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.