Social Enterprise

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Use design thinking to create solutions to social problems
• Use systems thinking to understand social problems
• Communicate effectively, in both oral and written form, using and justifying argument within presentations and short reports
• To become self-aware of your skills development
• Work in teams and develop leadership skills to design a solution to a social challenge
• Conduct qualitative problem-solving research
• Pitch ideas persuasively
• Prototype and iterate solutions to social challenges
• Brainstorm effectively

This module is an experiential introduction to social enterprise and entrepreneurship through a human-centred design process. It takes students, stage-by-stage, through a process of conception, design and delivery of a idea for social change. Each stage is broken down into individual tasks which propels each team further towards the execution of a prototype social venture.

The module is intended as a launchpad for further explorations of student enterprise activity, whether as an independent entrepreneur or as a contributor to on-going social ventures.

Teaching and learning methods

Workshops: Students will participate in a series of workshops which will help them to understand their skillsets (creating benchmarks and monitoring progress) and their own leadership styles. These workshops will take place in class.

Writing individual reports: Students, as part of summative assessment, will submit individual reports where they will present problem landscape, solutions landscape and opportunities for intervention

Reflective log: students will complete weekly blogs on the learning process to reflect on the skills and knowledge acquired during the course, and their understanding of themselves as social impact leaders. These blogposts will be thematised using specific skills and leadership concepts.

Presentations: students will deliver presentations to a panel of external stakeholders, outlining their understanding of given social challenges, current solutions, and the scope for effective new interventions.

Resources & Reading list

Internet Resources

Harvard Business Review Blog.

Guardian Social Enterprise Network.

Next Billion: Development Through Enterprise.

Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Textbooks

Bornstein, David & Davis, Susan (2010). Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Osterwalder, Alexander. Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers.

Novogratz, Jacqueline (2009). The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World.

Prahalad, C. K (2010). The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid : eradicating poverty through profits.

Polak, Paul (2008). Out of poverty: what works when traditional approaches fail.

Stokes, D. ,Wilson, N. and Mador, M. (2010). Entrepreneurship, CENGAGE Learning. London.

Elkington, John & Hartigan Pamela (2008). The power of unreasonable people : how social entrepreneurs create markets that change the world.

Yunus, Muhammad (2010). Building social business the new kind of capitalism that serves humanity's most pressing needs.

Nicholls, Alex (2007). Social entrepreneurship: new models of sustainable social change.

Sommerrock, Katharina (2011). Social entrepreneurship business models.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External