MG318      Half Unit
Social Enterprise Design Fundamentals

This information is for the 2023/24 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Nadia Millington MAR.5.37

Guest lecturers / external team mentors

Availability

This course is available on the BSc in Management. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

This course is available on the BSc in Management. This course is not available as an outside option nor to General Course students.

This course has a limited number of places (it is capped). This course is not available to students with timetable clashes due to Harvard style of teaching

Course content

The lecture weeks (5 weeks)

During the foundational element, students will be provided with a theoretical overview of this young field, including but not limited to:

(1) Introduction to social enterprise-  definitions / taxonomies of social innovation/business models for social innovation

(2) Solving social problems- human centered vs problem centric vs opportunity centric approaches

(3) Theory of change

(4) Designing social business models & social Innovation

(5) Social impact measurement



Throughout the course, examples are given of real social enterprises in order give practical insight to complement the theory and cases studies where applicable will be utilised.

 

The Interactive Lecture weeks ( 5 weeks)

During the interactive lecture weeks, students will be provided with a short lecture followed by interactive exercises that help them to develop the initial stages of a social enterprise solution based and then will develop a draft business model and conduct some minimum viable product testing to check the validity of their recommendations. An advantage of the course for students will be an opportunity to discover lean and human centred design principles as an approach to problem solving that spans many social disciplines and is being used by social scientists, creative designers and world class entrepreneurs

Ethical limitations:

Students will be encouraged to engage in developing solutions to problems without complex ethical considerations as there is insufficient time for the students to get approval for these projects from the Ethics Committee before the term concludes. More specifically students will be steered away from working with

(i) Minors

(ii) Vulnerable populations such as refugees / homeless without a third party ( the logic is that an established third party can provide the structure for students to approach these populations in a safe way)

(iii) Any domestic violence related initiative

(iv) Other such initiatives that would mean that the team cannot self-certify its project



Further students will be advised of LSE’s ethical standards to ensure that they comply with them fully in the execution of their projects.

Teaching

20 hours of lectures and 1 hour of help sessions in the AT.

Formative coursework

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

Indicative reading

  • Dees, J.G. (1998a), The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship, Stanford University: Center for Social Innovation, Graduate School of Business, Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, Ewin Marion Kauffman Foundation, available at https://centers.fuqua.duke.edu/case/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2015/03/Article_Dees_MeaningofSocialEntrepreneurship_2001.pdf
  • Zahra, S. A., Gedajlovic, E., Neubaum, D. O., & Shulman, J. M. (2009). A typology of social entrepreneurs: Motives, search processes and ethical challenges. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(5), 519–532.
  • Battilana, J., & Lee, M. (2014). Advancing Research on Hybrid Organizing - Insights from the Study of Social Enterprises. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 397–441.https://doi.org/10.1080/19416520.2014.893615
  • Yunus, M., Moingeon, B., & Lehmann-Ortega, L. (2010). Building social business models: Lessons from the Grameen experience. Long Range Planning, 43(2–3), 308–325
  • Guclu, A., Dees, J., and Battle Anderson, B. (2002), ‘The Process of Social Entrepreneurship: Creating Opportunities Worthy of Serious Pursuit’, Duke Fuqua School Duke University: Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0c2b/ef26f70f2601d32baea6a38be38b19bcb98f.pdf?_ga=2.259436163.860888573.1576600015-242801340.1574790274
  • Giacomin Joseph (2014) What is Human Centred Design? The Design Journal. Vol 17(4) pp 606-623

Assessment

Essay (50%, 1400 words) and group presentation (50%) in the AT.

Key facts

Department: Management

Total students 2022/23: 35

Average class size 2022/23: 34

Capped 2022/23: Yes (36)

Value: Half Unit

Guidelines for interpreting course guide information

Course selection videos

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.

Personal development skills

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