Writing Assignment – Social Entrepreneurship
The final assignment will consist of a 1500 – 2000 word paper that draws on the readings and class discussions to research and analyse a social enterprise that has been selected/awarded by the Skoll Foundation [1], the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship [2], Ashoka [3], Echoing Green [4], or Acumen [5]. These networks collectively comprise more than 4,000 social enterprises to choose from, and in the drop-down menu of their websites you can filter by region (e.g. Latin America) and/or by sector (e.g. education).
The paper should consist of three sections and is due May 6 at 17.00.
Problem Statement (up to 500 words) Using the problem spaces framework, summarise the dimensions of the social and/or environmental issue the social enterprise is working to address
Defining Features of the Social Enterprise (up to 1000 words) Drawing on the theoretical frameworks, articles, case studies, and guest speakers in class, provide an in-depth, wellresearched analysis of your chosen social enterprise’s business and impact model.
- Business model: What is the enterprise’s key activity/activities and what are its primary sources of revenue (e.g. sale of products or services to beneficiaries/clients, B2B, government contracts, membership fees, grants/donations, etc.)? What is the price range of its products or services and how does it ensure affordability? Would you characterise the business model as self-sustaining or as dependent on donor subsidies (for example, what is the enterprise’s percentage of earned revenue versus donations/contributed revenue)?
- Impact model: What is the enterprise’s mission statement and how would you describe its theory of change? What are the long-term goals or outcomes it aims to achieve (what is the new, more just equilibrium it is trying to forge)? What are the conditions required to make the change happen? What incentives is the enterprise putting in place to ensure the change does happen? How does it measure its impact – through anecdotal stories or testimonials from beneficiaries or customers, or through rigorous data collection? What data methods does the enterprise use to measure its impact, and what do the data show about the impact it has created?
Your Role In Social Change (up to 500 words). This section of your term paper is an opportunity to reflect on your unique skills, attributes, and current and future contribution to addressing a social and/or environmental problem. What strengths do you bring to the table? Which role does your personality, temperament, and aptitude make you most suited to play? How can inner work and self-inquiry help you develop healthier patterns of thought and behaviour to become a more effective leader?
Reading during lecture:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpb4AGT684U It was given to understand better the theory of change. It was a topic that should be developed in this assignment.
- This enterprise was an example of sustainable development for social ship entrepreneurhttps://www.sekem.com/en/index/
- https://bcorporation.net/about-b-lab It was a non-profit organization presenting their social entrepreneurship
- Dees, Greg, The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, Duke University, 1998.
- https://entrepreneurship.duke.edu/news-item/the-meaning-of-social-entrepreneurship/
- Simple Enough. Cheap Enough. Stanford Social Innovation Review, December 2019. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/big_enough_simple_enough_cheap_enough#
- Zimmer, Kyle; Pearson, Kristine. This Is What Is Holding Social Entrepreneurs Back, World Economic Forum Agenda, July 2019 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/this-is-what-holds-social-entrepreneurs-back
- Battilana, J. & Kimsey, M. “Should you agitate, innovate, or orchestrate?” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2017. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/should_you_agitate_innovate_or_orchestrate
[1] https://skoll.org/community/awardees/
[2] https://www.schwabfound.org/awardees
[3] https://www.ashoka.org/en-ch/ashoka-fellows