Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/54913
Purpose W Profitand Today's student entrepreneurs want it to do it all: Make a profit and make a difference. BY SHARON SHINN hile academics produce a variety of definitions for the term social entrepreneurship, they generally agree on the basic outline: It's prac- ticed by an organization that addresses social and environmental needs that aren't being adequately met by governments or private enterprises. But there's a new dimension creeping into the definition. It's sustainable. It's profitable. It exists not only to do good, but also to make money in the process. David Townsend is one of those who's closely watching as the traditional nonprofit view of social entrepreneurship widens to include for- profit models. The assistant professor in the department of management, innovation and entrepreneurship at North Carolina State Uni- versity's Poole College of Management in Raleigh has joined with co-authors to make the case that "the organizational form itself doesn't matter as long as the goal of the organization is to create social and economic good simultaneously." 24 May/June 2011 BizEd