Center for Social Innovation

"A Thoughtful, Systemic Approach"

How Scholarship Can Help Alleviate Extreme Poverty.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Globalizing Entry-Level Business Processing Employment

A hybrid social enterprise offers employment and skills training to rural youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya.

Resource: News Article

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Building Affordable Health Care in China

In an interview with Kewen Jin, the serial entrepreneurs discusses the rapid growth of China's health care industry and the idea of "innovation by subtraction."

Resource: News Article

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Digital Diagnosis

A talk with a Stanford dermatologist and entrepreneur who cofounded an internet alternative to the doctors’ office.

Resource: News Article

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Harnessing Mobile Tech And Students To Promote Development In Kenya

Stanford students and faculty partner with Kenyan organizations to test ways to reduce urban poverty through novel applications of mobile phone technology.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

"A Thoughtful, Systemic Approach"

How Scholarship Can Help Alleviate Extreme Poverty.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Globalizing Entry-Level Business Processing Employment

A hybrid social enterprise offers employment and skills training to rural youth in Cambodia, Laos, and Kenya.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Building Affordable Health Care in China

In an interview with Kewen Jin, the serial entrepreneurs discusses the rapid growth of China's health care industry and the idea of "innovation by subtraction."

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Digital Diagnosis

A talk with a Stanford dermatologist and entrepreneur who cofounded an internet alternative to the doctors’ office.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Harnessing Mobile Tech And Students To Promote Development In Kenya

Stanford students and faculty partner with Kenyan organizations to test ways to reduce urban poverty through novel applications of mobile phone technology.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Economic Development

Unleash the Hordes

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2009

MARKET REBELS: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations by Havagreeva Rao Review by Carl Schramm

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Reward Progress, Reduce Poverty

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2009

We must break the stereotype that low-income communities are unable to help themselves. —By Maurice Lim Miller

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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The Parent of Invention

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2009

RAMP nurtures local inventors in India, Peru, and Indonesia. —By Aaron Dalton

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Root Solutions

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2009

Nonprofit lender Root Capital connects rural farmers and artisans with the corporations that crave their products. —By Suzie Boss

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: No Profit for Her

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2009

Research shows that men may be more effective than woman at utilizing microfinance investments.

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Nonprofit Accounting Rules Not the Solution to For-Profit Accountability

Nonprofit accounting rules should not be forced on anyone.

Resource: Blog Post

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Economic Development

Reviewing the Past, Predicting the Future

The author takes a crystal ball to the 2009 economic landscape.

Resource: Blog Post

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Kiva Introduces Lending Team Feature

Kiva, the world’s first person-to-person microlending Web site, has facilitated nearly $40 million in loans to entrepreneurs worldwide.

Resource: Blog Post

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Chinese Activity in Africa, Part 2: The Path of Least Resistance

Africa is finding Chinese investment less demanding than that of the West.

Resource: Blog Post

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Chinese Activity in Africa, Part 2: The Path of Least Resistance

To what degree will Chinese investments in Africa add long-term value?

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Economic Development, Environment

Examining the 21st Century Oil Company

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company exemplifies how an organization may go from good to great through a focus on innovation. In this audio lecture, CEO Abdallah Jum'ah shares with an audience of Stanford MBA students how he has harnessed the brainpower of his people to come up with breakthrough solutions in areas such as technology, tools, processes, and organizational management. His talk demonstrates how living the values of innovation, insight, and principle can transform an organization and change the world.

Resource: Audio

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Promoting Entrepreneurship Abroad

While the United States has been a leader in global entrepreneurship, other countries are also getting in on the act. But the movement abroad has not been without its struggles. In this panel discussion at a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs talk about what it takes to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a variety of countries. They look at challenges as well as lessons from nations that have been particularly successful in creating startups, such as India and Taiwan.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Promoting Entrepreneurship at Home and Abroad

A critical aspect of international development and the restoration of the global economy involves fostering entrepreneurship. In this panel discussion at a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, experts and entrepreneurs discuss what it takes to create social and educational environments in the United States and abroad that support innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. They consider what opportunities the world crisis has opened up for major transformations in every sector of the economy.

Resource: Audio

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Growing Entrepreneurship in Italy

The U.S. government is working to grow the "ecosystem" for entrepreneurship abroad as a part of its international development efforts. In this audio lecture, Richard Boly, a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, discusses how he managed a program of the U.S. embassy to promote entrepreneurship in Italy, a country steeped in bureaucracy and lacking engines of innovation. Speaking at a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, he details efforts to connect entrepreneurs with the resources and role models they need to be successful.

Resource: Audio

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Entrepreneurship for Economic Growth

International development is increasingly dependent on the entrepreneurship of local citizens. But has the U.S.-caused global recession robbed American business and government of the ability to persuade other countries to partake of the capitalistic entrepreneurial model? In this panel discussion, part of a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, experts discuss the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth worldwide.

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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Creating a Social Enterprise

When Priya Haji put her mind to helping reduce global poverty, social entrepreneurship took a quantum leap. In this university podcast, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, the plucky founder of World of Good shares how she created a social enterprise that now empowers women in communities around the world by helping them sell their artisan goods in stores and online. She talks about strategies for using educated consumer choice and inspiring business competition to do good.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development, Education

International Development Through Youth

The future of international development may lie in the hands of children. In this audio interview with Sheela Sethuraman, Jeroo Billimoria talks about how her organization, Aflatoun, provides social and financial education to youth ages 6 to 14 in 31 countries. She discusses Aflatoun's work with partners to create and disseminate innovative curricula to mainstream schools, and its vision for continuing to empower young people over the next five years.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development, Environment

Examining the 21st Century Oil Company

The Saudi Arabian Oil Company exemplifies how an organization may go from good to great through a focus on innovation. In this audio lecture, CEO Abdallah Jum'ah shares with an audience of Stanford MBA students how he has harnessed the brainpower of his people to come up with breakthrough solutions in areas such as technology, tools, processes, and organizational management. His talk demonstrates how living the values of innovation, insight, and principle can transform an organization and change the world.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Promoting Entrepreneurship Abroad

While the United States has been a leader in global entrepreneurship, other countries are also getting in on the act. But the movement abroad has not been without its struggles. In this panel discussion at a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs talk about what it takes to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in a variety of countries. They look at challenges as well as lessons from nations that have been particularly successful in creating startups, such as India and Taiwan.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Promoting Entrepreneurship at Home and Abroad

A critical aspect of international development and the restoration of the global economy involves fostering entrepreneurship. In this panel discussion at a conference convened by the Hoover Institute at Stanford, experts and entrepreneurs discuss what it takes to create social and educational environments in the United States and abroad that support innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. They consider what opportunities the world crisis has opened up for major transformations in every sector of the economy.

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

No Results Found

Topics:

Health Care, Economic Development

Can Oil Filters Improve Health Care?

For millions of people across Africa, motorcycles can be a key to effective health care. A well-maintained fleet of vehicles and motorcycles to connect patients, medical expertise, and medicine is sometimes the most vital link in the health delivery supply chain. A new case written for the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum describes one successful program.

Resource: Academic Case

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Social Entrepreneurship: Kiva

Inspired by Professor Muhammad Yunus, Jessica and Matt Flannery experimented with micro-lending connecting Ugandan entrepreneurs to friends and family through a pilot internet trial. Kiva, the first person-to- person microlending organization was born.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

As Green As It Gets

As Green as It Gets was a nonprofit economic development organization supporting small, independent producers in disadvantaged Guatemalan communities. The founder pondered how to grow and sustain the organization.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management

Endeavor

Endeavor selects promising entrepreneurs and helps them develop and grow their businesses through mentorship and guidance. In 2007, founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg looked at the organization's expansion strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

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Kiva

By 2007, Kiva had gone through a rapid growth phase. The case recounts the debut of the first online person-to-person microfinance organization and looks at the founders' plan for future development.

Resource: Academic Case

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Social Entrepreneurship: Banco Compartamos

Banco Compartamos has been providing microloans to the poor in rural areas of Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico, since 1990. It became one of Mexico’s most successful banks. Critics, however, claim that Compartamos departed from the true spirit of microfinance.

Resource: Academic Case

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Equity Bank, a microfinance service

Equity Bank, a microfinance services provider, experienced a remarkable turnaround in the early 1990s. What strategy did the CEO pursue to accomplish such a feat?

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (A): The Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This first part of the case describes the organization's initial considerations.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Healthcare

Gilead Sciences (B): Implementing the Gilead Access Program for HIV Drugs

Gilead Sciences designs a strategy for delivering an AIDS drug to developing nations in Africa. This second part of the case explores the company’s experience with a distribution program.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Riders for Health: Health Care Distribution Solutions in Sub-Saharan Africa

Riders for Health is a U.K.-based nonprofit dedicated to the improvement of transportation systems for health workers in Africa. In 2007, after 11 years in existence, the organization was at a critical point and had to decide what strategies were necessary to expand.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

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

Topic :

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

Topic :

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

Research Papers : All

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Intermediate Goods and Weak Links in the Theory of Economic Development

What explains the enormous differences in incomes across countries? This paper returns to two old ideas: linkages and complementarity. These forces considerably amplify distortions to the allocation of resources, bringing us closer to understanding large income differences across countries.

Resource: Research Paper

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Understand Young Companies in Your Own Backyard, Report Urges Global Leaders

Policy makers need to understand how early-stage companies in their own area work, rather than try to create another Silicon Valley, says Stanford management professor George Foster. He is coauthor of a new report published by the World Economic Forum.

Resource: Research Paper

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Why Do Firms in Developing Countries Have Low Productivity?

In summary, we find evidence that firms in developing countries are often badly managed, which substantially reduces their productivity.

Resource: Research Paper

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Firms in Corrupt Countries Pay a Price in Market Value

Virtue seems to pay according to Professor Charles M.C. Lee whose research shows that publicly-held firms in countries perceived as less corrupt trade at bigger market premiums than those in places deemed more corrupt.

Resource: Research Paper

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Why Bank Equity Is Not Expensive

Since the 2008 market crash, banking interests and economists have clashed over how much of their operations banks should fund with equity as opposed to debt. Bankers and others often say that, "equity is expensive." A recent paper, coauthored by three faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, argues: "Quite simply, bank equity is not expensive from a social perspective, and high leverage is not required in order for banks to perform all their socially valuable functions."

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

Topic :

Economic Development, Education, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Jake Harriman (MBA '08)

Jake Harriman starts seed projects in extremely stressed areas of the world. He works to help people lift themselves out of poverty in five years.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Eric Weaver (MBA '92)

Eric Weaver helps working people create assets. He wants to see everyone in the Bay Area achieve financial self-sufficiency.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Education, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Daniel Grossman

Daniel Grossman's Wild Planet creates toys that parents love as much as kids. His aim is to inspire learning and inventiveness.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Bruce McNamer (JD/MBA '96)

Bruce McNamer empowers entrepreneurs in rural areas around the world to become self-sufficient. He finds helping people to help themselves a noble calling.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

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

An interview with Josh Becker (MBA ’99)

Josh Becker combines private, public, and government-sector solutions in addressing big social challenges. His focus is innovation.

Resource: Alumni

Topic :

Mobile and Branchless Banking

In a country that lacks formal financial services but contains over half a billion cell phone users, two brothers saw a unique opportunity. In this audio interview, Sheela Sethuraman speaks with Abhishek Sinha, co-founder of Eko India Financial Services, about their efforts to lower the barriers for end-consumers in India. As The Tech Awards 2011 laureates of the Flextronics Economic Development Award, Sinha discusses Eko India's breakthrough developments in branchless banking.

Resource: Audio

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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

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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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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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