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New research on social entrepreneurship from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including business solutions to reduce food waste, how businesses can harness their employees' intrinsic goodwill, and how to bring entrepreneurship to the social sector.
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How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

by Kara Baskin

Influencers aspire to turn "likes" into dollars through brand sponsorships, but these deals can erode their reputations, says research by Shunyuan Zhang. Marketers should seek out authentic voices on YouTube, not necessarily those with the most followers.

Can Bombas Reach New Customers while Maintaining Its Social Mission?

Re: Elizabeth A. Keenan

Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. By 2021, it had become one of America’s most visible buy-one-give-one companies, with over $250 million in annual revenue and 50 million pairs of socks donated. Later, as Bombas expanded into underwear, t-shirts, and slippers, the company struggled to determine what pace of growth would best allow it to reach new customers while maintaining its social mission. Harvard Business School assistant professor Elizabeth Keenan discusses the case, "Bee-ing Better at Bombas."

Can a Social Entrepreneur End Homelessness in the US?

Re: Brian L. Trelstad

Community Solutions is a nonprofit founded in 2011 by Rosanne Haggerty, with the ambitious goal of ending chronic homelessness in America. Its “Built for Zero” methodology takes a public health approach, helping communities across the US use better data collection and outreach to improve government processes and piecemeal solutions. In 2021, Community Solutions was awarded a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation, and Haggerty and her team had to decide how to prioritize projects and spending to maximize the grant’s impact. Should they continue to focus on unhoused veterans or expand their work to include families and youth in need of housing? Senior Lecturer Brian Trelstad discusses Haggerty’s approach in his case, "Community Solutions."

How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion

Re: Michael W. Toffel

In 2021, the footwear startup Allbirds was extending its product range into apparel and expanding beyond its online store to open more retail stores around the world. It was also freely sharing its know-how and material innovations with its competitors to try to scale its efforts to decarbonize fashion, by substituting natural materials for conventional petroleum-based materials and leather. But the company also had to find ways to remain differentiated, based on design and comfort. Professor Mike Toffel and Allbirds co-founder and CEO Joey Zwillinger discuss the growing environmental impact of the fashion industry and how the company managed the tension between advancing its environmental mission and staying ahead of competitors in the case, Allbirds: Decarbonizing Fashion. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Can Entrepreneurs and Governments Team Up to Solve Big Problems?

Re: Mitchell B. Weiss

In 2017, Shield AI’s quadcopter, with no pilot and no flight plan, could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. It was evidence that autonomous robots could help protect civilian and service member lives. But was it also evidence that Shield AI—a startup barely two years past founding—could ask their newest potential customer, the US government, for a large contract for a system of coordinated, exploring robots? Or would it scare them away? Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss and Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s CGO and co-founder, discuss these and other challenges entrepreneurs face when working with the public sector, and how investing in new ideas can enable entrepreneurs and governments to join forces and solve big problems in the case, “Shield AI.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How to Get Companies to Make Investments That Benefit Everyone

by Lane Lambert

Want more organizations to give back to their communities? Frank Nagle says the success of open source software offers an innovative—and unexpected—roadmap for social good. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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.

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; 0 Comments.

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.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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; 0 Comments.

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 Comments.

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 Comments.