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We must work together to give social enterprises the same nurturing environment for-profits have enjoyed for years. in my opinion, man- agement education could be doing much more to advance social enterprise worldwide, particu- larly in two key roles: Research. Profes- sors could conduct research that offers practical guidance to social entrepreneurs. They could work out details of alter- nate business models, examine the existing regulatory and tax frame- work, and suggest policy changes that will encourage trends in corpo- rate social responsibility. At the same time, they could write case studies about successful social businesses, which would become blueprints for new entrepreneurs. Coursework. More schools could offer what Yunus calls a "social MBA," which would cover traditional finance, marketing, management, and HR skills, but from a different perspective. Students in this program also could take courses focusing on the economics of poverty, maximiz- ing social benefits to the poor, and finding solutions to social problems. This would give graduates not only the analytical tools they need to con- duct business, but also the compas- sionate understanding they require to address the needs of the poor. Some of these programs might be built around the ideas presented by C.K. Prahalad in his book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Prahalad believes the world could "fight poverty through profits" if the private sector would capitalize on the enormous size and buying power of the impoverished household, design- ing products that benefit and can be purchased by the poor. I am impressed by the efforts that are already under way at some schools. For instance, Harvard Business School's Social Enterprise Ini- tiative has the lofty goal of educating "leaders who make a difference in the world" by applying "management skills to create social value." SEI courses cover business at the base of the pyramid, effective leadership of social enterprise, entre- preneurship in the social sector, and more. The SEI also enjoys synergy with programs across the campus that have similar missions. Likewise, Stanford's Center for Social Inno- vation offers initiatives such as the Social Innovation Podcasting Chan- nel to facilitate multidisciplinary learning for social change. Stanford also disseminates knowledge in this area through its Social Innovation Conversation, which records the words of thought leaders and shares them with people who otherwise wouldn't have access to them. Many top business schools orga- nize internal business plan competi- tions that focus on social enterprise, but I'm most impressed by a unique collaborative project called the Global Social Venture Competition. It's run by the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley in partnership with Columbia Business School, London Business School, the Indian School of Business, and Thammasat Univer- sity of Thailand. Supporting partners include the University of Geneva in Switzerland, ESSEC Business School in France, The Yale School of Man- agement, the Catholic University of Milan, and a consortium of business schools in Korea. The participants' mission is to build on their networks of global leaders, entrepreneurs, and academics to change "the way busi- ness measures success." And yet, while some schools are being proactive, most of them are being reactive, only offering a greater focus on corporate social responsibil- ity when students and stakeholders demand it. At both the concep- tual and practical level, much work remains to be done to truly make social business part of the business school curriculum. Yunus believes that academics, business leaders, and policy makers must work together to give social enterprises the same nurturing envi- ronment for-profits have enjoyed for years. In his Nobel lecture, he describes the challenge of unfinished work, calling for a social stock mar- ket where only the shares of social businesses will be traded. He says, "We will need to create rating agen- cies, standardization of terminology, definitions, impact measurement tools, reporting formats, and new financial publications, such as The Social Wall Street Journal. Business schools will offer courses and busi- ness management degrees on social businesses to train young manag- ers how to manage social business enterprises in the most efficient manner, and, most of all, to inspire them to become social business entrepreneurs themselves." The history of ideas shows that for an idea to succeed, timing is impor- tant. I believe the time is right now for business schools to embrace the idea of social enterprise. n z Munir Quddus is dean and professor of economics at the College of Business, Prairie View A&M University in Texas. BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2009 63