Since its inception, the Social Enterprise Initiative has explored the role of business in creating social value. Early efforts in the late 1990s included hosting a research conference on business leadership in the social sector and developing an MBA course focused on strategic corporate citizenship.
Five years later, SEI launched an executive education program on corporate social responsibility. In 2005, SEI convened a research forum on business solutions to global poverty, bringing together academic, business, nonprofit, and government leaders from around the world. This conference led to the publication of a book, the development of an MBA elective course on Business at the Base of the Pyramid, and the creation of an executive education program for leaders in the microfinance industry.
Today, SEI continues to examine the challenges and opportunities in harnessing the power of the markets to create both economic and social value.
Deeply Responsible Business.: A Global History of Values-Driven Leadership
By: Geoffrey Jones
2023 | Faculty Research
To Overcome Resistance to DEI, Understand What’s Driving It
By: Eric Shuman, Eric Knowles and Amit Goldenberg
March 1, 2023 | Harvard Business Review (website)
Reaching for Rigor and Relevance: Better Marketing Research for a Better World
By: Shilpa Madan, Gita Venkataramani Johar, Jonah Berger, Pierre Chandon, Rajesh Chandy, Rebecca Hamilton, Leslie John, Aparna Labroo, Peggy J. Liu, John G. Lynch, Nina Mazar, Nicole Mead, Vikas Mittal, Christine Moorman, Michael I. Norton, John Roberts, Dilip Soman, Madhu Viswanathan and Katherine White
Forthcoming | Marketing Letters
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility
By: Mark R. DesJardine, Jody Grewal and Kala Viswanathan
Forthcoming | Organization Science
The Forum convened more than 100 practitioners and academics to discuss the global role of business in creating social change. The report captures output from the conference sessions and reflections from participants.In the spring of 2014, SEI hosted a research forum on Business for Social Impact, convening more than 100 practitioners and academics to discuss the global role of business in creating social change.
This course seeks to provide an understanding of how business approaches can address low income segments, often the largest components of emerging markets (both in terms of population as well as total expenditure) but nevertheless severely underserved. The course specifically explores the factors behind the commercial viability of such markets and examines the impact of business models on the social and economic development of the societies involved.
This course offers an expanded vision of competitive strategy by incorporating social purpose and "stakeholder capitalism" as a source of new business opportunities, improved productivity, and competitive differentiation, using Porter and Kramer's framework for Creating Shared Value. At the end of the course, students should have an understanding of how social impact can be a source of competitive advantage and a framework for implementation, as well as a clearer sense of purpose in their own lives.
Subjects covered include: Sourcing; Factory Conditions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
Subjects covered include: Sustainability; Organizational Change and Adaptation
Subjects covered include: Shared Value; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy
Subjects covered include: entrepreneurs, nonprofit organizations, and social responsibility.
Subjects covered include: entrepreneurship, franchises, social enterprise, and strategic planning.
