Center for Social Innovation

Making Solar Easy

SunRun's Ed Fenster discusses his business and the economics of solar power.

Resource: News Article

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To Cheat or Not To Cheat

New research shows how subtle changes in language can lead to more ethical behavior.

Resource: News Article

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The Psychology of Re-Gifting

In this quarter’s column, we look at a common gift-giving practice: giving away a present you don’t really want. “Regifting” is generally regarded as a taboo, but is this practice really as offensive to the original giver as people think? And is there a way to shift cultural norms so as to promote this sort of gift recycling and reduce the trashing of perfectly good items?

Resource: News Article

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Simple Interventions Bridge the Achievement Gap Between Latino and White Students, Stanford Researcher Finds

A study shows how the effects of "stereotype threat" can be overcome by assignments that foster a more supportive environment.

Resource: News Article

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Government, Healthcare

The $86 Billion Fix

A group of scholars propose a plan that could put a brake on health care spending.

Resource: News Article

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Making Solar Easy

SunRun's Ed Fenster discusses his business and the economics of solar power.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

To Cheat or Not To Cheat

New research shows how subtle changes in language can lead to more ethical behavior.

Resource: News Article

Topic :

The Psychology of Re-Gifting

In this quarter’s column, we look at a common gift-giving practice: giving away a present you don’t really want. “Regifting” is generally regarded as a taboo, but is this practice really as offensive to the original giver as people think? And is there a way to shift cultural norms so as to promote this sort of gift recycling and reduce the trashing of perfectly good items?

Resource: News Article

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Reinventing Health Care Services

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

A doctor describes his groundbreaking, transdisciplinary effort to design more cost-effective care models for conditions that drive a large proportion of US health spending.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Research: Spring Water Protection Improves Health

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Living near safe drinking water is not the same as drinking safe water.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Philanthropy

When the Big Bet Fails

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

The Northwest Area Foundation learns—and shares—hard lessons from a 10-year initiative.

-Subscription Required

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Philanthropy

What’s Next: Sharing Evaluations

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Organizations that report on charities are increasingly collaborative.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Philanthropy

Foundations as Investors

Stanford Social Innovation Review: Fall 2011

Social investors are experimenting with a profusion of creative funding mechanisms to help innovators sustain health-improving approaches and to achieve greater impact.

Resource: Stanford Social Innovation Review Article

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Giving Sector Needs to Adapt to Economic Crisis

The recession should be spurring nonprofits, giving organizations and individual givers to regroup and find innovative ways to address urgent social and global needs that only are getting worse because of the growing economic crisis. Foundations are creatively adjusting to the current economic crisis.

Resource: Blog Post

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Philanthropy: Science, Art or … Music?

The author draws a comparison between music’s ability to combine art and science with philanthropy’s ability to do the same.

Resource: Blog Post

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Arts, Culture, and Religion, Nonprofit Management

Giving Sector Should Invest in Social Media

The giving sector, especially in the face of the continuing economic crisis, needs to retool its model for charitable giving and fundraising. Nonprofits, for example, should start looking at building social media into their overall fundraising and communication strategies. Often reluctant to move beyond traditional strategies, whether or not those actually produce positive results, nonprofits should look at social-media tools that are changing the way people communicate, connect and spur one another to action.

Resource: Blog Post

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Charter Schools and Unions: Good Ideas in Conflict?

Unionizing charter-school teachers brings to light the ever-present income inequity that takes place within the nonprofit sector. The Nonprofiteer firmly believes that charter schools–like other nonprofits–are the most fertile territory for union organizing, and she’s not surprised to see that organizing professionals have figured that fact out as well. Combine the relative immobility of most nonprofits–the Art Institute of Chicago won’t pick up stakes and move to Singapore–with their routine underpayment and general exploitation of their employees, and it shouldn’t be a surprise when the union comes to call.

Resource: Blog Post

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Government, Social Entrepreneurship

The Innovation Imperative

The long-term strength of our nation relies on the level of commitment we have toward innovation. Influx of talent, new mindset and new network technologies are the new convergence of innovation. President Obama must broaden the focus across and among the private, public, and nonprofit sectors—to seek and spark the most promising innovations whether they come from commercial or social entrepreneurs, executives or line workers, community leaders, public servants, researchers, or citizens who don’t fit into any of these categories.

Resource: Blog Post

Video/Audio : All | Audio | Video

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Environmental Sustainability Through Recycling

Messaging that makes meanings easier to understand leads people to recycle more. That's the conclusion of a study reported on by Canadian Scholar Kate White in this University podcast. White says that negative messages about the dangers of not recycling work best when paired with concrete action steps, showing how to recycle. White spoke at the Stanford Prosocial Briefing.

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Resource: Audio

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Improving Educational Achievement for Minorities

When minority students are given subtle attitude-changing strategies to encourage a sense of belonging, their GPA goes up, the achievement gap goes down, and they report better health and well-being. That was the conclusion of a study co-led by Greg Walton and discussed in this university podcast. The results suggest that social belonging is a psychological lever where targeted intervention can have broad consequences that lessen inequalities in achievement and health. Walton spoke at the Stanford Prosocial Briefing.

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Resource: Audio

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Economic Development, Social Entrepreneurship

Food, Water, and Energy

Our planet will reach nine billion people by 2050. Are we anywhere near ready to feed that many people? In this audio lecture, Dr. Ann Bartuska of the U.S. Department of Agriculture discussed the need to connect food, water, and energy technologies to address our need for sustainable agriculture. Dr. Bartuska spoke as part of the panel "Framing the Challenges: How Can Connection Technologies Support Sustainable Development?" at the USRio+2.0 Conference at Stanford University.

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Resource: Audio

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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.

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Resource: Audio

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Education, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The Civic Impact of Youth Volunteerism

How are engaged citizens made? In this audio lecture, sponsored by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Stanford sociology professor Doug McAdam argues that youth volunteering does not directly result in active citizens or a robust civil society. Instead, the responses to youth activism are varied and driven by historical and cultural context.

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Resource: Audio

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Healthcare, Leadership

Solutions for Extreme Need

What if visiting the doctor to get a CT scan was as fun as sailing on a pirate ship? asked Doug Dietz, veteran designer of MRI and CT scan machines. Dietz had seen the widespread anxiety of children who came into the hospital and wanted to change that negative experience.

Resource: Video

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Capital for Early Stage Innovation

Investors provide insight on early-stage startup fundraising and advice to those interested in starting their own ventures in healthcare.

Resource: Video

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The Global Tobacco Epidemic: Robert Proctor

How did the global tobacco epidemic start? And what can we learn from it?

Resource: Video

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Government, Healthcare

Pharmaceutical Innovation

What can pharmaceutical companies do to contribute to global health?

Resource: Video

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How the Food Industry Is Impacting Global Health: David Kessler

Why has American obesity increased so dramatically in the past four decades? How can this trend be reversed?

Resource: Video

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Investing in Education in China

In just over 3 years RISE has become a leading provider of children's English language learning services in China, and has built a significant share of the children's English-language learning market. In this Stanford university podcast, Justin Cahill shares how his organization challenged conventions and disrupted the Chinese market to create this unique enterprise. He spoke at the Global Education Conference at Stanford.

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Resource: Audio

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Case Studies in Real World Innovation - Kunskapsskolan

How does a country best go about developing radical innovation in a public school system? In Sweden, they have done it through Kunskapsskolan, a creative alternative to standard public schools that charges no fees to its students. In this audio lecture, Peje Emilsson, current chair of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, discusses the reasons for Kunskapsskolan's success both inside and outside of Sweden.

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Resource: Audio

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Promoting Civic Engagement and Voting

Applying psychology to the realm of politics shows that giving voters a few strategic nudges can push far more people in the direction of polls on election day. In this university podcast, Todd Rogers, Harvard professor and founder of the political research organization Analyst Institute, shares research that shows how "get out the vote" calls can be far more effective in changing behavior when just a few subtle techniques are used. Rogers spoke at the Stanford Prosocial Briefing.

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Resource: Audio

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Promoting Health Through Weight Loss

Can monetary incentives get people to lose weight? Yes, at least in the short term, says Harvard business professor Leslie John in this university podcast. John reports on studies using lotteries and the threat of financial loss in getting people to slim their waistlines, an important step in improving health. She spoke at the Stanford Prosocial Briefing.

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Resource: Audio

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James Sweeney: A Sustainable Energy System

James Sweeney, director of Stanford's Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, discusses green cities at a Stanford GSB conference.

Resource: Video

Case Studies : All | Academic Cases

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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

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Industrial Products AG Thailand (B)

A shipment of industrial products gets waylaid by customs in Thailand, with a charge of smuggling. When the project manager refuses to pay an extortionary fee and is reported to officials, the company manager must figure out how to defuse the situation.

Resource: Academic Case

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Khosla Ventures: Investing in Ethanol

Where in the ethanol value chain should Khosla Ventures consider investing? How should it get involved in strategic innovations? How should it leverage the non-market environment surrounding the ethanol value chain?

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

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Starbucks Corporation Building a Sustainable Supply Chain

Starbucks created a new program to support coffee farmers through a partnership with Conservation International. If Starbucks could overcome issues it faced with implementation of the program, the initiative could go a long way toward improving the sustainability of its coffee supply chain.

Resource: Academic Case

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Healthcare, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

The Kinetics and Michael J. Fox Foundations (A): Partnering with a Purpose

The Kinetics and Michael J. Fox Foundations both support research on Parkinson’s disease. This first case describes the creation, mission, and strategy of the two organizations.

Resource: Academic Case

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Corporate Social Responsibility, Environment

Wal-Mart's Sustainability Strategy

Senior executives at Wal-Mart launched the company’s new sustainability strategy in 2005. The case describes their efforts to keep environmental improvement tightly coupled with business values and profitability.

Resource: Academic Case

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Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

X PRIZE Foundation: Revolution Through Competition

The X PRIZE Foundation originated as prize competitions for significant development in the exploration of outer space. Several problems faced the organization as it began to focus on fields outside of space, including whether prize competitions could work in areas such as poverty.

Resource: Academic Case

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Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

AARP and AARP Services: A Multi-Sector Approach to Social Change

In 2006, AARP was one of the largest, most well-known nonprofits in the United States. However, the organization faced numerous public relations and strategic challenges.

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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Social Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs Foundation

This strategy case discusses a number of challenges facing nonprofit managers. These include establishing a sustainable and self-supporting operating model, generating corporate-sector support, and managing through a financial crisis.

Resource: Academic Case

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Environmental Enhancements in Road Vehicle Technologies

In 2007, the issue of global warming brought carbon dioxide emissions to the forefront of Americans’ minds. This paper examines some of the emerging innovations designed to reduce oil consumption.

Resource: Academic Case

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Healthcare, Nonprofit Management

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: The Campaign to Save 100,000 Lives

In December 2004, the president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement challenged U.S. hospitals to reduce unnecessary deaths by 100,000 in the next 18 months. The case describes a campaign that incorporated lessons from politics and social activism.

Resource: Academic Case

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Economic Development

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

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Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

Creating an Online Information Marketplace for Giving

The best nonprofits don’t necessarily get the most money, observed William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Philanthropy Program officer Jacob Harold and president Paul Brest in 2007. From there they started exploring how they could improve the marketplace and how donors give their money. To that effect they hired consulting firm McKinsey & Company to explore the online information marketplace for giving space at a macro level, looking at trends and opportunities. Armed with data they then tried to figure out what to do.

Resource: Academic Case

Research Papers : All

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Cost Conscious Choices

Julie Miller, Editor in Chief of the magazine Managed Healthcare Executive, interviews Professor Alain Enthoven on a recently instated healthcare reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Resource: Research Paper

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Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority students

What could you do for an hour in the first year of college that would improve minority students' grades over the next three years, reduce the racial achievement gap by half and, years later, make students happier and healthier? The answer, Stanford psychologists suggest, involves an exercise to help make students feel confident they belong in college.

Resource: Research Paper

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Economic Development, Government

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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Building Sustainable Organizations: The Human Factor

Although most of the research and public pressure concerning sustainability has been focused on the effects of business and organizational activity on the physical environment, companies and their management practices profoundly affect the human and social environment as well. This article briefly reviews the literature on the direct and indirect effects of organizations and their decisions about people on human health and mortality.

Resource: Research Paper

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Health Care

The Potential Impact of Comparative Effectiveness Research on U.S. Health Care Expenditures

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has the potential to slow health care spending growth by focusing resources on health interventions that provide the most value. In this article, we discuss issues surrounding CER and its implementation and apply these methods to a salient clinical example: treatment of prostate cancer.

Resource: Research Paper

Courses : All

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Economic Development

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

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Business and Environmental Issues: GSBGEN 547

This speaker seminar examines the overlap and synergies between the business and environmental fields. Weekly speakers include leaders from both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

Resource: MBA Course

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Ethical Issues in Biotech Industry: GSBGEN 522

This course focuses on the bioscience industry (biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, genomics, and vaccine). The emphasis is on the ethical and social challenges of running companies in these areas.

Resource: MBA Course

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Work and Family: GSBGEN 376

This course examines the strategies that highly educated women and men use to combine work and family. It also explores how managers can help others achieve balance in these two areas.

Resource: MBA Course

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Introduction to the Politics of Education: GSBGEN 349

Students learn about the relationship between political analysis and policy formulation in education. The course focuses on alternative models of the political process, the nature of interest groups, political strategies, community power, the external environment of organizations, and the implementation of policy.

Resource: MBA Course

Innovators : All

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Bill Beckman and Connie Matsui (both MBA '77)

Bill Beckman and Connie Matsui help launch a GSB initiative called Beacon that provides knowledge, community, and inspiration to alumni with more time and freedom than ever to focus on their passions.

Resource: Alumni

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Beth Sawi (MBA '80)

Beth discusses how Project Redwood channels its collective experience and financial resources to help people in poverty, and the lessons and insights its members gain in return.

Resource: Alumni

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Philanthropy, Responsible Investing

An interview with Roger Coates

Roger is currently starting an investment partnership for affordable housing in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Resource: Alumni

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Environment, Social Entrepreneurship

Susan Rothstein (MBA '78)

Susan reflects on her experience volunteering with a grassroots NGO in Cambodia and how she gained a new perspective on both the developing world and herself.

Resource: Alumni

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Yohei Iwasaki (MBA '10)

Yohei Iwasaki and mOasis are enabling farmers to grow more crops from less water and to cultivate previously underutilized land, producing a sustainable environment that significantly reduces food and water shortages.

Resource: Alumni

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Economic Development, Government, Human Rights

Reinventing Anesthesia

How a New York-based company is trying to make surgery in the developing world a lot easier.

Resource: News Article

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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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Are Sick People Overpaying for Insurance?

New Stanford research says those with big health problems may be getting less for their money than they could — and raising prices for all.

Resource: News Article

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New Skills for the New Social Economy

What is a “social economy” and how is it affecting leaders in nonprofit management? In this audio lecture from Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Nonprofit Management Institute, Lucy Bernholz and Rob Reich, thought leaders in philanthropy and technology, describe what the social economy is and how it came about, the changes it has sparked, and the implications for how nonprofits are run.

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Resource: Audio

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