Knowledge@Wharton
Newsletter
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
May 21-
Special
Section
The Many Faces of
Social Entrepreneurship
When Knowledge@Wharton first
announced its intention to publish a special section on social entrepreneurship,
we received more than 200 e-mails from readers with ideas and examples for us to
include. This response caused us to rethink our approach and expand the scope of
the section. As the articles below show, social entrepreneurship is more than a
movement; it is a philosophy, an objective, a variety of business models and
organizations, and, perhaps most basically, a blueprint for the future. We plan
to offer additional coverage of social entrepreneurship ‑ and its goal of using
business knowledge to drive social change ‑ in subsequent editions.
Social
Entrepreneurs: Playing the Role of Change Agents in
Society
Social
entrepreneurship means many things to many people, but at the very least, it
seems to imply generating business opportunities that give individuals the means
to be both creative and productive, thereby raising the quality of life for
society as a whole. Knowledge@Wharton present comments from several readers who
sent us their views of this imprecise but promising
phenomenon.
Venture
Philanthropy Embraces Key Strategies of Venture
Capitalists
The
problem: Find a way to get more bang for the buck out of charitable donations.
The strategy: Adopt techniques that worked well for venture capital firms in the
1990s – greater interaction between giver and recipient, and an emphasis on
measurable results. The upshot: The birth of the movement variously called
“venture philanthropy,” “social entrepreneurism,” “strategic philanthropy,” and
“e-philanthropy.” But is it really a new model for charitable endeavors that
even mainstream non-profits should adopt, or is it just a
fad?
Globalization
With a Human Face ‑‑ and a Social Conscience
Social
entrepreneurs in
Images
of Illness: OneWorld Health Strives to Heal the World’s Poorest
Communities
Setting
up the world’s first non-profit pharmaceutical company hasn’t been easy, says
Victoria Hale, founder and CEO of the Institute of OneWorld Health (IOWH), based
in
A
New Model for Corporate Charitable Giving
Companies
and foundations, ranging from
Many
NonProfits Now Combine Social Mission with For-Profit
Mentality
Social entrepreneurs and their
good deeds have become a hot topic in recent years. But these socially conscious
go-getters hardly invented the idea of using talent and money to improve the
lives of one’s fellow men and women. Traditional nonprofit organizations have
been doing it for a long time. It’s just that the way many of them do it has
begun to change.
The
Triple Bottom Line: Student Activists Demand More from
B-Schools
The idea that it is the business
of business schools to teach future execs how to solve social and environmental
problems has been slowly infiltrating B-schools around the world. But
socially-conscious students are interested in changing more than their
curricula; they also want to change the way businesses behave. Knowledge@Wharton
looks at a variety of new B-school initiatives that are attracting students
interested in “using the power of business to create a better world.”
Forging
a Link Between Shareholder Value and Social Good
To endure and build long-term
value for shareholders, companies must also do well by society, according to
speakers at a recent symposium titled, “Building and Valuing a Firm’s
Sustainability Strategies,” sponsored by the Wharton Social Impact Management
Initiative. Poverty, globalization and the environment all have an impact on
business, yet are often perceived as issues that fall beyond the responsibility
of corporate management. That shouldn’t be the case, argued symposium
participants, who discussed the challenges of operating within the context of a
worldwide community.
Environmental
Camps, Rice Farms and Hearing Aids: Ashoka Fellows Around the
World
David Green was consumed with the
idea that hearing aids need not cost as much as they do. He thought he had a
technology that could cut the cost of a simple hearing aid from $1,500 to less
than $100. Ashoka, an organization that funds socially-conscious entrepreneurs
like Green, agreed. The result is the Affordable Hearing Aid Project, which
started manufacturing hearing aids in India in February – one of many projects
that Ashoka has supported since its establishment 23 years
ago.
As part of the recent Wharton
Leadership Lectures, Philadelphia Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz and J.
William Mills, PNC Bank regional president of
___________________________________________________________________
What's
Hot
How Serious is the
Deflation Threat?
Reactions
to the Federal Reserve’s recent expression of concern over the possibility of
deflation in the world’s biggest economy have ranged from alarm to dismissal.
But even the optimism of those who believe the
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/whatshot.cfm
Marketing
For
Tiger Woods’ Sports Agent, It’s All About Brand
Management
Sports
agent Mark Steinberg compares representing a star in an individual sport such as
golf to managing a consumer brand. “Coca-Cola, Kodak, Nike – those are three of
the largest international brands. Tiger Woods is on a par with them,” Steinberg
told an audience at Wharton several weeks ago. “You can’t walk down a street in
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=4&articleid=779
Leadership
and Change
Do Shareholders Have
the Clout to Rein in Excessive Executive Pay?
Warren Buffett’s latest attack on
excessive executive compensation is another chapter in the long-running saga
about how much to pay top business leaders, and how to limit the compensation of
those who are deemed to be making too much.
The issue is especially acute
given the dismal performance of many leading stocks over the past year. The
question is: What pressures, if any, can be brought to bear on these pay
packages and who should bring them?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=2&articleid=780
Real
Estate
As Big Money Chases
Real Estate, Markets Await Better Fundamentals
Office
markets are starting to recover on the West Coast of the
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=8&articleid=783
Insurance and
Pensions
Will Baby-Boomers’
Retirement Years Go Bust from a Lack of
Savings?
In recent years, the format of
Americans’ pension plans has changed as more companies move to a defined
contribution model that places more responsibility on the shoulders of the
employees. But even as it becomes more important for workers to prepare for
retirement, surveys and other data indicate that many plan participants confess
to having little or no understanding of these vital tools. Worse, because of the
complex nature of 401(k)s and other plans, employee contributions tend to be far
lower than they should. These and other issues were explored during a recent
Wharton Pension Research Council conference titled “Decision-Making under Uncertainty:
Implications for Pensions.”
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=5&articleid=782
Strategic Management
Ignoring Your
Corporate Identity Can Sabotage Strategic Change
Corporate identity is a crucial
component of all firms, yet it is often overlooked until a crisis forces
companies to confront change, argue Wharton management professor John Kimberly and colleague Hamid
Bouchikhi. Managers at Nissan and Danone Group took identity into account when
instituting change, the researchers suggest, while managers at Vivendi and
Hewlett-Packard didn’t. Ford is wrestling with the issue now. Kimberly and
Bouchikhi have developed an “Identity Audit” to help managers factor identity
into company strategy.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=7&articleid=778
Public Policy and
Management
"We Need a New
Generation to Reshape the World"
While
World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn faces attacks from both the right and
the left, he is driven by hopes of ameliorating poverty in the developing world.
In a recent speech at the
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/articles.cfm?catid=9&articleid=777
_________________________________________________________________
Links from Knowledge@Wharton
Sponsors
Strategy + Business:
Consumers Take Charge: Defined-Contribution Health
Plans
After twenty rocky years,
employers, physicians, patients, and politicians are growing more and more
frustrated with managed care, and are supporting a new consumer-driven system.
The goal is to temper rising costs and improve service quality by giving
consumers better information and greater control over how they spend their
health-care dollars. Defined-contribution plans won’t replace managed care
plans, but they will be the next dominant form.
http://www.strategy-business.com/press/sbkw2/
GE
Corporate Financial Services: Five
Principles to Consider in Choosing the Right Lender for Your
Company
As
the economic downturn stubbornly persists, corporate borrowers are facing
troubling short- and long-term changes in the commercial lending landscape. On
the cyclical level, for example, credit concerns loom large, M&A activity is
off, there is a reduced and shifting demand for debt, and high default rates are
giving many lending institutions an increased aversion to risk. Meanwhile,
long-term fundamental shifts are also impacting borrowers as bank consolidation
reduces borrower choice and many financial institutions reconsider the concept
of relationship lending. In an effort to address companies' concerns, GE has
identified five interrelated principles that borrowers can utilize to
significantly improve their chances of making a good
match.
Aon: Corporate
Reputation: Not Worth Risking
Damage
to a company's reputation can mean a sharp and often irreversible loss of market
share. To examine the full spectrum of reputational risk management, companies
need to consider risk assessment, measurement, mitigation, planning, and
transfer. Below, experts from Aon and the
http://www.aon.com/wharton
Microsoft: Back to Basics: Accounting
for IT in Business Performance
Not so long ago, many considered speed to be
the primary tactic for blocking competition and increasing market share.
Companies rushed to field a dot-com strategy or some innovative application of
IT that was going to secure their role in the new economy. As a result, many
firms under-analyzed or over-invested in IT in pursuit of market dominance.
Today, it's back to the basics. Companies are serious about using technology as
a competitive advantage. They are learning that IT purchases tied to a company's
business strategy have the most clear-cut business value, as expressed in
traditional financial terms like Net Present Value (NPV) and payback. Moreover,
when IT solutions and business strategy are woven together, companies are
finding that business benefits are often broader and deeper than expected.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/microsoft/070302.html
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