Center for Social Innovation

Research: Not Racing to Help

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2009

Racism may have played a role in the government’s delayed response to Katrina.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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A Technology Revolution for Revolutions!

Internet tech tools are mobilizing collective action and revolutionizing ways to start a revolution.

Resource: Blog Post

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Causefest

A youth summit discusses online platforms as a means of catalyzing social change.

Resource: Blog Post

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An Unconscionable Business

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Winter 2009

SEX TRAFFICKING: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddharth Kara Review by Holly Burkhalter

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Dropping the Ball

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2008

Why the Soccer Ball Project—one of the world’s first multistakeholder efforts to stop abuses of labor rights—is failing to protect workers in Pakistan. —By Anthony Ewing

Economic Development, Human Rights

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Project Healthy Children: Making Nutrition Their Business

Project Healthy Children works with governments and manufacturers to bring fortified foods to people at risk.

Resource: News Article

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Increasing Companies' Safety & Gender Equity

A study of oil rigs shows that a different approach to male-dominated environments can change corporate culture.

Resource: News Article

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Economic Development, Human Rights, Leadership

Why Do Women Not Always Realize Their Workforce Potential?

A researcher says at least part of the answer is that people are more than their potential.

Resource: News Article

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Economic Development, Government, Human Rights

The Tough Math Behind Humanitarian Aid

A new study finds that a different approach to food-relief efforts in the developing world could save more lives.

Resource: News Article

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Business, Human Rights

African American Women Are Moving Ahead Rapidly

In the United States today, two-thirds of African American college undergrads are women, and they are going on to excel in business, particularly in entrepreneurship, says visiting scholar Katherine Phillips.

Resource: News Article

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Imagining a Democracy

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2005

In Morocco, there are 33,000 NGOs, many of which are engaged in a massive struggle to bring a civil society to life, while avoiding the hazards of Middle East geopolitical tensions and the challenges of the country’s own recent history of egregious human rights violations.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Technology’s Positive Impact on Human Rights

The author details a Web that tells stories and exposes human injustice and trauma rather than gossip. She proposes this exposure will help drive the change that is needed.

Resource: Blog Post

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The Best Thing We Can Do for Nonprofits–and Ourselves

We must actively withhold support when we see the government acting in a way counter to our ideals and its own. Those of us who supported the President’s election because we share his basic principles and values should express that support by remaining independent and criticizing when necessary, rather than by becoming supplicants to or apologists for the people we put in office. That’s an idea relevant to each and all of us as citizens.

Resource: Blog Post

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Spinternet

The Internet has the potential to do a lot of good in the world, but we must not ignore the emerging strategies of negative influence.

Resource: Blog Post

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A Technology Revolution for Revolutions!

Internet tech tools are mobilizing collective action and revolutionizing ways to start a revolution.

Resource: Blog Post

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Causefest

A youth summit discusses online platforms as a means of catalyzing social change.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

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Using Supply Chain Innovations to Save Lives

In this audio lecture, Lynn Fritz, a few days after hurricane Katrina hit, shares his vision for the enhancement of disaster relief operations to a floor of highly engaged humanitarian disaster relief actors gathered at the Stanford Effective Disruption Management Seminar.

Resource: Audio

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Healthcare, Human Rights

California's Stem Cell Initiative

In the 2004 general election, California voters approved Proposition 71 by a vote of 59 percent. The initiative established a $3 billion bond measure to create the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and fund stem cell research in the state of California. In this panel discussion, Prop 71 key players address the entrepreneurial challenges they have faced while pushing for a controversial, dramatic policy change.

Resource: Audio

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Human Rights, Leadership

Cory Booker's 2012 Commencement Address

Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, challenges Stanford graduates to be courageous, never lose faith and always work together during Stanford's 121st Commencement. He extolls lessons from his own father and grandfather through stories of hardship, hope, and humor. Booker encourages graduates to find and join their own "conspiracy of love" -- people who will help lift them up in times of need, provide a community and challenge them to go beyond what they think is possible.

Resource: Video

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Gloria Steinem: Ms. at 40 and the Future of Feminism

Stanford welcomes Gloria Steinem, co-founder and first editor of Ms. Magazine, in celebration of Ms.'s 40th anniversary. Steinem reflected on Ms. Magazine's role over forty years and looked ahead to what feminism may mean for future generations.

Resource: Video

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Gloria Steinem at Stanford: The Feminist Struggle Continues

Author and activist Gloria Steinem challenged a Stanford audience to fight social injustice with outrageous acts, and offered several targets in the struggle for equal rights.

Resource: Video

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Say What You Think Then Take Action

San Francisco's young and charismatic mayor, Gavin Newsom, has suffered his share of punches for taking bold positions on controversial issues. In this Stanford Center for Social Innovation-sponsored talk, Newsom tells of the courage and persistence it takes to make real social change as a leader.

Resource: Video

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Human Rights

Stanford's Guatemala Service Learning Trip, 2008-1

On a service learning trip to Guatemala, John Joseph, MBA '08, and classmates visited small producers right up to the Starbucks' organization, as well as NGOs like As Green As It Gets.

Resource: Video

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Corporate Social Responsibility

In the past few years, several international reporting standards have emerged. But are they actually changing corporate behavior? With particular emphasis on labor standards, this panel discussion explores the effectiveness of current efforts to monitor and improve labor conditions abroad, the role of verification groups, and practical challenges faced by companies in implementing guidelines.

Resource: Audio

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic Development, Human Rights

International Coffee Markets

Over 125 million people rely on coffee for their livelihood. What are Starbucks, the Fair Trade certification, and other nonprofit initiatives doing to help them out of the coffee crisis? This panel discussion describes the mechanics of the global coffee crisis and explores strategies to address sustainability issues on the economic, social, and environmental levels.

Resource: Audio

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Economic Development, Human Rights, Social Entrepreneurship

A Public-Private Partnership that Works

"Moving the World" is a partnership between logistics company TNT and the United Nations World Food Programme, the world's largest humanitarian aid agency. Together they provide food aid to an average of 90 million people, including 56 million hungry children, in more than 80 countries. Speaking at the Stanford Effective Disruption Management Seminar, Moving the World Director Ludo Oelrich explains in this audio lecture how the benefits of this association play out both ways.

Resource: Audio

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Public/Private Partnerships for Disaster Relief

Jon Olson has put Intel's supply chain expertise at John Rickard's disposal to bring his organization, International Rescue Committee, to the next level. Speaking together at the Stanford Effective Disruption Management Seminar, they explain in this audio lecture how the supply chain knowledge and frameworks developed in a corporate environment can go a long way when applied to the logistic issues faced by humanitarian disaster relief agencies.

Resource: Audio

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Humanitarian Disaster Relief Challenges

Speaking at the Stanford Effective Disruption Management Seminar, Gail Neudorf talks in this audio lecture about some of the challenges and issues faced by humanitarian disaster relief operations.

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

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Monitoring Factories Around the Globe: The Fair Labor Association and the Worker Rights Consortium

Two nonprofits, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), were created in 1999 and 2000, respectively, to monitor factories around the world for sweatshop-related infractions. The two organizations had similar goals, but very different histories, strategies, and ways of operating. Their shared history has been controversial and tumultuous.

Resource: Academic Case

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Dr. Frances Conley (A): The Resignation, (B): The Return

In 1991, Frances Conley, the first female, tenured full professor of neurosurgery in the United States, resigned from her position at Stanford Medical School over the appointment of a new department chair who was known for sexual harassment. As she becomes thrust into the media limelight, she wonders what she should do next.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Global Fund for Women

The CEO of the Global Fund for Women, an organization that seeds and supports women’s rights groups, must examine how to guide the fund’s growth without having it lose its connections with donors and grantees. She also wonders how the fund could do better at assessing grant outcomes and sharing success stories.

Resource: Academic Case

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Human Rights, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The September 11th Fund

The September 11th Fund was created to support the short- and long-term needs of the people and communities affected by the World Trade Center tragedy. Many foundation leaders evaluated the difficult lessons learned in interacting with the media, and wondered how they could better use communication strategies to demonstrate their accountability.

Resource: Academic Case

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Mobil in Aceh, Indonesia (A) & (B)

In 1998, the chief executive of Mobil in Indonesia considered how he should respond to allegations that Mobil had been complicit in human rights abuses. The cases reflect on the challenges of managing operations in a place like Aceh.

Resource: Academic Case

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Environment, Human Rights

The World Trade Organization and the Seattle Talks

In 1999, the World Trade Organization talks in Seattle were sidelined by people protesting against the organization and issues of free trade. The case describes the nature of the protests, and the WTO’s dispute resolution process.

Resource: Academic Case

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Gordon Biersch Vignettes

The case offers a view into day-to-day management issues faced by entrepreneurs managing a growing business. The focus is the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, which had to address a sexual harassment lawsuit and other ethical dilemmas.

Resource: Academic Case

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Monitoring Factories Around the Globe: The Fair Labor Association and the Worker Rights Consortium

Two nonprofits, the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), were created in 1999 and 2000, respectively, to monitor factories around the world for sweatshop-related infractions. The two organizations had similar goals, but very different histories, strategies, and ways of operating. Their shared history has been controversial and tumultuous.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Dr. Frances Conley (A): The Resignation, (B): The Return

In 1991, Frances Conley, the first female, tenured full professor of neurosurgery in the United States, resigned from her position at Stanford Medical School over the appointment of a new department chair who was known for sexual harassment. As she becomes thrust into the media limelight, she wonders what she should do next.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Global Fund for Women

The CEO of the Global Fund for Women, an organization that seeds and supports women’s rights groups, must examine how to guide the fund’s growth without having it lose its connections with donors and grantees. She also wonders how the fund could do better at assessing grant outcomes and sharing success stories.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Human Rights, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The September 11th Fund

The September 11th Fund was created to support the short- and long-term needs of the people and communities affected by the World Trade Center tragedy. Many foundation leaders evaluated the difficult lessons learned in interacting with the media, and wondered how they could better use communication strategies to demonstrate their accountability.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Mobil in Aceh, Indonesia (A) & (B)

In 1998, the chief executive of Mobil in Indonesia considered how he should respond to allegations that Mobil had been complicit in human rights abuses. The cases reflect on the challenges of managing operations in a place like Aceh.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

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Feminist Theory and Critical Theory: Unexplored Synergies

Although both feminist theory and critical theory focus on social and economic inequalities, and both have an agenda of promoting system change, these fields of inquiry have developed separately and seldom draw on each other's work. This paper argues that synergies between these two fields could, and should, be explored.

Resource: Research Paper

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Protest and Policymaking: Explaining Fluctuation in Congressional Attention to Rights Issues, 1960-1986

The authors reexamine the relationship between protest and policy change at the agenda-setting stage of policymaking. They find that protest, issue legitimacy, and issue competition account for variation in the number of congressional hearings granted to rights issues.

Resource: Research Paper

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Government, Human Rights

Reputation When Threats and Transfers Are Available

The authors present a model where a long-run player uses money transfers and threats to influence the decisions of a sequence of short-run players. The model is useful for the debate around judicial corruption.

Resource: Research Paper

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Racial Stereotypes Can Be Unconscious but Reversible

Negative stereotypes about various racial groups bombard us every day in the mass media and deposit their residue deep into our minds, often without our realizing it, says Brian Lowery.

Resource: Research Paper

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Women and Power: Conformity, Resistance, and Disorganized Co-Action

The paper examines micro-processes that undermine the formal power of high-ranking women in a male-dominated organization. It shows how the capacity of these women to reduce systemic causes of gender inequality is therefore more limited than it might appear.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

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The Quest for Happiness Exploring the Psychology of Human Fulfillment: OB 552

In this seminar, we explore the nature of human happiness from psychological perspectives, and how such knowledge can be applied in personal and business contexts. To illustrate the ideas discussed, we examine in detail a number of fascinating individuals, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, venture capitalist Tom Perkins, Steven Spielberg, Martha Stewart, and the Nobel physicist Richard Feynman.

Resource: MBA Course

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Women in Organizations: OB 387

This course focuses on women's working experiences in managerial and professional positions in business and some nonprofit organizations. Using business cases, small group work, videos, lectures, and class discussions, we examine a wide variety of career-related gender issues.

Resource: MBA Course

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Entrepreneurship from the Perspective of Women: STRAMGT 508

This seminar will showcase successful women entrepreneurs and the challenges they encountered on the paths to success such as finding funding, dealing with different communication styles, and balancing work and lifestyle.

Seminar participants will study mini-cases, engage in panel discussions and hear from experienced entrepreneurs.

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, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

An interview with Federico Lozano (MBA '09)

Federico Lozano is working to alleviate poverty by connecting poor, semi-skilled laborers from the developing world with jobs in the developed world.

Resource: Fellow

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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

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Research: Why They Stayed

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2009

“The question everyone asked was, ‘Why did those crazy people choose to stay?’"

Economic Development, Human Rights, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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An interview with Federico Lozano (MBA '09)

Federico Lozano is working to alleviate poverty by connecting poor, semi-skilled laborers from the developing world with jobs in the developed world.

Resource: Fellow

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Research: Color Blindness Is Shortsighted

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2009

Acknowledging employee diversity has its benefits.

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

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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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

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