Wharton Spotlights Social Entrepreneurship New Initiatives Encourage Profit-Making Solutions to Social Problems
Is government the only way to solve social problems? The growing field of social entrepreneurship says no. For researchers and entrepreneurs in this area, private enterprise can design innovative solutions that may be out of reach for large governments and sprawling bureaucracies.
For social entrepreneurs, doing good and making money are not mutually exclusive. In the words of Wharton professor Ian MacMillan, Fred R. Sullivan Professor of Management and Director of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center: “It’s a process whereby the creation of new business enterprise leads to social wealth enhancement so that both society and the entrepreneur benefit.”
“There is no reason,” he adds, “why imaginative entrepreneurs can’t enhance social wealth and also generate fortunes for themselves,” adding that he sees social entrepreneurship in many cases as “an alternative to governments undertaking the task of solving societal problems.”
Conference and Initiative Promote Social Entrepreneurship
Wharton is taking the lead in exploring new approaches to social entrepreneurship, with a day-long conference on Social Impact Management, a university-wide Social Impact Management Initiative, and a new course on “Entrepreneurship and Societal Wealth Generation.”
The Wharton Social Impact Management Initiative (SIM) is a collaborative venture, based at Wharton, that brings together all the University’s efforts to think about entrepreneurial approaches to social problems. As an umbrella organization, SIM aligns faculty, students, and external organizations to offer insight into innovative ways that public or private enterprises can find effective solutions for social issues.
On January 14, SIM hosted a day-long conference on Social Impact Management. This student-run event included panel discussions of such key topics as Socially Responsible Investing, Making a Difference in the Nonprofit Sector, and Making Business Decisions in a Social Enterprise.
The conference also broadened its focus to consider such related areas as International Public Health, Leading Government to Combat Terrorism, and the Future of Microfinance Development. In the late afternoon, a panel discussion of alumni helped attendees consider, “Can I Afford to Pursue a Career in Public Interest?”
The day’s participants included Judy Vredenburgh, CEO and President of Big Brothers/Big Sisters; Thomas Tighe, CEO and President of Direct Relief International; and Rosemarie Greco, Director of the Pennsylvania Office of Health Care Reform.
New Wharton Course Teaches Social Entrepreneurship
Together with these initiatives, Prof. MacMillan and James Thompson, Associate Director of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, are teaching a new course called Entrepreneurship and Societal Wealth Generation. The class aims to teach students that “many social problems, if looked at through an entrepreneurial lens, create opportunity for someone to launch a venture that generates profits by alleviating that social problem. This sets in motion a virtuous cycle – the entrepreneur is incented to generate more profits and … the more profits made, the more the problem is alleviated.”
The course takes a hands-on approach by requiring student groups to develop their own business venture plans, which will ideally become real-world businesses. The teams both analyze a social problem and assess the potential of their enterprise to generate profits. Their projects are then used as “live case studies” for students to discuss their ongoing operational and strategic challenges.
In addition, students considering social entrepreneurship can access the SIM-sponsored Wharton Net Impact. Founded as Students for Responsible Business in 1993, Net Impact aims to promote social impact careers among the Wharton MBA community, in such key areas as social enterprise, nonprofit management, international and economic development, socially responsible investing, and corporate social responsibility.
