Social Entrepreneurship

This subject is not offered in 2013.

Approximately 2.5 hours of personal study per hour of class time is required to achieve a satisfactory level of performance.

Completion of a minimum of 50 points of study prior to the commencement of MGMT90165 Social Entrepreneurship.

This subject assumes an entrepreneurial mindset.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject explores how business insights can be used to solve social and environmental problems. The subject focuses particularly upon the start-up, social enterprise business model, where social entrepreneurs apply innovative, market-based strategies to solve social or environmental problems. A social enterprise is a business model that understands the critical role of economic sustainability, yet has the creation of social/environmental benefits as a primary or equal goal to that of profitability. The subject first explores the background of traditional attempts to solve social and environmental problems, before then addressing the social enterprise business model and the complex relationship between profitability and social/environmental goals. It introduces students to a range of social and environmental problems and supports students’ development of innovative solutions to these problems. The subject then provides marketing and managerial guidance to develop these solutions into a successful social enterprise. Students will apply knowledge gained in the course to develop a business plan as the first step in creating a social enterprise. As well as addressing theory and practice, the subject will draw upon case studies and the practical experience of current social entrepreneurs.

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• Identify and analyse the variety of social and environmental problems to which social entrepreneurs may attend;
• Critically evaluate the complex relationship between achieving social/environmental goals and profitability, including an understanding of how social entrepreneurs can successfully balance these goals;
• Generate social entrepreneurial ideas through formalised processes of lateral thinking and problem-solving;
• Apply the above learnings within a formalised business plan, taking into account project planning and management, funding and finance, and measurement of social/environmental and financial performance.

• Participation and preparation (10%)
• Group presentation (5%)
• Individual theoretical essay totalling 1200 words due Week 5 (20%)
• Individual social entrepreneurial idea poster and pitch (poster: 300 words plus images/diagrams; elevator pitch 5 minutes) due Week 7 (15%)
• Final group presentation to an external partner at end of semester (10 minutes) (20%)
• Written business plan totalling 1500 words and due at end of semester (30%)

Rory Ridley-Duff and Mike Bull (2011). Understanding Social Enterprise: Theory and Practice. Sage

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On successful completion of this subject, students should have improved the following generic skills:

• Critical thinking about societal and environmental problems
• Oral and written communication
• Innovative problem solving and collaborative learning
• Synthesis of data and other information.