MG4G2      Half Unit
Social Innovation Design

This information is for the 2020/21 session.

Teacher responsible

Prof Harm Barkema NAB 4.24

Availability

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship. This course is not available as an outside option.

Course content

The course provides a rigorous overview of insights, concepts, frameworks, methods, tools and evidence for designing a new business model for a social enterprise.   The pedagogy implies interactive lectures, classes, guest speakers on selected core topics for the course, FB posts and discussions, cases, and most importantly, applying and synthesizing insights from all these sources and relating them to a real life social problem by designing a new social enterprise, with your group. This course – in the Lent term – directly builds on – and complements – the MT courses MG4G1 ‘Understanding Social Problems,’ leading to the design of a fully-fledged, evidence-based social enterprise. The course will have the same student teams as in MG4G1, that culminated in developing an actual, initial idea/ proposal for problem-based intervention, based on an in-depth understanding of a key social problem. This proposed idea is the starting point for the business model design project in this course. Student teams will present parts of their design in class at subsequent stages, for feedback, culminating in ‘pitching’ the full-fledged social enterprise design for an external panel of experts in the last session. As part of their evidence-based design, students will have the opportunity to go over for field work and data collection (i.e., those students who did not go on the first field trip in MG4G1). 

More specifically, students learn:

• Key theoretical approaches (insights, concepts, methodologies/frameworks, tools) related to social and economic goals, value propositions, revenue models, partners/alliances/ ecosystems, own organizational characteristics) for designing innovative social organizations for major social impact;

• Empirical findings and evidence-based insights – from recent management research and related fields; this is a young field – on social implications of a variety of social innovation designs; moderators; how these implications differ across contexts (cultural, economic, sociological, political);

• A rigorous framework synthesizing insights, concepts, methodologies/frameworks, and tools for social innovation design, including for extreme affordability (based on the course material developed at the LSE over the past ten years);

• Synthesizing and relating theoretical and methodological insights, concepts, and frameworks for social  enterprises to real world phenomena and problems, by designing an actual social enterprise;

• How social enterprise designs are contingent – and can vary strongly – depending on the identified social problem.

• How to scale up your social enterprise for major social impact.

Teaching

21 hours of lectures and 9 hours of classes in the LT.

In addition to 21hrs of lectures and 9hrs of seminars, students will attend a 3hr group dynamics workshop.

Formative coursework

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the LT.

Indicative reading

Johnson, M. W., Christensen, C. M., Kagermann, H. , 2008. Reinventing your business model. Harvard Business Review 86(12), 50-59.

Yunus, M., Moingeon, B., & Lehmann-Ortega, L. (2010). Building social business models: lessons from the Grameen experience. Long range planning, 43(2), 308-325.

Dees, J. G., Anderson, B. B., & Wei-Skillern, J. (2004). Scaling social impact. Stanford social innovation review, 1(4), 24-32.

Seelos, C., & Mair, J. (2005). Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor. Business horizons, 48(3), 241-246.

Battilana, J., Sengul, M., Pache, AC., Model, J., 2015, Harnessing productive tensions in hybrid organizations; The case of work integration social enterprises, Academy of Management Journal, vol. 58, no. 6, 1658-1685

Elsie Onsongo, 2017, Institutional Entrepreneurship and social innovation at the base of the pyramid: the case of M-Pesa in Kenya, Industry and Innovation

 

Assessment

Project (45%) and class participation (10%) in the LT.
Essay (45%, 1500 words) in the ST.

Important information in response to COVID-19

Please note that during 2020/21 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the situation of students in attendance on campus and those studying online during the early part of the academic year. For assessment, this may involve changes to mode of delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.

Key facts

Department: Management

Total students 2019/20: 39

Average class size 2019/20: 20

Controlled access 2019/20: Yes

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Personal development skills

  • Leadership
  • Self-management
  • Team working
  • Problem solving
  • Communication
  • Application of numeracy skills
  • Commercial awareness
  • Specialist skills