups projects, and class engagement. 

 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:  This course explores the idea and practice of “social enterprise”, an emerging field where new business models are being developed to address important social and environmental concerns.  From Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which has made $10 billion in very small loans to the poor over the past 35 years, to Juma Ventures in the Bay Area, which creates job opportunities for at-risk youth, compelling examples of social enterprise are being developed in every corner of the world today, and are increasingly seen as promising solutions to a wide variety of social problems.

 

This course is designed to provide in-depth exposure to the activity in the social enterprise sector, where business models converge with nonprofit and government approaches to create new solutions that address social & environmental needs in more effective, efficient, and sustainable manners.  This broad scope of inquiry will be constantly grounded in real-world examples that illustrate the topics and stimulate thinking, discussion, and learning.  The course will integrate five elements of content –reading materials, instructor lecture, class discussion, group projects developing social enterprise concepts/business plans, and guest speakers – and collectively will deliver significant insight into the theory and practice of social enterprise. 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:  As a student at Northwestern/Kellogg in 1992-94, Jim Schorr was inspired by the idea and ideals of emerging “triple bottom line” businesses, and went on to help launch Net Impact an organization that has since become a force in business education and inspired a generation students at 200+ universities on 6 continents to leverage the power of business and their careers to make a difference in the world.  He later served for 10 years as a Director & Board Chair during Net Impact’s growth and global expansion in the 2000s. 

 

From 2000-07, Schorr was CEO of Juma Ventures, a San Francisco-based organization that is widely regarded as one of the leading social enterprises in the US.  Juma develops businesses to create employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth, and combines these jobs with financial literacy and other programs that facilitate successful youth transitions to adulthood. During his tenure as CEO, Juma became nationally recognized as one of the pioneers and “success stories” (Harvard Business Review) in the emerging social enterprise field.  Today, more than 90% of youth participants advance to college each year, and Juma’s enterprises are scaling nationally and operating sustainably, without ongoing charitable subsidies.

 

Since 2007, Schorr has been teaching coursework on social enterprise at Haas and Vanderbilt University.  He also currently serves as Board Chair of the Social Enterprise Alliance and as an advisor to numerous organizations and events in the social enterprise sector, including field-building initiatives such as the Social Enterprise World Forum and early-stage social enterprises founded by his former students.