This accessible textbook provides a comprehensive guide to the building blocks of sustainable social enterprise, exploring how core elements contribute to either the success or failure of the social venture. It analyzes the key skills needed to synthesize effective business practices with effective social innovation and points out both what works and what does not. Taking a practical approach, it demonstrates how big ideas can be transformed into entities that produce lasting change.Key Features:Discussion questions and activities to aid student learning and debateA multi-part case study that helps students see social enterprise in practiceRecommended resources sections that encourage students to explore the topic furtherReadable, real-life anecdotes, examples, and analogies that illustrate how social entrepreneurship initiatives operateLearning objectives and chapter summaries to guide students through key topics including product development, idea generation, social change theory, marketing, and operating structuresMaking the case that social entrepreneurship may be the most effective way to bring about positive changes in society, this textbook will be an essential resource for introductory courses and electives in social entrepreneurship.
J. Howard Kucher, Associate Professor of Social Innovation, School of Graduate Studies, The University of Maryland, Baltimore, US and Stephanie E. Raible, Assistant Professor of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Delaware, US
CONTENTS: Foreword by Tom Lumpkin PART I SOCIAL, COMMERCIAL OR BOTH? 1. Crazy little thing called love 2. The basics of entrepreneurship still matter 3. Social entrepreneurship is messy 4. The field is extra-disciplinary PART I CASE STUDY DC Central Kitchen: from barroom to breadline PART II WHO CARES? 5. The basics of product development 6. It springs up from the ground: idea generation and community assets 7. Social Change Theory as product design 8. Outputs or outcomes PART II CASE STUDY DC Central Kitchen: from non-profit to social enterprise PART III WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? 9. Metrics matter 10. Marketing has three faces PART III CASE STUDY DC Central Kitchen: spread the love PART IV HOW DOES THIS WORK? 11. Finance follows function 12. Form follows function: operating models first, legal structures second 13. Global perspectives on legal and operating structures PART IV CASE STUDY DC Central Kitchen: WHO’S DRIVING THE CART? PART V YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT 14. Don’t worry, be happy PART V CASE STUDY DC Central Kitchen: westward ho! Index
‘The book is a small encyclopedia of both aspects of social enterprise, combining a history of social work with a short primer on business fundamentals. The authors discuss the history and special characteristics of social enterprises (the term arose in the 1980s), along with guidance on various kinds of tools (iteration, test markets, pivoting, etc.).’
