Course Syllabus

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Contact Information

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Office Hours:  By appointment via Zoom

Email: tmoss@ou.edu 

Zoom Meeting ID: none

Zoom Passcode: none; just sign in and you'll be placed in the waiting room

 

Todd Moss

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

Tom Love Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development

Course Details

For a list of course activities, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Course Learning Objectives

A

Analyze social entrepreneurship's concepts, opportunities, and challenges and how it can create a positive impact.
B

Examine social entrepreneurs' unique challenges and how they relate to insights from general entrepreneurship practices.
C Investigate the context and domain of social entrepreneurship and how it influences efforts to create innovative solutions to critical social issues.
D

Apply research and knowledge of social entrepreneurship practices to enhance personal and professional development and expand career opportunities.

Course Prerequisites 

Graduate standing. The course will challenge students to look beyond traditional business practices by using entrepreneurial principles to create societal good. The design of the course assumes that entrepreneurs are powerful agents of social and economic change who, if properly harnessed, can drive a sustainable economy and environment as well as improve the equity, health, and wellbeing of the population. 

Course Materials

COURSEPACK: You can order the course readings through the HBSP website. You may need to copy and paste the link into your browser window. If you have not already done so, you will also need to create a student account on the HBSP website so please do not leave the download to the last minute in case there are any issues.

  • Thompson, J. D. & MacMillan, I. C. Making Social Ventures Work. Harvard Business Review, September, 2010.
  • Leonard, H.B., Epstein, M. J., & Winig, L. Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM!—Case Study. Harvard Business School Publishing, November, 2005.
  • Walske, J. & Tyson, L. D. Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums—Case Study. Berkeley-Haas Case Series, July, 2016.
  • Porter, M. E. & Kramer, M. Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, January, 2011.

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Grades

Tiered Grading

Course grading requirements
Activity Description
For a grade of A:
  1. Attend class
  2. Actively participate in class
  3. Complete the final class paper
For a grade of B:
  1. Attend class
  2. Actively participate in class
For a grade of C:
  1. Attend class
For D or below:   1. Not attending class, participating, and not completing the final class paper

The final grades will be based on the completed elements above with a satisfactory level of quality.  Items completed with an unsatisfactory level of quality will not receive credit. In other words, the items are graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory.  

For example, if a student attends class and completes the final paper with a satisfactory level of quality, yet does not actively participate in class, that student will receive a C for the final grade.  Alternately, if a student attends class and actively participates, yet submits a final class paper with an unsatisfactory level of quality, that student will receive a B for the final grade.

What constitutes an unsatisfactory grade?  The unspoken premise of this question is, how close to unsatisfactory work can one submit and still receive credit?  This mindset or approach to a career in a corporation or as an entrepreneur will lead to failure. 

Instead, I suggest you consider asking yourself, how can I complete an item in such a way that the quality of my work is unquestioned?

Schedule

Day 1 AM

  • Reading:  Thompson, J. D. & MacMillan, I. C. Making Social Ventures Work. Harvard Business Review, September, 2010.
  • Preparation:  Answer the questions below in preparation for class
    1. What are your personal observations and reflections?  What are your key take-aways?
    2. What do you consider to be the strengths/weaknesses with each of the primary elements from the reading?
    3. Complete on your own and DO NOT submit the following (for your own benefit):  Individually, consider your upcoming interview with a social entrepreneur.  Take 15 minutes to review the questions in the Final Report module on Canvas.  Also write down additional questions based on the lessons you've learned from the reading.

 

Day 1 PM

  • Reading:  Leonard, H.B., Epstein, M. J., & Winig, L. Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM!—Case Study. Harvard Business School Publishing, November, 2005.
  • Preparation:  Answer the questions below in preparation for class
  1. What are KaBOOM!'s vision and mission? How is that reflected in their three-pronged strategy?
  2. What are the key strategic issues that KaBOOM!'s board need to monitor to ensure prosperity?
  3. Which of the LEAD, SEED, and RALLY strategies will best enable KaBOOM! to scale its impact? Which is the best strategy to ensure that the organization prospers in the long run? Why?
  4. Should the board focus on output measures that are more proximate to KaBOOM!'s operations, or should they focus more on societal impacts? Why, and which measures would you use for your choice? Which additional measures would you create, if any, and why?

 

Day 2 AM

  • Reading:  Walske, J. & Tyson, L. D. Sanergy: Tackling Sanitation in Kenyan Slums—Case Study. Berkeley-Haas Case Series, July, 2016.
  • Preparation:  Answer the questions below in preparation for class
  1. Is Sanergy a social enterprise? Why or why not? Use ideas from the course to support your conclusions.
  2. Why was access to both grant and equity funding important? How did that inform Sanergy on how to structure its business?
  3. In order to successfully launch its sanitation and fertilizer businesses, Sanergy had to invest in developing its value chain. What are the opportunities and risks that come with such an approach? (Just what is a value chain? Briefly read ahead in Porter and Kramer's HBR article in Module 4.)
  4. Map Sanergy's value chain to determine connections between the different components.

 

Day 2 PM

  • Reading:  Porter, M. E. & Kramer, M. Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, January, 2011.
  • Preparation:  Answer the questions below in preparation for class
  1. What were the top one or two ideas in the article that made you sit up and exclaim, "Wow, I never would have guessed that!"?
  2. What is the “business as usual” way of working with a company’s supply base?
  3. How is Nestle’s approach different? Be specific.
  4. How could Nestle’s approach work in another company, not in the food industry (i.e., move from CSR to CSV)? Be specific.

Course Components

Final Paper

Exploring how a social entrepreneur addresses entrepreneurial challenges is one of the best ways to understand social entrepreneurship. The purpose of this assignment is to obtain fresh insights by researching a social entrepreneur, innovator, or enterprise owner/manager and his or her social venture. The emphasis of the report should be on how the innovator/entrepreneur addresses the issues discussed in the course. 

 

Course Policies

Communication 

Please contact me through your OU email, rather than Canvas inbox. You can email me at tmoss@ou.edu. Include the course number in the subject line (e.g. ENT 5111). I typically do not check email on the weekends. 

Feedback 

You can expect feedback within a week of the assignment's due date.

Late Policy

I do not accept late work unless previously agreed upon between student and instructor. 

Plagiarism 

Plagiarism is the most common form of academic misconduct at OU. There is no college-level assignment that can be satisfactorily completed by copying. OU's basic assumption about writing is that all written assignments show the student's own understanding in the student's own words. That means all writing assignments, in class or out, are assumed to be composed entirely of words generated (not simply found) by the student, except where words written by someone else are specifically marked as such with proper citation. Including other people's words in your paper is helpful when you do it honestly and correctly. When you don't, it's plagiarism. 

For more information about plagiarism, watch the OU Libraries Plagiarism Tutorial video and take the short Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorial Canvas course offered by University Libraries.

Generative AI

I permit the use of standalone Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, etc., for the following:
•    Searching for publications on your research topic. 
•    Providing grammatical feedback on drafts. 
•    Further study on concepts outside of class. 
•    Troubleshooting problems with software. 
 
Whenever you use Generative AI for any of these, you are required to make a declaration acknowledging how and to what extent you used it. Please include an appendix that details the prompts you used and the responses you obtained. Usage of Generative AI outside of the clearly defined scope, and without acknowledgment as required, will be considered a violation of the academic integrity policy for this course.

 

University Academic Policies and Student Support

Access the University Academic Policies Document.

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due