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Social Entrepreneurship (MGMT90165)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

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Semester 2
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Social entrepreneurs are individuals who establish an enterprise with the goal of solving complex social or environmental problems, including poverty, access to health, homelessness, climate change and food waste. They have been credited with success in disrupting the traditional forms and purpose of business and charity by creating innovative social enterprises that meld the best features of business and the non-profit sector. This subject seeks to equip students with a critical understanding of the social enterprise form and support them in developing a startup social enterprise with the purpose of solving a social and/or environmental problem. Designed and delivered with input from leaders in the social enterprise sector, the subject features lectures and workshops on social enterprise design, business modelling, pitching, social finance and measurement, as well as addressing the difficulties and dark side of social enterprise. In the subject students will develop an idea for a startup social enterprise and develop a business plan which they will pitch to a Shark Tank panel of experts. Prizes will be awarded to the best ideas to help develop these solutions into successful social enterprises.

Intended learning outcomes

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

Generic skills

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; and
  • Synthesis of data and other information.

Last updated: 10 September 2024