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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 19 Jan 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Engaging Community to Create Proactive, Equitable Public Safety

      Saint Paul, Minnesota Mayor Melvin Carter swept into office in 2018 promising equity. He wanted a new public safety framework that would be rooted in community. Then, with the COVID-19 pandemic wiping out much of the city’s budget and the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in neighboring Minneapolis sparking calls to defund the police, how would Mayor Carter make these changes happen? Professor Mitch Weiss discusses the challenges and rewards of “possibility government” in his case, "Community-First Public Safety."  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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      Social EntrepreneurshipRemove Social Entrepreneurship →

      Page 1 of 14 Results
      • 29 Jul 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

      by Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner, and Ratnika Prasad

      Case studies about The Conservation Fund and Sonen Capital highlight three broad lessons about fresh approaches to the ownership and management of forestland.

      • 29 Apr 2020
      • Book

      The Key to Powerful Social Change: Small Villages

      by Dina Gerdeman

      When institutions let us down, look for leadership outside of hierarchies, says Rosabeth Moss Kanter. These leaders "don’t wait to be asked; they just get moving." Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 09 Mar 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Impact Investing: A Theory of Financing Social Entrepreneurship

      by Benjamin N. Roth

      The author provides a formal definition of organizational sustainability and characterizes the situations in which a social enterprise should be sustainable. The analysis then delineates when an investment in a social enterprise delivers superior impact to a grant.

      • 18 Feb 2020
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Global Ocean Trust: Protecting the Blue Planet in New Ways

      Re: Rosabeth M. Kanter

      Following a successful career in finance, Torsten Thiele has devoted himself to the challenging cause of ocean conservation and stewardship. Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Thiele discuss strategy for solving one of the world's biggest problems. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Nov 2019
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Can the Robin Hood Army Grow with Zero Financial Resources?

      Re: Susanna Gallani

      Over just a few years, volunteer-based Robin Hood Army had served meals to more than 9 million people around the world. Susanna Gallani discusses with founder Neel Ghose the challenges of growing while being a zero-funds organization. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 23 May 2019
      • Book

      These Entrepreneurs Take a Pragmatic Approach to Solving Social Problems

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Using business to create social change has been at the center of many entrepreneurial efforts by Harvard Business School alumni. Howard Stevenson discusses their pragmatic approaches to overcoming long odds. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Jun 2018
      • Cold Call Podcast

      L.A. Philharmonic Shows the American Symphony Orchestra Isn’t Dead Yet

      Re: Rohit Deshpande

      Like many American symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic seemed dying on the vine, unable to attract younger audiences or new sponsors. Then new CEO Deborah Borda came aboard with a plan to revive the brand. Rohit Deshpande discusses his case study on the turnaround. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Aug 2017
      • Research & Ideas

      Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

      by Sean Silverthorne

      George Serafeim has a theory that if industry competitors collaborated more, big world problems could start to be addressed. Is that even possible in a market economy? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 16 Feb 2017
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Black Business Leaders Series: A Remarkable Legacy of Firsts, Maggie Lena Walker

      Re: Anthony Mayo

      Maggie Lena Walker used her leadership of the Independent Order of St. Luke to form a bank, newspaper, and department store—all in the stronghold of the Confederacy. Tony Mayo discusses his case study about this pioneering African American woman. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 17 Oct 2016
      • HBS Case

      Business Solutions That Help Cut Food Waste

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Up to 40 percent of food grown in the United States for human consumption is wasted. But solutions are starting to come together from retailers, farmers, academics, policy makers, and social service organizations, according to José Alvarez. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 21 Jan 2013
      • Research & Ideas

      Altruistic Capital: Harnessing Your Employees’ Intrinsic Goodwill

      by Carmen Nobel

      Everyone comes to the table with some amount of "altruistic capital," a stock of intrinsic desire to serve, says professor Nava Ashraf. Her research includes a study of what best motivates hairdressers in Zambia to provide HIV/AIDS education in their salons. Closed for comment; 20 Comment(s) posted.

      • 18 Jan 2012
      • Research & Ideas

      Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs

      by Carmen Nobel

      Research in progress by Harvard Business School's Julie Battilana and Matthew Lee reveals that a large number of social entrepreneurs are focused on local rather than global change, and on sustainable funding. Closed for comment; 7 Comment(s) posted.

      • 24 Apr 2009
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Corporate Social Entrepreneurship

      by James E. Austin & Ezequiel Reficco

      Accelerated organizational transformation faces a host of obstacles well-documented in the change management literature. Because corporate social entrepreneurship (CSE) expands the core purpose of corporations and their organizational values, it constitutes fundamental change that can be particularly threatening and resisted. Furthermore, it pushes the corporation's actions more broadly and deeply into the area of social value creation where the firm's experiences and skill sets are less developed. The disruptive social innovations intrinsic to the CSE approach amplify this zone of discomfort. Fortunately, the experiences of innovative companies such as Timberland and Starbucks show how these challenges may be overcome. Key concepts include: Values-based leadership, the synergistic generation of social and economic value, and strategic cross-sector alliances are key ingredients to achieving a sustainably successful business. For companies to move their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to the next level, they need to rethink their current approaches to CSR, tapping into the creativity of each individual. Like all entrepreneurship, CSE is about creating disruptive change in the pursuit of new opportunities. It combines the willingness and desire to create joint economic and social value with the entrepreneurial redesign, systems development, and action necessary to carry it out. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      • 04 Feb 2008
      • Research & Ideas

      Putting Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Despite the best of intentions and trillions of dollars worth of assets, nonprofits have been unable to solve many of society's worst ills. A new casebook by 4 Harvard Business School professors argues that the social sector should take an entrepreneurial approach. Q&A with coauthor Jane C. Wei-Skillern. Key concepts include: Societal problems are increasingly large and complex, taxing the ability of nonprofit organizations to solve them. A new model for the social sector based on entrepreneurship would allow organizations to create more value with their limited resources and tap additional resources not directly under their control. MBA students are increasingly interested in courses and careers related to social enterprise. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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