Center for Social Innovation

Big Business in Bhutan: How the Humble Hazelnut Could Help Bhutan

Mountain Hazelnut of Bhutan has set its sights on a triple bottom line: financial gain for investors, alleviating poverty among farm families, and restoration of an eroded, hilly landscape.

Resource: News Article

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Global Transitions

Condoleezza Rice discusses political power in Russia, social stability in China, the “essence of democracy,” and “the most surprising place in the world.”

Resource: News Article

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Economic Development, Environment

A New Approach

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair discusses helping Africa through partnership rather than foreign aid.

Resource: News Article

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Climate Change Could Open Trade Opportunities for Some Vulnerable Nations, Stanford Researchers Say

The study, the most long-range and detailed of its kind to date, forecasts the occurrence of severe dry years during the next nine decades in Tanzania and its key trading partners.

Resource: News Article

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Economic Development, Healthcare

Birth Control Counseling May Reduce AIDS Transmission in Africa, Say Researchers

Family planning counseling could prove to be a cost-effective way to help minimize the number of children born HIV-positive in sub-Saharan Africa, suggests a new study by Medical School researchers, presented this week in Washington, D.C., at the International AIDS Conference.

Resource: News Article

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Big Business in Bhutan: How the Humble Hazelnut Could Help Bhutan

Mountain Hazelnut of Bhutan has set its sights on a triple bottom line: financial gain for investors, alleviating poverty among farm families, and restoration of an eroded, hilly landscape.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Global Transitions

Condoleezza Rice discusses political power in Russia, social stability in China, the “essence of democracy,” and “the most surprising place in the world.”

Resource: News Article

Topic :

A New Approach

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair discusses helping Africa through partnership rather than foreign aid.

Resource: News Article

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The Ingredients of Growth

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2010

A close study of 13 high-growth economies suggests that, counter to some received wisdom, political leaders are an integral part of creating successful economies

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: How the Danes Do It

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2010

A new study shows that social inequality is affected not just by wealth, but by the specific kind of wealth

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Grassroots Concrete

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010

Build Change, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based nonprofit whose mission is “to greatly reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses caused by housing collapses due to earthquakes in developing countries,” is shaking up construction practices in earthquake-prone areas.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Grow Your Own

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010

Economic gardening nurtures local business

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Helping the Poor Save More

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2010

The poor are just like everyone else: they do not save as much as they would like. Yet unlike their richer counterparts, poor people do not receive the cleverly marketed, carefully tested financial products that could help them reach their savings goals more easily. To enrich the bottom of the pyramid, bankers to the poor should make saving money easier by using the latest findings from economics and psychology.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Micro-Innovation: Bringing Billions into the Conversation

How do you assess the ability and willingness of the poor to pay for products and services that do not already exist, and how do you convince companies to take a risk on such a vast and fragmented market?

Resource: Blog Post

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Economic Development, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

MicroEnergy Credits Corporation: Catalyzing Clean Energy for the BoP

Using existing microfinance institutions and recent developments in the carbon credit markets on the supply side to facilitate the adoption of clean energy for the very poor.

Resource: Blog Post

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Economic Development, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Moral Hazard

The financial crisis threatens hopes to expand opportunities for underprivileged young people, but we can’t afford not to invest in them.

Resource: Blog Post

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Anti-poverty Engineers

Reducing poverty for people at the lower end of the scale would be more powerful than any other form of intervention.

Resource: Blog Post

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Live from CoF: Remittances—The New Way to Alleviate Poverty

Remittances dwarf traditional forms of aid to less developed nations.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

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The financial crisis has led to finger pointing at business schools, which have spawned MBAs who have become the leaders of various prominent financial and government institutions involved in the crisis. In this audio interview, Stanford MBA student Alex Maasry talks with Garth Saloner, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, about the impact of the crisis on the GSB's curriculum and on business education more broadly.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

The financial crisis started on Wall Street but continues to have a profound impact around the world. Among those affected are the poorest of the poor. In this audio interview, Stanford MBA student Joy Sun talks with Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and a professor at Columbia University, about how the financial crisis is shaping international relations and countries' paths toward economic development.

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Resource: Audio

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Economic Development, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

How have some developing countries managed to overcome poverty? What kinds of economic and political decisions have led to their success? In this audio lecture Michael Spence, Nobel Memorial Prize Winner in Economic Sciences, discusses what the Commission on Growth and Development has learned about the characteristics of nations that have been able to advance economically despite the recent global financial crisis.

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Resource: Audio

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Providing Environmental Sustainability Solutions

The unique advantages of zinc air fuel cells have been harnessed as an environmental sustainability measure to deliver reliable, renewable, and affordable electricity to rural communities off the grid. In this audio interview, Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman talks with 2009 Tech Award winner Rolf Papsdorf to find out how his company, Alternative Energy Development Corporation, combines sound economics, customer service, and social responsibility to tangibly improve the lives of people around the world.

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Resource: Audio

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A Social Enterprise to Reduce Hunger in India

Akshaya Patra USA is an innovative social enterprise, a food program that is changing the face of education in India. In this audio interview with Stanford Center for Social Innovation correspondent Sheela Sethuraman, President and CEO Madhu Sridhar talks about how the enterprise grew from a small organization to a massive, well-run entity. She discusses its noble goals and its strategically oriented approaches to meeting high-volume demand at low cost.

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Resource: Audio

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Bill Gates Says Foreign Aid is Threatened, but Big Ideas Can Turn the Tide

Just off a plane from Africa, Bill Gates visits Stanford to talk about innovation, but not the software kind. Scientists and engineers, he said, need to focus on products that help improve the lives of the world's poor even though the market directs people to help the wealthiest.

Resource: Video

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Innovative Design Saves Tiny Lives

Jane Chen, MBA '08, has a vision of a place “babies no longer die from being cold, where people no longer die from preventable causes. And where every person has the ability to choose [his or her] own fate.”

Resource: Video

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Optimism for Developing Countries

"There is, perhaps for the first time in history, a reasonable chance of transforming the quality of life and the creative opportunities for the vast majority of humanity."

Resource: Video

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Enhancing Business Education for Rural Entrepreneurs

In 2006, Stanford's Graduate School of Business students Scott Raymond and Katherine Boas took a service learning trip to Thailand and Cambodia. The result? A program that helps to alleviate poverty in Thailand that is now being duplicated at microlending organizations around the world.

Resource: Video

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Fox Sees Bright Future for Mexico

Americans are mostly unaware of the enormous progress Mexico has enjoyed since a devastating collapse in the peso in 1994. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox highlights the opportunities, and also addresses the challenges, resulting from the collapse.

Resource: Video

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Using Social Enterprise to Outpace Poverty

Hope Runs is a nonprofit social enterprise working in Kenya and Tanzania that uses athletics, education, and social entrepreneurship to empower AIDS orphans. In this audio interview, founders Claire Williams and Lara Vogel talk about how they have turned their idea of using marathon running to "outpace poverty" into a vital organization that partners with AIDS orphanages to have a real influence in children's lives. They discuss their model, how they use volunteers, and advice for social entrepreneurs.

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Resource: Audio

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The recent financial crisis has highlighted the interconnectedness among economies in today's world. In this audio interview, Stanford MBA student Lisa Scheible talks with James Wolfensohn, former president of World Bank, about how the crisis has changed the way global institutions and firms that are engaged in emerging market economies must operate to promote long-term development and prosperity.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

The financial crisis has led to finger pointing at business schools, which have spawned MBAs who have become the leaders of various prominent financial and government institutions involved in the crisis. In this audio interview, Stanford MBA student Alex Maasry talks with Garth Saloner, dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, about the impact of the crisis on the GSB's curriculum and on business education more broadly.

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

The financial crisis started on Wall Street but continues to have a profound impact around the world. Among those affected are the poorest of the poor. In this audio interview, Stanford MBA student Joy Sun talks with Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and a professor at Columbia University, about how the financial crisis is shaping international relations and countries' paths toward economic development.

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Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

How have some developing countries managed to overcome poverty? What kinds of economic and political decisions have led to their success? In this audio lecture Michael Spence, Nobel Memorial Prize Winner in Economic Sciences, discusses what the Commission on Growth and Development has learned about the characteristics of nations that have been able to advance economically despite the recent global financial crisis.

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Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

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The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Social Investing

In 2002, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, dedicated to building a better future for disadvantaged children, hired a director of social investments. The director faces challenges such as how to enable the long-term sustainability of grantees, track financial and programmatic performance of investments, and resolve the tension between social investment and programmatic strategies.

Resource: Academic Case

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The Competitive Advantage of India

India’s services sector had demonstrated that the country possessed the capacity to improve its global standing significantly. The question was whether India would capitalize on its success by addressing obstacles to growth, or miss the opportunity to enter the modern world.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Environment, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

Acumen Fund and Mytry De-Fluoridation Filter Technologies

The chief investment officer of Acumen Fund, an international venture philanthropy fund, is reviewing the performance of a portfolio organization. Against the backdrop of Acumen’s own evolution, he is trying to determine how much additional support to provide an organization that has faced similar challenges.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Neighborhood Health Clinic

Neighborhood Health Clinic is a nonprofit health center located in an ethnically diverse, underserved, and complicated community. These cases explore the challenges that staff began to face in working together effectively and efficiently, and what course of action the executive team took to address the problems.

Resource: Academic Case

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Rubicon Program's Corporate Strategy

In response to the closure of California state psychiatric hospitals, Rubicon Programs was established in 1973 to provide social services for recently deinstitutionalized individuals. In this videocase, the program’s top managers deliberate about their corporate strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

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Note On Issues Facing Nongovernmental Organizations

Nongovernmental organizations have become an increasingly important intermediary for international development. This note explains how NGOs have evolved, and the role they played in the early 1990s in bringing development to poor nations.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

TransFair USA

TransFair USA, the fair trade labeling arm of the Fair Trade Labeling Organization, faced strategic challenges in 2003. The founder needed to convince uninformed mainstream consumers and skeptical large-scale coffee roasters to buy Fair Trade Certified coffee.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The McKay Foundation: The Fight for a Living Wage in San Francisco

The McKay Foundation played a key role in convening the diverse constituencies that had a stake in the living wage issue. The executive director considered what to focus on next after a city ordinance authorized worker pay increases.

Resource: Academic Case

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Note on Vietnam's Business Climate

This note outlines the business climate for entrepreneurs in reform-era Vietnam around 1996. Entrepreneurs had to overcome a host of impediments in gaining access to markets, and in dealing with licensing and corruption.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Interplast

Interplast was the first international humanitarian organization to send U.S. doctors overseas to provide free reconstructive surgery in developing countries. This case and its campanion videocase chronicle the debates that arose as the organization began to shift its focus from direct service to education.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Environment, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Acumen Fund and WaterHealth International: The Role of Venture Philanthropy

The Acumen Fund provides modest amounts of capital, combined with business expertise, to help build enterprises that would serve the poor. The case describes the fund’s approach to helping address water resource problems in developing countries.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Rural Development Institute (A): Should It Tackle the Problem of the Landless Poor in India?

The Rural Development Institute was established in the 1970s to alleviate poverty by securing land rights for the world’s rural poor. The organization was considering whether to enter India to work for land reform.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Rural Development Institute (B): Success in India

In 2000, the Rural Development Institute entered India. The organization had to modify its model to address the unique aspects of the situation in that country.

Resource: Academic Case

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Unitus (A): Microfinance 2.0 - Reinventing and Industry

Unitus focuses on accelerating the growth of the microfinance industry. This first case describes the Unitus business model for microfinance and whether or not the company should expand the capital it provides to partners through a debt or equity fund.

Resource: Academic Case

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Unitus (B): Microfinance 2.0 - Reinventing an Industry

Unitus focuses on accelerating the growth of the microfinance industry. While case A examined Unitus options to expand the capital it provides to partners, this second case reveals the decisions Unitus leaders made.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

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Real Wages and Productivity Thrive in Developing Countries That Open Their Markets

When a developing country opens its stock market to foreign capital, the resulting economic effect usually helps more than just big business. Manufacturing workers find their salaries rise rapidly while the nation realizes an even more rapid growth in productivity, according to a study of 18 developing nations, says professor Peter Henry.

Resource: Research Paper

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Genetics, Politics, and Economics Join to Solve Global Poverty

Romain Wacziarg's most recent work relates genetic distance between populations to differences in economic outcomes, such as their income per capita, to better understand the process by which innovations diffuse from one culture to the next. He found that countries whose populations are the most remote genetically from the populations that developed major innovations over the past 200 years are the least well off.

Resource: Research Paper

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Healthcare

Debt Relief

This paper argues that the principal obstacle to investment and growth in the world’s poorest countries is the lack of basic institutions that support profitable economic activity. The G-8 Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative won't address the real problems of poor countries.

Resource: Research Paper

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The G8 Debt Relief Plan May Not Help

The 2005 G8 debt relief plan certainly sounds generous, but researchers caution it is unlikely to result in large benefits for struggling countries.

Resource: Research Paper

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The World's Poorest Countries: Debt Relief or Aid?

This paper argues that debt relief is unlikely to stimulate investment and growth in highly indebted poor countries. Instead, direct aid is the answer.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

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Strategic Thinking in Action - In Business and Beyond: STRAMGT 373

This seminar helps participants develop strategically informed action plans that are imaginative, inspiring, and workable in highly dynamic environments. Through informed debate and the writing and presentation of position papers, participants evaluate and hone their views on the seminar's critical themes.

Resource: MBA Course

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Design for Extreme Affordability: OIT 333/4

Students apply engineering and business skills to design product prototypes, distribution systems, and business plans for entrepreneurial ventures in developing countries. The aim is to address challenges faced by the world's poor.

Resource: MBA Course

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The International Economy: Policies and Theory: MGTECON 334

This course gives students an understanding of international trade economics, and analyzes the political processes by which international trade policy is determined. It combines lecture and mini-case studies.

Resource: MBA Course

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Growth and Stabilization in the Global Economy: MGTECON 300

This course gives students the background they need to understand the broad movements in the global economy. Key topics include long-run economic growth, technological change, wage inequality, international trade, interest rates, inflation, exchange rates, and monetary policy.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Human Rights, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Dave DeForest-Stalls (EPNL '07)

Dave DeForest-Stalls wants to help kids stay out of gangs. He's providing mentorship and hip ways to keep youth on the straight and narrow.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

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Economic Development, Education, Government, Healthcare, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Mark Cafferty (EPNL '07)

Mark Cafferty is passionate about empowering individuals to be all they can be. He channels funds to employment and youth service programs.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Environment, Government, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Court Gould (EPNL '06)

Court Gould is pushing for Pittsburgh to grow sustainably. He's working hard to inform decision makers about to accomplish that most effectively.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Philanthropy & Responsible Investing, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Government, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Ruth Bolan (EPNL '06)

Ruth Bolan is giving voice to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Island. She funds documentaries that bring their culture and challenges to millions of viewers.

Resource: CSI Affiliates

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Economic Development, Education, Environment, Nonprofit Management

An interview with Mary Margaret Sloan (EPNL '04)

Mary Margaret Sloan fires up young people by placing them in environmental service jobs around the country. Her goal is to train the next generation of conservation leaders.

Resource: Alumni

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Economic Development, Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship

Creating Peace, One Entrepreneur at a Time

It was the suicide of a young man that turned Vivek Garg toward using business as a means of fostering peace and reconciliation.

Resource: Innovators

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Study Shows Stanford Alumni Create Nearly $3 Trillion in Economic Impact Each Year

A study by faculty members Charles Eesley and William Miller determined that companies founded by the university's alumni generate trillions in annual revenue and have created 5.4 million jobs.

Resource: News Article

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Why Peace Can Pay

An economist shows how financial innovation can help reduce ethnic violence.

Resource: News Article

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