LINEO2005 (former LCPME2005) - Social and Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Social and sustainable entrepreneurship has recently grown in popularity: increased presence in media, success of documentary movies such as ‘Demain’, development of Master programs on the topic in major business schools (Harvard, Stanford, Duke, ESSEC, University of Oxford,…). Research in this field has also grown rapidly and is acknowledging tremendous changes in the sector.

 

To some people, social and sustainable entrepreneurship have become a buzzwords that are merely putting trendy words on activities that have been pursued by charities for a long time. To others, these are an important movement that is fundamentally changing the way to approach the creation of (shared) social value. In this course, we aim to acknowledge the diversity of views on social and sustainable entrepreneurship and to develop a critical understanding of the phenomenon.

 

Although there are numérous definitions of social and sustainable entrepreneurship, most seem to agree on the following elements:

  • the social/environmental aim has primacy – i.e. profit is considered a means to an end and the focus is on value creation instead of value capture;
  • an entrepreneurial activity that is translated by market orientation, and often innovation and creativity.

 

Taking this into consideration, this course intends to provide you with in-depth insights on the ideas, opportunities, processes, challenges, and strategies at work in creating and developing social ventures. Through lectures, class discussions, case studies, and field work, you will have the opportunity to learn to think strategically about social, environmental, and economic value creation.

 

The topics we will focus on include opportunity assessment, resource acquisition, organizational design, and trade-offs between social, environmental and financial return on investment. The final team project will also give you some hands-on experience on social entrepreneurship and its challenges. This project also aims to help you connecting theoretical concepts and analytical frameworks with practice.