Impactful Entrepreneurship for Global Challenges

Course Director: Anna Essén

Global risks remain severe. Climate change, international wars, declining biodiversity, deteriorating mental health, increasing political polarization, and deadly pandemics are some prominent examples. The overall objective of the Global Challenges Series is to inspire and prepare SSE students to make a difference by addressing these risks, as leading professionals and as engaged citizens. The Global Challenges Series includes two mandatory courses, Global Challenges I: Understanding (BE0801) and Global Challenges II: Shifting (BE0802). It also includes an elective course, Impactful Entrepreneurship for Global Challenges (BE0906). In harmony with SSE's overall philosophy, we believe that these courses support the FREE mindset (facts- and research-based, reflective and self-aware, empathetic and culturally literate, and entrepreneurial and responsible) and that the FREE mindset will be helpful in approaching these courses.

Purpose:

The purpose of this course is to provide students with the skills, sense of agency, and reflective mindset required to successfully engage in impactful entrepreneurship in the context of the global challenges the world faces today. Key tools and concepts such as social innovation, sustainable business models, twin transition (societal impact through digital technology), and impact measurement will be introduced by faculty, discussed with a number of carefully selected external guests, and deployed in a set of hands-on workshops, where students will work in groups to develop a venture idea with potential to create societal impact. At the end of the course, students will present their venture ideas to an expert panel including impact-oriented venture capitalists.

External Guests

The external experts participating in the course (as guest lecturers and/or commentators when students present their venture ideas at the end of the course) include representatives from entrepreneurial ventures, investors, and foundations. These include DHS Ventures, Norrsken, Summa Equity, Trillimpact, Stern Business School, New York.

Course Administrator: Anna.Burell@hhs.se

Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to identify the complex problems underlying global challenges and the capacity to develop innovative, actionable solutions that have the potential for significant societal impact. This involves:

1. Translating wide problems into needs that can be addressed by a specific solution, including both digital and non-digital solutions
2. Using Digital/AI tools in the development of new venture ideas/solutions and acknowledgeing both the positive and negative potential societal impact of such digital tools
3. Designing a business model recognizing financial, social, and environmental sustainability
4. Anticipating and evaluating the societal impact of their entrepreneurial venture ideas.

General entry requirements.

Links to stated literature, will be updated before courses start. We will use Canvas to provide the entire list and links to readings, but present most here in case you want to pre-look!

Mandatory readings

A note on the mandatory readings - NOTE WE MAY MAKE SLIGHT EDITS TO THE LIST

The list of mandatory readings includes work from different disciplines (entrepreneurship, management, organization, information systems), given the multidimensional nature of impactful entrepreneurship. We have included older, seminal works as well as more recent articles, to give you an understanding of the evolution of the field in terms of the concepts used and perspectives emphasized. Some papers are theory-heavy, while others are more practice-oriented. This is because we want you to be able to interpret scientific evidence about the processes and consequences of impactful entrepreneurship, as well as the more managerially-oriented advice about “best-practices” in this field. Being able to critically interpret and selectively act on both these types of literature will improve your ability to design, assess and develop policy for impactful entrepreneurship in your future careers.

List of mandatory readings

Module 1

• Dacin, P., M. Tina Dacin and Margaret Matear (2010). Source: Social Entrepreneurship: Why We Don't Need a New Theory and How We Move Forward From Here Author(s): Academy of Management Perspectives , August 2010, Vol. 24, No. 3 (August 2010), pp. 37-57. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/29764973.pdf?casa_token=u0AyaWqlqzwAAAAA:GV_QdQjXeC3H8Xzw7zqsd56vFWOgs0vAL3DIFr3rkh1f7W2o501jR7aTgVbzP3-kRE7G-xryYHZEYY_J5rM5zxhZFBPU-_RPGxVw_z4FEL9-hwLZejHd

• Links to an external site.

• Ferraro et al (2015). Tackling Grand Challenges Pragmatically: Robust Action Revisited, Organization Studies, 2015, Vol. 36(3) 363-390. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0170840614563742

• Links to an external site.

• Phills, J, Deiglmeier, K. and Miller,D. (2008), 'Rediscovering Social Innovation', Stanford Social Innovation Review, 6(4), 33-43. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8387/6f6bafdcd11e0fc16c26364d3cfc826af2a3.pdf

• Links to an external site.

• Santos et al (2015). Making Hybrids Work: Aligning Business Models and Organizational Design for Social Enterprises, California Management Review, 57,3. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/cmr.2015.57.3.36?casa_token=5_h19NgZMCAAAAAA:CVAAIUvrA0JuBJMIvUHW4thAmxXAAMIMiuN049at0INshChhiOC4z_VolHFns2SlBQXIARlrIr3QMw

• Links to an external site.
  Links to information about global challenges:

  
  

• https://www.un.org/en/global-issues

• Links to an external site.

• https://www.shiftcities.org/organization/world-resources-institute#:~:text=WRI%20categorizes%20its%20work%20around,Cities%2C%20Energy%2C%20and%20Climate

• Links to an external site.

• https://globalchallenges.org/

• Links to an external site.

• https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/examples

• Links to an external site.
  **Module 2

  **

• Farina, M., Yu, X. & Lavazza, A. (2024). Ethical considerations and policy interventions concerning the impact of generative AI tools in the economy and in society. AI Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43681-023-00405-2

• Links to an external site.

• Ixmeier, Anne; Wagner, Franziska; and Kranz, Johann (2024). "Leveraging Information Systems for Environmental Sustainability and Business Value," MIS Quarterly Executive: Vol. 23: Iss. 1, Article 5. https://aisel.aisnet.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1584&context=misqe

• Links to an external site.

• Martin, Kirsten, Ethical Issues in the Big Data Industry (April 25, 2015). MIS Quarterly Executive 14:2, https://ssrn.com/abstract=2598956

• Links to an external site.

• Muench, S., Stoermer, E., Jensen, K., Asikainen, T., Salvi, M. and Scapolo, F., (2022). Towards a green and digital future, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, doi:10.2760/54,JRC129319. https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC129319

• Links to an external site.

• Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: Surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1), 75– 89. https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2015.5

• Links to an external site.
  **Module 3

  **

• Bocken et al (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model, Archetypes, Journal of Cleaner Production 65. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652613008032

• Links to an external site.

• Casadesus-Masanell, R. and Ricard, J. (2011), 'How to Design A Winning Business Model', Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), pp:100-107. http://boilingice.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/BP-Casadesus-Masanell-and-Ricart-How-to-Design-a-Winning-Business-Model.pdf

• Links to an external site.

• Johnson et al (2008). Reinventing your business model. Harvard Business Review. https://africa2100.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Reinventing-Your-Business-Model.pdf

• Links to an external site.
  **Module 4

  **

• Bacq, S., Hertel, C., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2022). Communities at the nexus of entrepreneurship and societal impact: A cross-disciplinary literature review. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(5), 106231. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S088390262200043X

• Links to an external site.

• Busch, C., & Barkema, H. (2022). Align or perish: Social enterprise network orchestration in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(2), 106187. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0883902621000975

• Links to an external site.
  **Module 5-6

  **

• Ebrahim, A., & Rangan, V. K. (2014). What impact? A framework for measuring the scale and scope of social performance. California Management Review, 56 (3), 118. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1525/cmr.2014.56.3.118?casa_token=Nz7PX9AL-XEAAAAA:E2Z_VZPTzgxExLU6pqBeYim6U6HAl79Otmzqcq1MACp8f7SsiLHXeGWxMmenjVYr-LIH-UvRxYIGEQ

• Links to an external site.

• Gugerty, M.K, and Karlan, D. (2018). Ten Reasons Not to Measure Impact—and What to Do Instead, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 16, 41–47. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/ten_reasons_not_to_measure_impact_and_what_to_do_instead#

• Links to an external site.
  Module 7

• Bacq, S., Eddleston, K.A. (2018). A Resource-Based View of Social Entrepreneurship: How Stewardship Culture Benefits Scale of Social Impact. Journal of Business Ethics, 152, 589–611. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-016-3317-1

• Links to an external site.
  Huang et al (2017). Growing on steroids: rapidly scaling the user base of digital ventures through digital innovaton, MIS Quarterly, 41, 1: 301-314. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/26629649.pdf?casa_token=vzZrZmpQ4xEAAAAA:WgR0FGbzRMjw5vyXT7N6u5ltx3ddr3-QAFjmLzUwIKs_NKc5io_ojqGjH41mEqiJA0qXShzj7fGhQU-6Uj-bhnsu3iPqxm1NFIGio6glLwfIs5RskgXQ

• Links to an external site.

• Rangan & Gregg (2019). How Social Entrepreneurs Zig-Zag Their Way to Impact at Scale, California Management Review, Vol. 62(1) 53–76. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0008125619876903

• Links to an external site.
  Smith, B.R., Kistruck, G.M. & Cannatelli, B. The Impact of Moral Intensity and Desire for Control on Scaling Decisions in Social Entrepreneurship. J Bus Ethics133, 677–689 (2016). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-014-2447-6

• Links to an external site.
  Module 8 - No new readings

Attendance is mandatory at 14 of the 17 sessions: (pass/fail).

Attendance at 14 out of 17 sessions is mandatory to pass the course. Because the lectures and workshops are designed for interactivity and often include external guests who generously invest their time in visiting us, attendance is important. Students may miss 3 sessions, please email Kajsa (TA) in advance so we know in advance if you are absent. The first introductory session or final presentation sessions can however not be missed.

Participation in sessions (10%).
Based on extent to which students actively contribute to learning in the class, by posing insightful questions, valuable reflections, providing useful feedback to peers, etc.

Impactful venture development (40%), (Presentation & Report)
Reports should amount to max 3000 words excluding figures, references, appendices.

The reports will be graded based on the following criteria:

• Depth (demonstrating insight into the problem, the intricacies of the proposed solution, the business model underpinning it, and the pathway through which impact will be made)
• Justification (explaining design choices made, use of data and theory to motivate and problematize solution and pathway)
• Coherence (consistency in the argumentation, e.g. in the development of a solution and in mapping and proposing ways of measuring its impact)
• Feasibility and Potential (implementability of idea and its deemed potential impact)

Individual exam (50%)

The individual exam is closed-book and on-site. The exam will consist of a few free-text questions testing your ability to selectively and critically apply frameworks and concepts in the course. The exam will cover all readings, lectures and workshop content. Questions may cover frameworks and concepts discussed at lectures and workshops that are NOT included in any of the readings. More information will be available closer to the date.

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).