RESPONSE: Info about Social Entrepreneurship - Summary

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

From: Debbi D. Brock [mailto:Debbi_Brock at berea.edu] 
Date: Sat 22 Nov 2008 17:40

Hi all,

Some wonderful suggestions on the field of social entrepreneurship!  We are still in our infancy, but people are really jumping on board to make an impact on the lives of others through social entrepreneurship.  Earlier this spring, we published a Handbook on Social Entrepreneurship Education (download a free copy at www.universitynetwork.org/handbook ) that I wrote after five years of researching and teaching in the field. It is a nice grouping of resources in the field and is a good starting point for anyone interested in teaching or researching in the field.  It includes Alex Nichol's "recommended readings" for faculty. While we have a higher number of US resources, we are looking to expand the next edition.  See the global directory of faculty in the back of the book - you may find fellow social entrepreneurship allies for your research interests.  I will say that the folks in this field are very supportive of PhD students interested in social entrepreneurship.  Zheng is correct that the Duke Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship www.caseatduke.org is an outstanding resource on social entrepreneurship education and released a two year study on the field of social entrepreneurship in June that you can download at: http://www.caseatduke.org/documents/CASE_Field-Building_Report_June08.pdf   Greg Dees is the "god" of the field (don't tell him that I said that - he is a very humble man) and his research started back when he was at Harvard University and later Stanford before going to Duke.  They have a strong team at Case who contributed to the development of the field.  Another nice resources is the University Network for Social Entrepreneurship.  The website has a ton of information on social entrepreneurship, it is difficult to find the "best" resources, go to www.universitynetwork.org to learn more.  

While I could go on and on about the resources in the field, you can view the handbook to learn.  I would recommend the Skoll World Forum is an unbelievable experience for people interested in the field - they have a special student rate, but the conference is quite expensive since it is held in Oxford each year. If you have any interest at all, email them to get on their listserv to be invited.  They sell out within DAYS of announcing the conference and refuse to increase the number of participants because they like the size of the forum.  To learn more about the Skoll Foundation and all of the great things they are doing, go to www.skollfoundation.org and select the Skoll World Forum if you are interested in the conference next spring (fyi...how many people can say they were hanging out with Teddy Bletcher from CIDA City Campus in South Africa, the first free university in South Africa; Victoria Hale from OneWorld Health, the first nonprofit paramedical company in the US and Nick Moon from KickStart in Kenya; and 500 other amazing social entrepreneurs...it is an incredible conference).

Lastly, let me recommend that Florian Forster coordinate an email list of PhD candidates to share ideas on the field.  I would be happy  to point anyone in the right direction on their research.  Best,

Debbi

PhD Candidates Interested in Social Entrepreneurship
Heather Douglas MSWAP MBA PhD Candidate
School of Management, RMIT
Melbourne, Australia
e-mail: 2innovate at gmail.com 

I have been studying with Gillian Sullivan Mort at Griffith University in Australia. I work from a sociological perspective, and have extensive personal experience in SE. I am about to take up a position at RMIT in Melbourne - 3 researchers there study SE. I know Jo Barrakat at the Centre of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at QUT in Brisbane also researches SE. She is a sociologist. 

Florian Forster
Research and Doctoral Assistant
The Prof. Otto Beisheim Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship Burgplatz 2, 56179 Vallendar, Germany
Tel.: +49 261 6509-264; Fax: +49 261 6509-269 florian.forster at whu.edu ; www.whu.edu/unex
WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management is the Business School of the WHU Foundation
I'd like to add to your request and take this opportunity to bring reseachers from all over the place together who are interested in the area of Social Entrepreneurship.  Please drop me a line if you are interested or curious about further research discussions.  My intention is to estabish a plattform for open idea exchange on this topic.

Recommendations from the Group:

Roskilde University has just established a centre: http://www.ruc.dk/paes_en/cse/

>From Christopher Hastings [mailto:hastingscj at gmail.com]

Other places that are producing good work on social entrepreneurship: 

Harvard University
http://www.cbrf.org/Harvard/Harvard.html

NYU Program in Social Entrepreneurship
http://www.nyu.edu/reynolds/index.flash.html

Indiana University-Purdue University
http://www.indiana.edu/~socent/index.html

Carnegie Mellon
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/isi/

Stanford
http://sie.stanford.edu/

Pace University
http://www.pace.edu/page.cfm?doc_id=15819

A research center on social entrepreneurship has just launched in the last two months at Rutger's. It is still in its nascent stages, but it will be something to watch for in the future.

Best of luck,
Christopher Hastings
MA International Studies, University of St. Thomas Diploma for Graduates, Development, University of London (LSE)

Luv's recoomendation on the German Genisis Institute:
check this out: http://www.genisis-institute.org/

CASE Releases Report on Developing the Field Social Entrepreneurship
October 21, 2008 
The Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) has released its findings from a two-year project to explore some of the key questions around developing social entrepreneurship as a field of practice and a field of academic inquiry.  Drawing upon interviews with more than eighty social entrepreneurs, funders, consultants, academics, and observers, Professor Greg Dees and colleagues identified critical insights into the overall state of the field social entrepreneurship, the specific challenges and opportunities for its development, and potential strategies for moving it forward.
In "Developing the Field of Social Entrepreneurship," the CASE team calls for a strategic, catalytic, and collaborative approach to forging a more cohesive, credible, and vibrant community of practice and knowledge for the field of social entrepreneurship.  Further, CASE identifies key opportunities for strengthening the "ecosystem" in which the practice of social entrepreneurship takes place by making financial markets more efficient and responsive, refining and standardizing performance measurement tools, helping social entrepreneurs find effective pathways for scaling impact, building appropriate talent pipelines, and providing better guidance on sustainable business models.  
This project was made possible through a grant from the Skoll Foundation, which was created in 1999 by eBay's first president, Jeff Skoll, to promote his vision of a more peaceful and prosperous world. Today, the Skoll Foundation advances systemic change to benefit communities around the world by investing in, connecting and celebrating social entrepreneurs--individuals dedicated to innovative, bottom-up solutions that transform unequal and unjust social, environmental and economic systems.  
Following on the success of this project, the Skoll Foundation recently announced an additional grant to enable CASE to undertake two new research projects that will help social entrepreneurs, funders and policy makers become more effective. One will create and disseminate knowledge about the various business models that can be used by social entrepreneurs. The other will provide a comprehensive, in-depth look at social entrepreneurship as a tool for social change, its power, limitations, and potential for the future.  These projects should enhance the impact of social entrepreneurship in such crucial areas as global health and environment/climate change, and will further strengthen Duke's reputation for excellence in research and education in this growing field.
Duke MBA alumni interested in learning more about CASE, its research, education and outreach are encouraged to subscribe to the CASE e-mail list and to join the social entrepreneurship community of interest by selecting that option under "Affinity Groups" in their online profile in the Alumni Directory.