SSRN Id983206

Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship
Madhukar Shukla
XLRI Jamshedpur
Rationale & Teaching Objective of the Course:

• Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging field that offers opportunity to young
professionals to create societal/economic value on a sustainable basis. According to
some reports, globally this is the fastest growing sector and perhaps the only sector that
is creating gainful employment worldwide.
• In the academic field, Social Entrepreneurship is a recent but growing area of teaching
and research. A large number of universities and business schools have regular courses
or centers on Social Entrepreneurship, e.g., Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship
(Oxford Said Business School), Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship
(Faqua Business School, Duke University), Catherine B Reynold Program for Social
Entrepreneurship (New York University), Entrepreneurship in Social Sector Program
(Harvard Business School), Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs (University
of Geneva), Social Entrepreneurship Course Series (Stanford University), etc.
• Unfortunately, most management students/professionals view social entrepreneurship as
a “by charity/ for charity” venture, and not as a financially viable entrepreneurial activity.
The purpose of the course is to expose the students to viable business models through
case-studies, which are simultaneously profitable (though, not necessarily with “profit-
making” as the sole aim) and enthuse them to actively think about this as a realistic
vocational choice.
• In a country like ours, where barely 6-7% of the economically active work-force is in the
“organized sector”, there is a dire need to divert the managerial talent to develop
ventures which can add/create value to the rest of the “informal sector” (that accounts for
60% of India’s GDP, 68% of income, 30% of agricultural exports, and 40% of
manufacturing exports).
• Lastly, in the past few years, we have had a handful of students who were actively
looking for such a direction, but as an institute we have not been able to provide them
with that direction/choice… hopefully, this course will help bridge this gap a little bit.
Course Design
• This is a 1-½ credit elective course, consisting of 10 sessions
• The course will be open to both BMD & PMIR students.
• The preferred class-size envisaged for the course is about 15-30 students
• The course is conceptualized in 3 modules. The sessions, coverage, readings and tasks
are described below:
[1]
Electronic
Electronic
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Session 1 & 2 are introductory sessions, focusing on Understanding Social Entrepreneurship
and the Citizen Sector.
Session: 1 The Socio-Economic Context of Social Entrepreneurship

Coverage: • Introduction to the course
• History of Citizen Sector & Social Entrepreneurship
• Significance of Social Entrepreneurship to Development
Readings:
The Economist (Feb 2006) The Rise of Social Entrepreneur
David Bornstein The Restless People
Susan Davis Social Entrepreneurship: Towards An
Entrepreneurial Culture for Social and Economic
Development
David Korten Economics as if Life Mattered
Session: 2 Understanding Social Entrepreneurship

Coverage: • Defining Social Entrepreneurship
• Difference between Social and Business Entrepreneurship
• Types of Social Entrepreneurship
Readings:
Jerr Boschee & Jim McClurg Towards a Better understanding of Social
Entrepreneurship: Some Important Distinctions
J Gregory Dees The Meaning of “Social Entrepreneurship”
Christian Seelos & Johanna Social Entrepreneurship: The Contribution of
Mair Individual Entrepreneurs to Sustainable
Development
Case: If possible, arrange an interaction of the class
with a Social Entrepreneur.
The purpose of the next 6 sessions (Sessions 3 – 8) is to develop an inductive appreciation

of social entrepreneurship by studying real-life social enterprise as well as to stimulate
thinking in direction of becoming a social entrepreneurship. To achieve this, the participants
will be required to work in small groups to complete two tasks:
1. Based on secondary material, study, develop a case and make presentation on 6 well-
known social enterprises. The purpose of the presentation will be to focus on the
following four issues:
• Opportunity Identification & Innovation: Social entrepreneurs are innovators

who create change. What innovative insight did the entrepreneur bring to identify
an opportunity to create change? How did s/he create and spread this innovation
and change?
• Value Creation & Impact: What new value was created by the enterprise/
entrepreneur, and how? What can be the conceptual tools to measure/assess the
impact and effectiveness of the social enterprise?
• Sustainability: How did the social entrepreneur make the venture sustainable –
financially, organizationally, and in terms of continuity of the venture?
• Leadership & Personal Qualities: What were the characteristics of social
entrepreneurs’ leadership? What personal qualities (background, skills, values,
beliefs, etc.) helped the entrepreneur to succeed in creating value?
[2]
Electronic
Electronic
copy ofcopy
this paper
available
is available
at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=983206
at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=983206
The social enterprises for study will be selected from the following tentative list:
• Aravind Eye Healthcare
• Basix Bank
• Ekal Vidyalaya
• Grameen Bank
• Sri Grameen Mahila Udyog (Lijjat)
• Narayan Hrudayalaya
• N-Logue
• Jaipur Foot
• SEWA
2. Based on their insights from the cases, the participants’ groups will be required to
identify one opportunity for social value creation and develop a project proposal for
building a social enterprise. The proposal must incorporate the points mentioned above.
Session: 9 Project Presentations

Coverage: The participant-groups will make the presentations on the projects
they have selected. If possible, I would try to get a panel of social
entrepreneurs, faculty colleagues to assess, comment and give
feedback on the proposals.
Session: 10 Concluding Session: On Becoming a Social Entrepreneur

Coverage: • Qualities of a Social Entrepreneur
• Leadership, Organisational and Culture-building Skills for
Social Entrepreneur
• Conclusion of the course
Readings:
Lynn Barendsen & Howard Is Social Entrepreneur a New Type of Leader?
Gardner
David Bornstein Six Qualities of Successful Social Entrepreneurs
Evaluation:
The evaluation for the course will be based on the following 3 components:
1. Case Presentation - 35 marks
2. Project Proposal - 30 marks
3. End-Term Exam - 35 marks
****
[3]
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=983206

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Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

Rationale & Teaching Objective of the Course:

Session: 1 The Socio-Economic Context of Social Entrepreneurship

Session: 2 Understanding Social Entrepreneurship

The purpose of the next 6 sessions (Sessions 3 – 8) is to develop an inductive appreciation

• Opportunity Identification & Innovation: Social entrepreneurs are innovators

Session: 9 Project Presentations

Session: 10 Concluding Session: On Becoming a Social Entrepreneur

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=983206

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