Center for Social Innovation

Q&A: Stanford Economist John Shoven on Social Security

It's true: 65 really is the new 55. Stanford economist John Shoven gives practical advice on how to save for retirement during a struggling economy, low interest rates and longer life spans.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion

The Power of Potential

Why mere potential can be more impressive than actual achievement.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Earth May Be Approaching 'Tipping Point,' Stanford Scientist Says

The planet may be nearing a critical threshold, beyond which environmental changes will be rapid and unpredictable, according to a study co-authored by Stanford Professor Elizabeth Hadly.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Economic Development

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 :

Environment, Government

Stanford's George Shultz on Energy: It's Personal

George Shultz leads a group preparing to propose a federal tax on carbon to slash U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and oil consumption, a seemingly unlikely policy from a Republican Party statesman.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Q&A: Stanford Economist John Shoven on Social Security

It's true: 65 really is the new 55. Stanford economist John Shoven gives practical advice on how to save for retirement during a struggling economy, low interest rates and longer life spans.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion

The Power of Potential

Why mere potential can be more impressive than actual achievement.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Earth May Be Approaching 'Tipping Point,' Stanford Scientist Says

The planet may be nearing a critical threshold, beyond which environmental changes will be rapid and unpredictable, according to a study co-authored by Stanford Professor Elizabeth Hadly.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Solar Power's Bright Future

A conversation with Stefan Reichelstein on the economics of solar power.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

The Miracle of Financial Inclusion

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Summer 2011

The founder of the Kashf Foundation argues that microfinance can improve the lives of Pakistan’s next generation.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Picking Green Tech’s Winners and Losers

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Unless clean tech follows well-established rules of innovation and commercialization, the industry’s promise to provide sustainable sources of energy will fail.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Management, Social Entrepreneurship

What’s Next: Retailing with Heart

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Venture into a Panera Cares café and you’ll see the same menu and racks of freshly baked breads that are staples at the 1,400 Panera Bread restaurants across the United States. The only thing missing is the cash register. Instead, there’s a donation box where customers pay on the honor system.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Education, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

It Takes Three to Tango

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

A European perspective on American civil society. A quick glance at the latest thinking about not-for-profit management and philanthropy reveals some profound differences between the ways American and European practitioners look at today’s major societal challenges.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Letting Go

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Spring 2011

Foundations often undermine their own efforts by micromanaging how social problems are solved. Two insiders explore why foundations have developed this way and what grant makers can do to foster high impact strategies.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Why I Wish Nonprofits Would Stop Using the Word ‘Minorities’

“We’ve got to stop using the word ‘minorities’ to describe the communities we serve. It doesn’t have any value. It never has."- the author

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Government

Combating Anxiety with Action

Heed President Obama’s call to service and take action.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Second (and Third) Thoughts About Public Funding for the Arts

The author breaks down how public funding of the arts should be put towards performance, exhibition, and education leaving the artists and their creative process to private patronage.

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Brandeis Betrays Its Givers

“To survive the deepening financial crisis, nonprofits must work harder than ever to earn and keep the trust of their givers."- the author

Resource: Blog Post

Topic :

Arts, Culture, and Religion, Human Rights

A Technology Revolution for Revolutions!

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

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

Topic:

Corporate Social Responsibility

Stakeholders in Corporate Social Responsibility

What does it mean for a company to fully engage in corporate social responsibility and become a global citizen? In this audio lecture at Stanford, former Hewlett-Packard VP Debra Dunn talks about the opportunities and challenges of implementing a robust Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and aligning with the demands of numerous stakeholders. Dunn draws on her own experience working for the technology giant.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Healthcare

The Tobacco Industry and Global Health

Smoking has been considered a leading cause of preventable death in the United States and on the global level. This audio lecture from the the 2011 Global Health Care Series features Stanford Professor Robert Proctor, the first historian to testify in the federal courts as an expert witness against the tobacco industry. He explores the scale of the global tobacco epidemic and the social forces that have advanced it as a popular consumer product.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Promoting Social Entrepreneurship Among Youth

Keeping social entrepreneurship strong means mentoring our youth, says Bill Drayton in this university podcast. The founder of Ashoka, the world's oldest support organization for social entrepreneurs, Drayton discusses how children are an important focus for the organization's current roster of emerging social enterprise all-stars. Identifying key leadership qualities and how to nurture them, he also rallies an audience of Stanford business school MBAs to become changemakers.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Environmental Sustainability with World Water

World demand for water is likely to continue to outpace population. In this panel discussion, experts talk about how this troubling environmental sustainability issue offers a rare opportunity for cleantech entrepreneurs. Our search for sustainable water offers lessons that may help others facing similar large-scale challenges such as world demand for energy. The event was part of the MIT-Stanford Venture Lab Series.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Education, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Grassroots Philanthropy in Schools

Want to make sure American schoolchildren have enough pencils for a poetry writing unit, violins for a school recital, or microscope slides for a biology class? Go to DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that makes it easy to support any classroom project request nationwide. In this audio interview with host Ashkon Jafari, CEO Charles Best talks about the organization's humble beginnings, its use of cross-sector collaboration, its current initiatives, and the impact it is having in America's classrooms.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Economic Development

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

Topic:

Leadership, Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship From a Woman's Perspective

To be a successful entrepreneur you need to ignore your naysayers and have a passion bordering on obsession.

Resource: Video

Topic:

Education

Eric Schmidt of Google: Change Creates Opportunity

"I think this is by far the best time to be graduating, not the worst," says Eric Schmidt (March 10, 2009).

Resource: Video

Topic:

Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Opportunities in Clean Tech

What is the future of clean tech?

Resource: Video

Topic:

Healthcare

Using Social Media to Save Lives, Part 2 of 3

A leukemia diagnosis for Sameer Bhatia is the start of a nation-wide project to create a bone marrow registry in India. Robert Chatwani describes one family's innovative effort to create social change and, in the process, find a perfect match for Sameer.

Resource: Video

Topic:

The Future of the Healthcare Sector

How can the healthcare industry become more sustainable in the long term? In this university podcast, UnitedHealth Group executive Richard Migliori talks about what drives innovation in his organization, and how those lessons can be applied to the industry in general. Migliori spoke at the 2011 Stanford Global Healthcare Summit.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Education, Leadership

Education as Social Enterprise in Africa

How can one social enterprise help transform Africa into a peaceful and prosperous continent? By developing and supporting its future leaders, says Chris Bradford in this university podcast. Speaking at the 2011 Stanford Africa Forum, Bradford discusses his personal journey to co-found African Leadership Academy and how the organization is influencing the continent's future.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Technology in Healthcare Delivery Redesign

What does aerospace have to do with healthcare? In this university podcast, John Evans, a Lockheed Martin executive, talks about how technology in his sector can be applied to healthcare to improve performance. Evans spoke at the 2011 Stanford Healthcare Summit. He discusses how systems approaches can be used to drive efficiency and outcomes in intensive care, in particular.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Technology in Healthcare Delivery Redesign

How can technology can be used to help minimize some of the greatest bottlenecks in today's healthcare systems? In this university podcast, Jay Deady, CEO of Awarepoint Corporation, talks about how his company's software solutions provide enterprise awareness within hospitals, lowering costs and enhancing efficiency in the acute care environment. Deady spoke at the Stanford Healthcare Summit.

Resource: Audio

Topic:

Technology for Healthcare Delivery

Resource: Audio

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

Topics:

Breaking New Ground: Using the Internet to Scale

Commissioned by KaBOOM! and authored by Katherine Fulton and alumna Heather McLeod Grant of the Monitor Institute, this case study looks at the challenges KaBOOM! faced and lessons the organization learned while pioneering an online strategy to scale its impact. This strategy involves giving away the nonprofit model online for free to empower others to act on KaBoom's behalf.

Resource: Practitioner Case

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The Broad Education Foundation: Transforming Urban K-12 Public Education

The Broad Education Foundation was established in 1999 to focus on K-12 public education reform. As the foundation sought to expand its reach, its ability to transition the management of its flagship investments would become increasingly important, and maintaining accountability to stakeholders would also be critical.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Education

Reforming San Diego City Schools: 1998-2002

San Diego City Schools' leaders are faced with a choice: Should they continue reform efforts begun four years earlier, knowing that results so far have been mixed? Or should they modify their reform strategy?

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

A Smart Supply Chain for a Smart Product: Micro Compact Car Smart GmbH

With increasing pollution and congestion, European car manufacturers were concerned that governments might eventually ban cars from city centers. The producer of Swatch watches came up with the novel idea of an environmentally friendly, but stylish, super-compact car.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Asian Neighborhood Design C

Asian Neighborhood Design has undergone a period of rapid growth. How will the new business-oriented interim director assess its stability and lead the organization through its transformation in a manner suited to the nonprofit world?

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Social Entrepreneurship

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

Topics:

Environment, Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Trust for Public Land

In April 1999 the leaders of a nonprofit that acquired private land for transfer to public use met to discuss their latest internal auditors’ report. They wanted to decide how best to analyze the findings in order to explain to the board why the results did not appear as good as they actually were.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

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

Topics:

Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Asian Neighborhood Design B

The community development arm of The Roberts Foundation must decide whether to continue its investment in Asian Neighborhood Design. The housing and community development organization has been experiencing operational challenges due to rapid growth.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Economic Development, Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs in a Harsh Business Climate: Reform-Era Vietnam

By the mid-1990s, a few years into Vietnam’s tentative market-oriented reforms, the country’s private sector was at a crucial point. Three owner-managers discuss their initial success in such an unreceptive setting.

Resource: Academic Case

Topics:

Corporate Social Responsibility, Healthcare

GlaxoSmithKline and AIDS Drugs Policy

In Africa, GlaxoSmithKline had to determine how to address the AIDS crisis while maintaining business viability. The case details the interventions of Stanford business alumnus Jean-Pierre Garnier to set the public tone for the company and its worldwide operations.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Esquel Group: Transforming Into A Vertically Integrated, Service-Oriented, Leading Manufacturer Of Quality Cotton

Esquel Group, one of the world’s leading producers of premium cotton shirts, offered innovative products and services and was devoted to protecting the environment in areas in which it operated. The case describes the company’s culture and strategy.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Economic Development, Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

PacifiCare's African American Health Solutions (AAHS)

By early 2006, PacifiCare's African American Health Solution had made significant headway in its two primary markets of Dallas and Los Angeles. Now the health insurance program had to define its purpose more clearly in the face of growing competition for the business of African Americans.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility

Serrot Corporation

Serrot, the plastics linings company, was moving into new markets. The founder faced management challenges associated with this transition, including labor and union issues.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Corporate Social Responsibility

Wal-Mart: Nonmarket Pressure and Reputation Risk (B): A New Nonmarket Strategy

In 2002, Wal-Mart came under attack for its inadequate pay and benefits, and its negative impact on local economies. This case examines the steps the company took to improve its image.

Resource: Academic Case

Topic :

Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

Ashoka was a professional organization that identified and invested in leading social entrepreneurs globally. The organization faced challenges as it updated its mission to “make things happen in a bigger way.”

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

Topics:

A Room with a Viewpoint

Managers and marketers can motivate consumers to participate in environmental conservation programs by telling them how the majority of other people behaved in the same situation. Researchers specifically studied how to ask hotel guests whether or not they wanted to reuse their towels during the course of a stay. The study highlights the benefits of employing social science research and theory—rather than business communicators’ hunches, lay theories, or best guesses—in crafting persuasive messages. Guests given a description : "the majority guests in this hotel asked to reuse their towels," were 9% more likely to make the same decision than guests who were simply asked to "help save the environment" with no information on comparative behavior. Guests were motivated even further when the description matched their social demographic even more closely. They were even more likely to reuse their towels when told the majority of people staying in their room in the past had done so.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Money and the Mind

Money changes people's motivations — increasing their sense of self sufficiency and even making them keep a greater physical distance from others. After focusing on money, individuals work longer before asking for help, are less helpful to others, and prefer to play and work alone.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

To Increase Charitable Donations, Appeal to the Heart — Not the Head

If organizations want to raise money for a charitable cause, it is far better to appeal to the heart than to the head. Put another way, feelings, not analytical thinking, drive donations. People are most generous when asked to make a donation to an identifiable individual victim. The more statistical information about the general plight of a group of people similar to the individual victim, the less generous potential donors became. Many charities make the mistake of trying to appeal both to emotion and to reason in their fundraising appeals.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Nonprofits Are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter

Consumers frequently assign stereotypical views to nonprofits, categorizing them as warm, generous and caring organizations, but assuming their business abilities will be less competent than their for-profit peers'. In contrast, for-profit companies are seen as more competent from a balance sheet perspective, but are not necessarily socially aware.

Resource: Research Paper

Topics:

Temper Your Trust to Avoid Financial Rip-Offs

"Why do people trust, why can trust get us into trouble, and what we can do to protect ourselves?" asks Professor Rod Kramer of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. After looking at the financial industry he was surprised by "the level of abuse of trust throughout the financial industries: its magnitude, its pervasiveness, and its duration."

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

Topic :

Healthcare

Biodesign Innovation: OIT 581/3

The two-quarter Elective Course series provides lectures from a diverse group of faculty that expose students to the practical aspects of technology invention and development. The class features a presentation or discussion from one of the guest speakers or faculty. Students work in small project teams in the Biodesign prototyping lab or bench space, collaborating with the fellows of the program.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

The Power of Social Technology: GSBGEN 358

The goal of this seminar is to investigate how social technology (e.g., blogs, websites, podcasts, widgets, community groups, social network feeds) can change attitudes and behaviors in ways that cultivate social change. We study the strategies and tactics used by companies and causes that have successfully catalyzed social persuasion.

Resource: MBA Course

Topic :

Economic Development

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

Topic :

Social Entrepreneurship: STRAMGT 369

This course focuses on the efforts of private citizens to create effective responses to social needs and innovative solutions to social problems. It equips students with frameworks and tools that will help them be more effective as a social entrepreneur.

Resource: MBA Course

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