Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new global phenomenon which uses innovative thinking and entrepreneurial principles to organise, create and manage ventures that aim to solve social problems
and bring about positive change in the world. It impacts and intersects with all three constituents of civil society – business, government and the ‘third’ or social sector – to create new models of social impact.
The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship based within the Saïd Business School offers MBA students the opportunity to study three leading edge social entrepreneurship electives. The first explores the nature and range of social entrepreneurship in it’s international context, the second investigates the role of innovation in successful social enterprises, while the third encompasses design and development aspects of social entrepreneurship ventures within their institutional context.
Social entrepreneurship is an emergent academic area so our academic approach is multi-disciplinary touching on, for example, strategy, marketing, finance, and organisational behaviour. The courses take the form of lectures, discussions, and case studies. As well as academic analysis and framing of the issues, the course includes a range of guest speakers from major social sector organisations.