Program Overview

Strategic Social Impact

Course Description

This course offers each student the opportunity to create and develop a "Startup Company" deploying practical social entrepreneurship tools while taking advantage of expert guidance along the way.

Course Details

• Typically Available: Winter, Summer
• Course Number: MGMT X 403

Learning Outcomes

What you can learn:

• Comprehend key qualities of social innovation, social enterprise, and sustainable branding
• Understand the driving forces of brand communications behind the success or failure of organizations
• Experience developing a four-stage framework (define, design, plan, scale) for a new or existing social venture

About This Course

This course offers an introduction to social impact strategy and social entrepreneurship, including key concepts, an overview of the field, and tools to get started as a change maker. Students learn how to innovate and design new ideas and new organizational forms to implement those ideas. Students who take this course are better prepared to evaluate current organizations and/or launch social impact organizations of their own invention. By moving through four stages: Define, Design, Pilot and Scale, students turn their passion for changing the world into concrete plans for launching a venture designed to achieve a social goal. This course allows students to systematically think through challenges, develop potential solutions, build a business model and measure and grow the venture's impact. Additional topics include an overview of effective marketing communications, brand management and management of corporate social responsibility as an important driver for an organization's success, and being socially responsible and profitable at the same time.

Related Programs

This course applies toward the following programs:

• Sustainability certificate: Pursue a career with a greater purpose and establish yourself as a leader in the sustainability movement. Meet the growing demand for knowledgeable professionals in renewable energies and the sustainable practices, a driving force in our economy. Formats: Online | In-Person
• Sustainable Business and Management specialization: Dive deeper into the business and management sub-field of sustainability by integrating sustainable growth with business management strategies. This specialization takes an interdisciplinary approach, and provides a holistic and condensed overview of sustainable business and management.