GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education / Subject to Instructor’s Discretion
Nil
Social entrepreneurship has drawn much attention among the government, business and non-profit sectors recently. It is considered as a creative way of solving social and environmental problems such as unemployment, poverty and pollution as well as for the promotion of common good while mobilizing latent social resources. Unlike traditional business enterprises, there are various moral, ethical and social imperatives associated with social enterprises in addition to profit expectation. Through a variety of teaching and learning approaches such as case discussion, guest speaker talks, experiential learning exercises, company visits and lectures, students will first explore the value, trends, expectations and tensions of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in local and international contexts. They will then be guided to recognize social opportunities through a creative problem solving approach. They will also acquire a range of skills and knowledge related to planning, organizing, financing, “scaling”, and measuring the impacts of social enterprises. Students will work a social entrepreneurship plan for dealing with an issue of their choice.
Upon completion of this module, students should be able to:
a. Appreciate the value of social entrepreneurship as a way of solving social and related issues;
b. Assess and balance different expectations on and tensions in social enterprises from a multi-stakeholder perspective;
c. Recognize social opportunities through a creative problem-solving approach; and
d. Acquire the skills and knowledge for implementing a social business idea.
1. Introduction to social entrepreneurship and social enterprises: definitions, nature and development of social entrepreneurship; values and debates on social entrepreneurship; expectations and tensions of moral, ethical, social and profit expectations of social enterprises.
2. Creative problem solving: creative problem solving skills; identifying social opportunities; assessing social opportunities.
3. Planning, organizing, marketing and financing for social enterprises: vision and mission of social enterprises; business model development for social enterprises; options for organizational designs; assessment of competition and marketing plan; options of funding for social enterprises; investment and microfinance.
4. Scaling social enterprises: growth and sustainability of social enterprises.
5. Measuring social impacts: social returns; cost-benefit analysis.
1. Class participation (10%)
2. Test (20%)
3. Individual Report (Case study of a social enterprise) (30%)
4. Group Project (including a task involving social opportunity identification through creative problem solving and a business plan for a social enterprise based on the social opportunity identified) (40%)
1. Bornstein, D. and Davis, S. (2010). Social Entrepreneurship: What Everyone Needs to Know. NY: Oxford University Press.
2. Brook, A.C. (2009). Social Entrepreneurship: a Modern Approach to Social Value creation. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
3. Gao, C. and Wolfgang, B. (2014). Social Entrepreneurship : an Evidence-Based Approach to Creating Social Value. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass.
4. Kickul, J. and Lyons, T. (2016). Understanding Social Entrepreneurship: the Relentless Pursuit of Mission in an Ever Changing World. 2nd Edition. NY: Routledge.
5. Kirham, P., Mosey, S.P. and Binks, M.R. (2009). Ingenuity in Practice: A Guide for Clear Thinking. University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation.
6. MacMillan, I.C. and Thompson, J.D. (2013). The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook, Expanded Edition: Pressure Test, Plan, Launch and Scale Your Social Enterprise. Wharton Digital Press.
7. Procter, T. (2013). Creative Problem Solving for Managers (4rd Ed). Routledge.
8. Tse, K.K. (2011). How you could change the world: social entrepreneurs and the rise of the citizen sector. HK: Suyuan Books.
9. 謝家駒（2008），香港社會企業妙點子，商務印書館。
10. 陳志輝、謝冠東（2012），社企在香港（香港中文大學 EMBA 管理叢書 29），天地圖書有限公司。
